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    Home » The Plain Columns » The Amish Editor

    From Arabia to Amish

    Published: Jan 15, 2012 · Updated: Feb 2, 2021 by Kevin Williams | 9 Comments

    So, how did I end up here?

    I had no connection to the Amish growing up. None.  I'm from Middletown, Ohio, a dying industrial city in between Cincinnati and Dayton.  The paper-mills which employed workers for decades are long gone, the town's mall is in an unsightly death spiral, our stately, elegant Manchester Inn downtown which hosted generations of high school proms and even boarded Sarah Palin the night before John McCain introduced her to the nation in 2008 (he was campaigning Dayton) has been shuttered for over a year now.  The town's main employer - AK Steel - still churns out steel in the mill.  When I was a child my Dad worked for the mill, not in the mill.  He worked in management and they sent our family  to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates so Dad could sell more steel to the oil companies.  It was a wonderfully exotic experience and I learned a ton about different cultures: Arabian, Pakistani, Lebanese, Indian, Afghani, and European.  I wish most Americans could see the Islamic world from the inside as I did: peaceful, prosperous and welcoming. All in all I spent around 6 or 7 wonderful years of my childhood there.  But nothing Amish...that was about as far from Amish as you could get.

    No, it wasn't until high school that I even heard of the Amish.  I was 13 years old and on a warm, July day in 1986 our family set out for a summer vacation to Nags Head, North Carolina.  My Dad took a "short cut" onto Ohio's Appalachian Highway (State Route 32) which slices east from Cincinnati.  30 minutes later the flat fields of the Midwest suddenly give away to a dramatic, rocky smokey-colored hillscape.  Welcome to Adams County, where Amish families began putting down roots in 1974.  The Amish and their industrious and entrepreneurial ways injected some economic relief into the hills, long the poorest place in Ohio.  Hitching posts went up outside banks and post offices in Seaman and Peebles, Ohio. Locals were generally welcoming.

    On our trip to Nags Head I was captivated when my Dad suddenly stopped at a horse-drawn buggy that was pulled alongside the Appalachian Highway.  A young Amish man with a long black beard was selling homemade baked goods and cheeses from the back of his buggy. We stopped and my Mom bought a brick of Swiss cheese.  Two items of note about this first Amish experience:

    1) I had no way of knowing it at the time, but this would not be my last encounter with the Amish man selling cheese. Our paths would cross again later and it would change the direction of my life.

    2)  I long remembered the day my parents stopped to buy the Amish cheese, but I couldn't remember the date.  Years later when doing research for a book I found out the date: July 17, 1986.  It would be exactly 5 years later on July 17, 1991 that I would meet Elizabeth Coblentz, quite by chance, and the Amish Cook column would take flight.

    Stay tuned for more....

    « The Amish Cook's Sewing Machine
    The Amish Cook's Poor Man's Steak »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Darlene Kistler-Alvord

      January 15, 2012 at 12:38 pm

      Thank you Kevin for all the interesting information....

      Reply
    2. Magdalena

      January 15, 2012 at 1:08 pm

      Do many things happen to you on my birthday?

      Reply
    3. Cheryl

      January 15, 2012 at 2:49 pm

      I hope there are snapshots. such nice memories.

      Reply
    4. Nancy J Place

      January 15, 2012 at 5:44 pm

      God had a plan for your life Kevin.

      Reply
    5. Kathy Lorenzini

      January 15, 2012 at 7:11 pm

      Very interesting Kevin..I look forward to more of the story!

      Reply
    6. Jay Cohen

      January 16, 2012 at 9:47 am

      Kevin, that man selling cheese wouldn't have been Mr. Keim from what is now Keim's Family Market would it? I can't go across SR 32 without stopping there. We took warm breakfast cakes to our hostess last weekend and I'm still enjoying the other food that I bought there.

      Reply
      • Kevin

        January 16, 2012 at 10:03 am

        stay tuned:)

        Reply
        • Jay Cohen

          January 16, 2012 at 5:39 pm

          So now you're going to be a mystery writer?

    7. Barb

      January 18, 2012 at 10:45 am

      Great story Kevin! I'm anxious for the next part. Thank you!

      Reply

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    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

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