The Amish: coming soon to your area?
By Kevin Williams
The Amish population in the USA doubles every generation, roughly. That's not tough to envision when you think that most Amish families still include 7, 8, 0r 9 children. But that raises the question of: Where do you put all those people and buggies? Already, Holmes County, Ohio - followed soon by Lagrange County, Indiana - will become the first "majority Amish" counties in the USA by 2020.
These are only my predictions and educated guesses, but these are some places where I think you'll see new Amish communities taking root within the next two years. I'll be fun to come back to this post two years from now to see whether I was correct on any!
NORTH DAKOTA: This one is a no-brainer. The Amish have recently established a settlement in South Dakota and Amish communities are thriving in central and NW Minnesota, so you can bet North Dakota will be next. Especially with a collapsing oil industry there, there will be plenty of low-priced properties on the market that the Amish will snap up.
NEW BRUNSWICK: The Amish have recently moved to Prince Edward Island in Canada, so I think a community in New Brunswick is inevitable at some point soon. Probably not so much in the western part of the province.
PREBLE COUNTY, OHIO: This is the next county over from me. There's plenty of rural land, lots of acreage available and neighboring Wayne County, Indiana's Amish settlement has gotten so large that expansion is inevitable. This is exciting for me, because this would put an Amish settlement within a half hour from my house! The closest Amish to me are currently about an hour away in Wayne County, Indiana.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: With the Amish just recently in Vermont for the first time, a New Hampshire community seems inevitable within the next couple of years.
WASHINGTON STATE: With the growth of Amish settlements in western Montana and the Idaho panhandle, I think it's only a matter of time before roads in rural Washington State see the peaceful silhouettes of horses and buggies plying the roads.
Stay tuned soon for my predictions of where the Amish will NOT head next.
Kevin
Welcome, Brenda, sign up for the e-newsletter at Amish365.com and you'll hear from me everyday!:)
RC
The Young Center's Amish Population Profile for 2015 (http://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies/statistics/amish-population-profile-2015/) states that a settlement was already founded in New Brunswick last year, though they don't give any details about its location within the province.
Kat
We live in Lancaster County, PA and the population growth here of Amish is thriving. I do see more Mennonite then Amish these days, it is amusing to watch the tourists gawk but I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to all the Plain folk.
Kevin
Kat, welcome to amish365, I do love Lancaster County, where are you in the county?
Kat
Thank you Kevin. I am so enjoying your letters, articles, pictures! We live in Manheim, PA. We have been here 3 years now and wished we could have lived here all our lives. We have been embraced warmly by our Amish and Mennonite neighbors and truly feel blessed.
Kevin
You definitely live in a picturesque area, back when I was younger seriously considered moving to York or Lancaster, loved both of those cities. Thanks for the kind words!
Barb
Aren't there already Amish and/or Brethern in Preble County? When a tornado hit near there last week, I saw on the news what looked like an Amish schoolhouse. The reporter said that the children saw the tornado hit a nearby barn.
Kevin
Barb, no Amish in Preble (Sorry the delay in approving comments, that was a glitch on my end!), but you are right, there are a LOT of Brethren and some Brethren schools....