this is from last sunday -- the ohio amish area has few tourists on a sunday, however, the amish are very active after church services socializing and relaxing. some info on ohio's major amish region:

http://www.oacountry.com/

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

now here's something i didn't imagine...amish volleyball!  :-o

 

iconic haystacks

 

a beautiful classic barn

 

feed corn bin

 

 

seed & feed shop

 

tin roof

 

 

   

 

 

millersburg from the car window

   

 

 

 

*** every ohioan should enjoy a visit thru america's largest amish country....just remember to drive very carefully! ***

 

 

 

Neat photos. Sugarcreek is cute, pretty touristy. The Ohio Central Railroad used to run passenger train excursions to Baltic on weekends, but I think they ended that last year.

 

Another interesting place in Ohio Amish country is Kidron, especially on a market Saturday. Don't miss Lehman's Hardware.

 

The "haystacks" are actually shocks of wheat. The wheat is cut by a horse-drawn machine called a binder, that ties the stalks into bundles. Bundles are gathered by hand into shocks, usually three or so bundles standing upright with one across the top to shed rain, and allowed to dry. Then, they're loaded onto wagons and taken to a threshing machine where the grain is separated from the straw.

 

A threshing scene at Lagrange, Indiana

 

 

 

Power is often from older steel-wheeled tractors (1929 Case here), sometimes owned by Amish just for this purpose. In this setup, the owners are Mennonites who thresh for the Amish.

You people are stealing their souls you heartless bastards!

 

The restaurant across from this is very good.... What road is this on? I've long forgotten... it's been years since I've been up there!

 

Have you checked out the Amish in other parts of Ohio? They have migrated to southeastern Ohio in droves, many from the northern reaches of Ohio, and some from Pennsylvania. Gallia County has plenty; I counted at least 20 families along OH 141, 775, and some back roads...

You people are stealing their souls you heartless bastards!

 

The Amish around Lagrange and in the Sugarcreek area apparently don't have a strong aversion to being photographed, especially when participating in public events. On the other hand, I don't even try to take photos that include Old-order (open-buggy) Amish in the area where I grew up; they don't want it at all, and when they're working in the fields and see a car slow or stop along the road, they'll often take refuge behind their horses.

 

The fellow on the tractor in the threshing scene isn't Amish; he's Mennonite. He has a trimmed beard and moustache. Amish don't grow moustaches.

rob good info. questions:

 

did the amish let the mennonites do the threshing with the "modern" tractor machinery because they don't believe in personally using it?

 

also, i'd imagine the old order amish will not accept a ride in a car as some amish will -- is that right?

 

seicer i think that is guggisberg cheese/swiss inn. not sure, but i am sure it's on rt557 between charm and berlin.

 

the link below is a comprehensive holmes county road map including all tourist attractions:

 

http://www.holmescounty.com/gov/ohioamishcountrymap.htm

 

rob good info. questions:

 

did the amish let the mennonites do the threshing with the "modern" tractor machinery because they don't believe in personally using it?

 

also, i'd imagine the old order amish will not accept a ride in a car as some amish will -- is that right?

 

The Amish are somewhat a mixed bag regarding strictness on use of machinery. In a lot of areas the Mennonite and Amish communities are somewhat interwoven (both have Anabaptist roots), and because the Mennonites don't have as many restrictions on ownership and use of machinery, they're more likely to use and maintain it. Some Amish, though, do own older steel-wheeled tractors that they are allowed to use for stationary belt power (threshing, grinding feed, sawing wood, shelling corn), but not for field tillage or transportation. Some Amish have "baler carts," two-wheeled horse-drawn carts equipped with an engine and a power take-off to run machinery like hay balers and combines, and one for whom my brother has done machine-shop work has an industrial diesel engine on a trailer that can be used for belt power. A non-automotive diesel doesn't use electric ignition or electronic controls, so I guess that gets him a pass from his bishop.

 

The old-order Amish use open buggies year-around, and you'll see them going down the road in blowing show with big black umbrellas to shield themselves from the wind. Some use bicycles, although they're not common in my area, and lately I've seen kids on roller-blades. They don't hesitate to ride in cars, and Amish construction crews typically have an "English" driver on the payroll to transport them to jobs and run work-associated errands. In downtown Berne on a Saturday, you'll see quite a few families being dropped off by van drivers to do their shopping.

 

Some have cell phones, although I don't think they're approved by the local bishop except maybe for business purposes for the contractors. I don't know how they charge them. Maybe they take them to an "English" neighbor, or maybe they have inverters to charge them from the batteries for the marker lights on their buggies.

 

Amish will travel by train or bus, and I've occasionally seen them on commercial flights. When I used to travel more by train, I often saw Amish traveling from Northern Indiana to visit family in the Lancaster, PA area.

^ very interesting -- thx rob!

 

btw if anyone didn't catch the cleveland weekly scene magazine write-up of "amish girls gone wild" it is most definately an interesting and enlightening read, best thing i have ever read in the scene that is for sure! here is a link:

 

http://www.clevescene.com/2007-03-14/news/amish-girls-gone-wild/

 

My reaction to this thread is very mixed.  On the one hand am happy to see the beautifully maintained farms, enthralled by the horrible ersatz Swiss "architecture" but dismayed by the photos of the Amish youth. 

