Visiting Ohio Amish Country

The last few posts have been about hiking and sight seeing in north central Ohio. If you drive into Holmes County and some of the surrounding area you are in Amish country. People living here would be accustomed to seeing horses and buggies on the road, but to me it was noteworthy (photo-worthy). Obviously there is a lot more to this very different lifestyle, but the transportation part is sure obvious to everyone in the area—and maybe is of particular interest to me since I am such a fan of horses…and it is just so different.

I read that you can cross a yellow line to pass if the slow moving vehicle is moving at less that half the posted speed (and of course it is a safe place to pass—not in this photo).

The horses drivers follow the same rules of the road as the cars.

There was more horse and buggy traffic on the less traveled roads, but they were on the main roads as well. This area has so many tourist attractions that I would think it would be frustrating for everyone—people driving horses and people driving cars. Around here Dan doesn’t ride his bike on certain roads on weekends because the “boat people” are heading to the lake and there are more tourists on some of the roads. I wonder if the Amish try to stay home on weekends too.

I pulled into a gas station where this wagon was parked. The driver filled a gas can with fuel and left.

This was at the corner near this same gas station. I tried not to be intrusive with my camera. It’s really not fair of me to take photos of people who are just going about their lives, as curious as it seems to me. I did not take photos of some wagons coming towards me—families with mom and dad up front and kids on laps or in back. This reminded me of Little House on the Prairie. Another wagon looked like it was the teenage girls out for an afternoon with one girl sprawled in the back as if in on the tailgate of a pick up.