Exit78 Photo of the Day #130
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has the largest Amish population in the United States. (Few Amish communities exist in other countries.) The Amish are among the fastest-growing populations in the world, with an average of seven children per family. Because of rapid population growth in Amish communities, new settlements are formed to obtain enough affordable farmland.
Amish Country, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, May 20, 2009 (Pentax K10D)
Amish (Wikipedia)
The Amish (/ˈɑːmɪʃ/; Pennsylvania German: Amisch, German: Amische) are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships with Swiss Anabaptist origins. They are closely related to, but distinct from, Mennonite churches. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann.[2] Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish.
In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Today, the Old Order Amish, but also the New Order Amish and the Old Beachy Amish continue to speak Pennsylvania German, also known as “Pennsylvania Dutch”, although two different Alemannic dialects are used by Old Order Amish in Adams and Allen County, Indiana.[4] As of 2000, over 165,000 Old Order Amish lived in the United States and about 1,500 lived in Canada. A 2008 study suggested their numbers had increased to 227,000, and in 2010 a study suggested their population had grown by 10 percent in the past two years to 249,000, with increasing movement to the West. Most of the Amish continue to have 6–7 children while benefitting from the major decrease in infant and maternal mortality in the 20th century. Between 1992 and 2017, the Amish population increased by 149%, while the U.S. population increased by 23%.
(Note: I am also posting photos in a series called Photography Now & Then at Haw-Creek.com)
Series notes:
- The photos in this series are (usually) randomly selected from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Exit78 Photo of the Day.
- Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
