Viewing a street from an adjacent alley is one of my favorite things to do. This alley runs behind the Hotel Millersburg in Millersburg, Ohio. This quaint town is the county seat of Holmes County in the heart of Amish Country.
I enjoyed this small town with its antique stores, tree lined streets and interesting old buildings. In the above picture you get a partial view of the Holmes County Courthouse, the crown jewel of the downtown.
It was built in 1880 and is grand. Here’s another view.
The clock tower is great
As much as I enjoy seeing the entire building, I like that alley view a lot. It’s just a glimpse but enough to make you want to see more. That’s the thing about adventuring – it gives you a peek of what’s out there and a reason to go explore!
This image comes from my whirlwind trip to Ohio’s Amish Country this fall. The Farm At Walnut Creek is a working farm where you can see people farming, cooking and handling animals. Inside the house, the basement kitchen was a bustling place during my visit.
My nose led me inside to purchase warm loaves of homemade bread but I lingered a while to observe their activity. I enjoyed listening to the ladies speak to one another in their Pennsylvania Dutch and watched as they toiled about their work.
But the thing I liked best here was this wall of homemade canned goods.
Both of my grandmothers canned vegetables, fruits and meats – most of it stuff they raised themselves. This activity was common for their generation but it’s increasingly rare to hear people talk about canning today.
I’m all for the old ways but, if I can’t freeze it, I am not going to mess with it.
Yet, I have fond memories of green beans, homemade pickles and fresh grape juice canned to enjoy another day.
The mere sight of all those rows of canned goodies was enough to take me back to the sweltering kitchens of my childhood. It was here that food was prepared and giant pots of boiling water were used to vacuum seal dozens of lids on jars for another day.
It’s both a survival tool and an act optimism that you will indeed survive the seasons long enough to enjoy all that good food. I would love to announce that canning will be my next new hobby. But, as long as I have freezer space and a supply of ziplock bags, this will not be the case.
Instead, I’ll just enjoy the picture and the memories of green beans on a cold winter day.
I have perfected the art of being happy or at least satisfied pretty much wherever I go. It’s a key to life happiness as far as I’m concerned.
That’s why it’s surprising when I encounter a place that I really don’t enjoy. Before continuing, it’s important to first say that every place is not for everyone.
I spent a few days of my vacation this month in Ohio’s Amish Country. The countryside is gorgeous and I spent a fair amount of time and gasoline wandering the backroads, looking at farms and pastures, foliage and signs of simple living.
This was my favorite thing.
I also chatted with the proprietor of Mt. Hope Hardware, an old school hardware store that caters to the needs of the local Amish community. He was sure to tell me about the gas powered refrigerators that are his specialty.
Another thing I liked was simply being there on Sunday late afternoon because all Amish businesses and many others are closed. Businesses in southern Ohio still closed on Sunday when I was a kid and it was nice seeing it happen there in 2022.
Consequently, that night’s dinner was veggie fajitas at the Mexican restaurant in downtown Millersburg. It was the best meal I had that trip.
But Monday morning painted a different picture. School was in session, business resumed and Sunday’s sleepy towns were transformed by large numbers of visitors seeking baked goods, big meals and all manner of things available for purchase.
Friends, this was not the place for me. I literally headed for the hills and drove backroads looking for some sense of authenticity and calm.
At one point, I followed signs to a place called the Farm At Walnut Creek, a version of a working farm where you can walk through a typical Amish home, buy produce and bread, and take a wagon ride through an exotic animal farm.
It was on this wagon ride with driver Eli that I encountered zebras, ostrich and giraffes. It was about the time a Buffalo nearly tried to board the wagon in search of a snack that I felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. Instead of groaning because I didn’t go to Amish Country to meet a cockatoo or to have a Buffalo carry off my bag, I chose to embrace the “when in Rome” philosophy and simply enjoy the trip for what it was.
Everyone else seemed pleased with their extensive shopping and buffet dinners but I suspect I’m not their target market.
I was glad to leave but have some thoughts about a tour that might provide a more authentic, personal Amish experience. Who knows? Maybe I’ll go back some day and try again.
They call it the Bridge of Dreams because skeptics thought that turning a 370 foot long railroad bridge into a covered bridge was impossible. Turns out it was expensive but not impossible at all.
Today, it’s the second longest covered bridge in Ohio, second only to this one up in Ashtabula County. It’s also the third longest in America.
The railroad bridge was constructed over the Mohican River in the 1920s and abandoned about seventy years later. Like so many abandoned rail lines in this country, a portion was acquired locally and eventually transformed into a rail trail called Mohican Valley Trail. The bridge was covered through private donations and grant money.
I visited on a cool October morning, pulling my jacket tighter as I walked the short distance from the parking lot to the bridge. The foliage along the trail was quite pretty. The trail is paved and rather wide so I’m told you sometimes will see Amish buggies along the way. In other words, watch where you step.
As much as I enjoyed being in the bridge, I better appreciated being under it. There’s enough room to park under the bridge and east access to the shore. This is clearly a popular place to fish and there are plenty of rocks to admire.
The view of the bridge from this vantage point is second to none.
The Mohican Valley Trail stretches about 4.5 miles from the village of Danville to the Holmes County line. It is open to pedestrians, cyclists and horses.
If you go, the address to use is 16606 Hunter Road. Use Brinkhaven or Danville as the town, depending on your navigation system. This is a great side trip if you’re in Ohio’s Amish Country.
I was on vacation last week. I stayed close to home, taking a couple of day trips and spending a few days in Ohio’s Amish Country.
It was an appallingly short week but I spent it mostly doing as I pleased so that was nice. It’s almost as though vacation days operate in some kind of time warp. They just pass too quickly.
We all occasionally need time to decompress and do the things that make life worth living.
Make the Journey Fun 