I included so many photos in the first part of Day 2 in Ohio that I am doing a second blog post for the rest of the afternoon.

I enjoyed driving through this part of Ohio. I can never see enough beautiful farm land and old buildings.

There are several publications about “Ohio’s Amish Country” and I pulled a map from one of them to figure out where to go in the limited time that I had. I started in Millersburg. This is the Holmes County Courthouse. The significance for me was that as I parked across the street I saw a couple of people scurrying around the corner of the building—they were trying to catch a cat that kept running into the alcove on the left side of the photo and then as they got close it would dart out and run across the street. It ran back and forth a couple of times before one of the people finally caught it as it ran under a car at the gas station across the street. Whew! I wanted that story to end well.

Lady Justice on the courthouse below the clock tower.

You can tell that many of these towns rely on the tourist industry. There were lots of antique shops but I found Colonial Homestead most interesting.

It was more than an antique store—it was a workshop and the proprietor was working with someone who had just started learning how to use all these hand tools. The Visit Amish Country website says: “Over 8,000 antique hand tools for woodworking, blacksmithing, leather work, and other historic hand trades. Working 1800's woodshop and gunsmith. Fine antique furniture and furnishings (Pre 1900). No "crafts" or mass produced items. Museum-quality restoration of antique furniture and muzzleloaders.”

This was a fascinating store and I spent a lot of time there.

Notice the fine print: “Calling a fine, well built piece of furniture that has survived 150-200 years with some signs of use, ‘primitive’ is like calling an elderly lady ‘ugly’.”

Jacquard coverlet.

After I correctly identified these tools as hackles (for processing flax) the owner and I started talking about spinning wheels. He pointed me to the basement.

As if there wasn’t enough to see upstairs…

This ax was so heavy that I couldn’t lift it from the bottom with one hand. I had to hold it right up at base of the ax head.

The owner also pointed me up the street…

…to the Hotel Millersburg where there are quilts covering many walls.

There is actually a Quilt Retreat Center that is part of the hotel.

Shops were going to close soon and there was one Must See on the list.

How could I not go to the Plaid Sheep Company?

They focus on appliqué, quilting, rug hooking, stitchery, and other kinds of textile craft but, unlike any other fabric store that I have seen, they have shelves full of WOOL.

This was also a fun place to explore. I bought a few things that will give me ideas for future products using my wool, but I haven’t had time to pursue those yet.

Across the parking lot was the Craft Mall and Antique Mall. These were packed full. All you shoppers out there could spend a full day just exploring these.

This is the horse and buggy parking between the craft mall and the Plaid Sheep.

More about that aspect of this trip in another post.