New York Amish: Life in the Plain Communities of the Empire State by Karen M. Johnson-Weiner

Abstract

"As long as there is farmland to be had at affordable prices, the Amish and their other plain counterparts will come here to find respite from internal and external difficulties and a safe and productive neighborhood in which to raise their children" (179). Even this providential statement by Karen Johnson-Weiner, made near the end of the her fascinating and much-needed book on the New york Amish, could not have anticipated what has happened in the Empire State over the past few years. JohnsonWeiner's list of twenty-six old order settlements (thirteen of which were founded only since 2000) ends with the settlement of Poland in 2007. After a short period in 2008 with no new settlements, Amish expansion into New york exploded at a pace unprecedented during their nearly 300-year history in North America. Four settlements were founded in 2009, six in 2010, another six in 2011, and at least one in 2012. This accounts for about one-third of over fifty new Amish settlements established throughout the United States and Canada during this brief period of time (see david Luthy, "Amish Migration Revisited: 2012," Family Life [July 2012]: 19–21).