The familiar yellow buggy warning sign tells drivers “Amish ahead”. But there is no standardized design. So the signs you see can vary. Below, twelve examples of Amish buggy warning signs you’ll find across America – and one from outside our borders. From Dauphin County, near Elizabethville, Pennsylvania. Â Dauphin County is home to a sizeable Lancaster Amish daughter settlement. Taken near the aptly-named Plainville, New…
Thanks to Mary for sharing the above photo of County Road 77 in Holmes County, Ohio.  You might recall CR-77 mentioned in the comments section of the Amish buggy safety post of a couple weeks ago.  Hurst and McConnell remind us that CR-77 is known locally as the “Amish roller coaster”, for its series of rolling hills.  You can kind of get a sense of that…
29-year-old Eli Borntrager was killed on the road last year in Missouri. Â Borntrager’s buggy was rear-ended by a driver traveling at 70 mph. The Amish buggy is not the safest form of transport. Â For many reasons. Buggies can be difficult to see. Â Horses can spook. Â With their long bodies and front-set position, horses create a tougher sight angle when attempting to cross an intersection….
My Amish friend Aaron recently informed me of a curious entry into the Red Bull Flugtag contest. But first, Aaron had to explain what Flugtag actually is. Flugtag is a “flight” competition the Austrian energy drink* maker puts on each year. Teams ride homemade contraptions down a 30-foot high ramp, jumping and soaring into water below. “Flugtag” (pronounced “flewg tallg”) means “fly day” in German,…
Indiana is the only state that requires license plates on Amish buggies, though it varies by county. From a lecture on the Amish by Goshen College professor Steven Nolt; photo by Cindy Seigle. Read more on Indiana Amish.
Dan McCarthy at the Great Leadership blog has kindly featured a guest post of mine, in which I discuss an important lesson of Amish business, taking my key from a visit to an Amish carriage shop. Here’s the beginning; follow the link to read the rest: I recently gave the teenage son of an Amish friend a lift. Amish don’t drive of course, but generally…
Rick shares a pair of photos from a Dover, Delaware Amish auction. This first shot gives you an idea of what legroom is like in the back of a buggy. Anyone ridden in something like this before? Not too roomy. Rick also notes that the Dover buggies have a whip holder at the front, creating an unusual “antenna” look, which you’ll notice in the picture…
Thought this might be a nice out-of-season shot to share, on yet another snowy day in my neck of the woods (and maybe yours, too). Rick offers us a pic from Mercer County, Pennsylvania, near the hamlet of Jackson Center, an hour north of Pittsburgh.  There are at present 3 Amish settlements in Mercer County, the oldest and largest settled in 1942, and having 5…
A couple years back I did a post on the Holmes County Trail, a remarkable conversion of an old rail bed into a recreational trail and safe transport link for Amish traveling through Holmes and nearby counties in Ohio. The trail has an interesting design, which you can notice in the photo above. One half, with a rougher surfacing, is meant for buggy/horse traffic, while…
Across America, the cold and snow continues. An interesting shot from irishlady, of an Amish buggy, precise location unknown, that looks like it ran into a bit of trouble in the recent spell of harsh weather. Stay warm everyone!