I am one of a small minority who think that people should never be photographed to be held up to ridicule, however unintentional, or without their permission.  Don't want to sound judgemental or censoring, just my opinion.  My mom's family is from that area and I have a soft spot for the gentle, innocent and misunderstood people there.  The media either portrays the Amish as a type of weird inbred idiot farmers or as a bunch of horny teenagers waiting for rundspringe to get to the city and go crazy.  Okay, I'm down from my soapbox. 

^ hmm. i have mixed feeling about your post. i appreciate your concerns, but for one thing i don't have any photos of amish youth or individually of anybody else. if you mean the volleyball game that was taken from an undisclosed location a couple football fields away from our passing car and you cant identify any individual, much less if they are kids. i thought rob explained his pics very clearly -- if anyone there at the time had a problem they could have shown aversion or asked him to not take the pics and i am sure he would have.

 

also, nowhere do i see anyone held up to ridicule in this thread. just the opposite -- rob was quite informative. there was no mention of inbred whatever here except by you and as for horny teens during rundspringe i think the young girls focused on in the linked scene article were just the opposite of that. frankly, i dont see anything negative in traditional media outlets either, in fact i rarely see any mention of the amish in the media unless it's a car accident with a buggy.

 

otoh what you say is certainly something to keep in mind, especially when we mix cameras with conservative religious people (ie., same issues apply with the hasidic jews in ny, i did a thread on that too). however, i definately think you are overreacting here and your worries are about issues the amish as a people may have outside of the thread itself.

 

 

Maybe an overreaction on my part, as you say.  Sorry if I offended with my hastily written reply.  I enjoyed the landscape photos, but still don't like the photo of the kids in traditional dress playing volleyball.  To me, it seems invasive--even if taken from far afield.  The same would be true if it was an expose on hasidic jews, carmelites or anyone without asking.  Guess I wouldn't make much of a photo journalist!

Personally, I'm glad everyone doesn't think like me....would be awfully boring and we would never see pictures taken on the fly.

 

Rob, have you seen the documentary "Devil's Playground"?  It's filmed in Northern Indiana and documents what happens to some Amish youth when they are allowed to leave the Amish lifestyle, temporarily, to decide if they really want to devote their lives to the Amish faith or become "English".

Maybe an overreaction on my part, as you say.  Sorry if I offended with my hastily written reply.  I enjoyed the landscape photos, but still don't like the photo of the kids in traditional dress playing volleyball.  To me, it seems invasive--even if taken from far afield.  The same would be true if it was an expose on hasidic jews, carmelites or anyone without asking.  Guess I wouldn't make much of a photo journalist!

Personally, I'm glad everyone doesn't think like me....would be awfully boring and we would never see pictures taken on the fly.

 

 

oh no no not at all. it's just that in the volleyball pic they are so far away i cant see that they are kids much less identifable in any way.

 

in fact since we have been back home here in nyc and told a friend of ours from ohio (stuebenville represent!) about our trip and what we saw she told us that all the amish loooove volleyball. who knew?

 

Something I saw on a Saturday in Sugarcreek - instead of the staid buggies that the families use, I saw young Amish men with two-wheeled carts, drawn by sleek, high-stepping horses and moving briskly along the streets and roads. A local guy said that the horses the young bucks fancy are either retired race-horses from a nearby track, or horses that were bred for racing but didn't quite make the cut. My cousin, who raises Arabians in Southern Indiana, said that they get visits from young Amish men looking for stylish horses for courting. They always visit the prospective buyer's farm before making a deal, and check on the horses later to make sure they're getting good care, and they said they've never been disappointed.

 

At one of the old-time farm machinery shows, during an evening program by a good local country band, I saw a very good-looking young Amish guy get out on the dance floor with the young female driver who brought his family to the event. He was one of the flashiest country dancers I've seen, and the elders in his family seemed to be having as much fun watching the show as he was doing his stuff. I never knew Amish men could be so hot.

^ don't ask and ye shall receive.  :laugh:

 

i see i got a pic of the amish farm horses too. i dont think these are what you were referring to tho rob, they look like big stocky work horses not fancy ex-race horses:

 

 

 

 

 

One of the issues of Amish Heartland, a tourist magazine that comes out monthly for the Ohio Amish Country, ran a front-page story about photographing the Amish.  It said that most don't mind having their photos taken, but they just don't pose for photos.

 

I love your photos.  I've been down to Amish Country about twenty times within the last year.  I've furnished my house pretty cost-effectively.  (Although I know that it's not exactly sustainable because they clearcut the piss out of entire forests, I guarantee that this stuff will last me a good 20+ years.) 

 

I recommend Berlin.  Lots of shops up there, especially if you're looking for stuff for your place.  My only complaint is that, recognizing that a lot of tourist dollars are flowing in, a lot of non-Amish are setting up shop carrying products NOT made in Amish Country (i.e. China) and try to pass them off as being Amish-made.

I love this advertisement!