Amish Country, Ohio

Thursday, May 07, 2009
We got off the Interstate, finally, and took the back roads to the Amish area of Ohio. Ohio has the largest concentration of Amish in the country. Whenever you see laundry handing on the cloths line and all the pants are long and black, that’s a sure sign of an Amish family. Electric appliances are not permitted. We say a young girl mowing the lawn with a push reel mower. No gas engines are allowed.
Spend the night at the Mohican State Park Campground near Loudonville. This is a beautiful park. Much nicer then last nights stay at Caesar Creek. We have a campsite right on the Clear Fork of the Mohican River; what a nice view. About 7:00 a thunder & hail storm came through. Only lasted for perhaps 15 minutes. Other than that, we had a rain free day. Not much sun, but no rain was wonderful.

Friday & Saturday
Toured all around Amish Country, Holmes County, OH. Millersburg, Berlin, Walnut Creek, etc. Went to the Holmes County Flea Market, ate lunch at the Farmstead Restaurant, stopped by a bakery and toured Heini’s Cheese & Chalet. Watched cheese being made. Bought Carol lots of cookies at Kaufmanns Bakery and some dark chocolate fudge as a Mothers Day treat. I ate my share ,of course. Stayed at the Scenic Hills RV Park which is located in Berlin very close to the tourist attractions. Berlin is a very touristy town. Interesting but one visit is enough.
The weather was decent. Rained for about an hour in the afternoon.
On Saturday we went to the Walnut Creek Flea Market in the morning. It was OK but nothing special. We’re spoiled by the Green Dragon Market near Lancaster, PA. Their motto is “If it’s not at the Green Dragon, you don’t need it”. Later we drove to Lehman’s in Kidron, OH. This store was founded in 1955 to serve the local Amish communities. In particular those living the traditional life with no electricity, motors, etc. Lehman’s has all sorts of devices that require no power. Lehmsn’s ships old-fashioned, non-electric merchandise all over the world. www.lehmans.com. Toys, tools, wood stoves, hand water pumps, kitchen appliances,etc. There are museum-quality antiques on the walls. Had lunch there. As a bonus, there was a steam engine convention in town. We both enjoyed the display of old steam engines including some very old tractors. A very enjoyable visit.
About 2:00 we headed to Coshocton. There is a great City park and campground there. The sun is finally out now & then. Took a nice walk on the multi-use trail system running through the park.
The drive from Kidron to Coshocton was along narrow, twisting country roads through the most beautiful farmland we can recall seeing. A thoroughly enjoyable drive.