There’s nothing quite like a road trip through Amish Country in Ohio. Rolling farmland, horse-drawn buggies, and enough handcrafted goods to make a Pinterest board blush. Our first stop was a country store lined with dozens of identical Amish hats. Chris and Service Dog Charlie walked by the display, and I, being a hat connoisseur, tried to distinguish the merits between Hat #137 over Hat #138. The hats were the same, but in Amish Country, I guess variety isn’t the point. Tradition is. Meanwhile, I wandered into a corner and found an old wringer washer that looked just like the one we had when I grew up on our farm a long country block away in northeast Ohio. That washer might’ve been vintage to most folks in the store, but to me, it was a memory of mom wringing out flannel shirts and hanging them on the clothesline.
Every turn seemed to lead to a new outpost of country arts and crafts. If there was a pumpkin, gourd, or decorative sign with the word “gather” on it, Chris found it. But it wasn’t too difficult. Every store we wandered into had different variations of the same stuff—antique crafts, modern crafts, country crafts, Amish crafts—pretty crafty marketing when it all looked the same to me. One clever shop replicated a classic Amish buggy into a coffee nook. Nothing says “authentic country experience” quite like sipping a latte in a horse buggy replica while checking your email. It all looks so “country romantic” until you have to live it out in Ohio’s very cold winters. Imagine riding a buggy into town on one of those 10 degree, wind whipping days. It would take more than a latte to warm ya up.
We also made a stop at the Alpine Hills Museum, which chronicled the deep Swiss influence in Sugarcreek. From alphorns to accordions, the displays showed how early settlers carried their culture with them. Funny thing is, much of what sat behind the glass looked just like the things still in use today by the Amish. And then came the cheese. Not just any cheese, but the U.S. Grand Champion Cheese—winner in 2015 and 2019. You know you’re in dairy heaven when the factory has a church steeple. After all, in these parts, cheese isn’t just a product, it’s a calling.We wrapped things up at a shop that perfectly embodied the country-chic philosophy: turning somebody else’s junk into somebody else’s treasure. This time, it was an old barrel transformed into a bathroom sink. A real beauty—rustic, sturdy, and ready to hold your toothpaste in high style. The place was a Pinterest board with a cash register.
No trip to Amish Country would be complete without the obligatory photo op in front of a fake horse and buggy. Which is ironic, considering the real ones clip-clopped past every ten minutes. Still, we posed proudly—me with my hat, Chris in pink, and Charlie giving the side-eye to the fiberglass horse. The day was filled with laughter, nostalgia, and the kind of small-town charm that doesn’t need Wi-Fi to be memorable. Amish Country doesn’t just show you the past; it invites you to slow down long enough to enjoy it. And that, my friends, is a treasure worth more than any barrel sink or identical straw hat.
