Amish Journey Photo Highlights: Authentic Moments from Amish Life

By Kevin Williams

When I travel to Amish communities I often find myself taking many photos (always respectfully) of the scenes I encounter. I’ll shoot 20–30 frames of a single buggy from different angles. I can’t post every version, yet many of those images are too good to discard. Over time I either forget about certain shots or new visitors to the site haven’t seen them, so I like to share these “leftovers” for others to enjoy. Here are some of those images — more will be posted later.

Cow in Amish Country

Having a cow in Amish Country.

Roadside scene in Amish country

Tomatoes at Amish farmstand

Nothing like fresh tomatoes from an Amish roadside farmstand.

Open buggy in Highland County Ohio

An open buggy in Highland County, Ohio’s Amish country, a rapidly growing Plain community.

Chicks on an Amish farm in Ohio

Little chicks on an Amish farm in Ohio.

Colt stretching legs

A young colt stretching his legs.

Path to girls restroom at Amish school

The girls’ restroom at an Amish school requires a short hike through an overgrown field.

Rustic furniture at Schrock's Country Store

Rustic furniture inside Schrock’s Country Store in Oakland, Maryland.

Amish man gassing up tractor

An Amish man fuels his tractor outside Oakland, Maryland.

Farm scene in Amish country

Curtis and Daisy Duff

Curtis Duff, a convert to the Amish, and his wife Daisy, in Oakland, Maryland.

The photo above of the Duffs accompanied an article I wrote for The Guardian.

Here is an excerpt from that piece:

But members of Oakland’s Amish church were skeptical of Duff’s college education. Typically, the Amish don’t attend school beyond the eighth grade. He was put “on proving” for twice the amount of time a normal newcomer would receive. But fate intervened and sealed his future with the church.
“One of the church elders had a heart attack. He woke up in the emergency room and was looking at Curtis. He put him at such ease,” Daisy Duff, his wife, said. “Curtis could speak to him in German and that helped so much.”