Amish in Virginia

There are just a handful of Amish in the Old Dominion state–or should I say “commonwealth”, a formal label VA shares with just 3 others–Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you may remember two posts I did after visiting a pair of small Virginia Amish settlements in February. […]
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Halifax County, Virginia Amish

Halifax County on the NC/VA border in southern Virginia is home to a tiny Amish community. On my recent Amish trip I paid a brief visit. Halifax County is one of just 4 Amish communities in Virginia. If you missed it I shared some photos of one of the others here: Charlotte County, Virginia Amish. […]
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4 Unusual Amish Buggy Styles

Lately I’ve been sharing about the seven communities visited on my recent East Coast Amish trip. We’ll have detailed posts upcoming on a few more of them. In the meantime I thought I’d share a bit more on one of the most obvious visual markers of Amish–the buggy. As you probably know, buggy styles can […]
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Charlotte County, Virginia Amish

A few quick photos from the Amish settlement in Charlotte County, Virginia. This is a small community of just one church district. Amish here drive Lancaster County grey buggies. Have been having a great visit (am currently in Lancaster County, and visiting PA Dutch markets around Philadelphia today), though internet is pretty scarce! A Virginia Amish buggy […]
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Four-state Amish tour
Tomorrow (Monday) I ship off on a weeklong trip to East Coast Amish communities. I’ll be visiting these settlements: Halifax County, VA Charlotte County, VA Lancaster County, PA Big Valley, PA Cecil County, MD Dover, DE And maybe one or two others. Big Valley I have visited, and Lancaster I know well. The others are […]
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Southern Amish

photo: Scroonch From Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Indiana and on out to other long-established settlements in Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas, we tend to associate the Amish with the nation’s middle latitudes. Since their earliest years in America, the Amish have gravitated to the cooler climes of these corn and dairy regions. However, the Amish […]
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A ‘puppy mill’ returns in sheep’s clothing?

The Virginia Amish dog breeder whose kennel burnt down in March may just get another crack at his trade, the Roanoke Times reports. Promising a new facility ‘with amenities that exceed U.S. Department of Agriculture requirements for breeding operations’, the unlucky Amishman’s case for a ‘conditional use permit’ was passed on to the final-decision stage […]
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Leaving, once again

Following up a recent AA post on Amish families leaving the church, Kevin Williams at the Amish Cook is blogging an article on a down-south Lancaster-transplant Amish clan that ends up ‘going Pentecostal’. Some good points made by Kevin and the commenters…I would only add this: on the article-writer describing the Amish ‘believing the use […]
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Puppy tragedy in Virginia

A sad story out of Virginia: an Amish-owned puppy breeding facility has burned down, with dozens of adults and pups dying in the early-morning blaze. The owner has claimed that his facility was well-run, humane, and that dogs were shown proper care, though the setup apparently violated a local zoning ordinance. AP photo Some feel […]
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