What to do in Ohio’s Amish Country

I wrote an article a while back about Ohio’s Amish Country. Recently I was having a discussion with an online friend who lives in California. She mentioned the Amish and then we somehow started discussing Weird Al’s "Amish Paradise" and the conversation evolved into something completely different. This, of course, has nothing to do with my article except that I thought I would share part of it here. It’s just an excerpt, but you can visit AC to read the rest if you’re interested. *nudge, wink*

Ohio’s Amish Country encompasses Ashland, Coshocton, Holmes, Knox, Tuscarawas, Richland, Stark and Wayne Counties. It is a huge tourist destination in this part of Ohio. People from all over the country come to see Ohio’s Amish community, because it is unique among American sub-cultures and offers a glimpse of what life was like a century ago. The Amish in Ohio don’t use cars; instead they travel by horse drawn buggy. They don’t use electricity or telephone service, either. The women wear long dresses, which are pastel for unmarried and dark for married women, and cover their coiled hair with a starched white bonnet. The men where dark shirts under blue jean overalls and straw hats to shade them from the shade. Only married men wear beards. The Amish wear neither jewelry- of any kind- or zippers. They live on homesteads, where grown children will often build houses right on the same land as their parents, and work together in groups. They have tried to maintain the same lifestyle they had when they came to Ohio in the early 1800’s. The men have a reputation of being wonderful craftsmen and the women of sewing glorious quilts and making fine food. Many thousands of people come every year to see the Amish and to purchase goods made by them.

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