As I flipped through the pages, I came across something unbelievable. I was like, “What, in America, there are still people who are using buggies instead of cars!?” I couldn’t help checking again whether the book was describing modern America or America in the past, but it sounded like this book was about modern America, so I was really shocked. Of course, I decided to borrow the books, and I read them as soon as I got home. This is how I first became interested in the Amish.

After reading the books and explaining to my family about the Amish with excitement, I didn’t think about it much and focused on studying and club activities as a typical Japanese high school student.

Unexpectedly Meeting the Amish Again

My second encounter with the Amish was during college. I was looking for classes to fulfill a requirement. At that time, I stumbled upon a class about the Amish. When I found the class, my first thought was, “Wow, I didn’t even realize that the Amish could be a research subject.” I don’t know why, but I had a strong feeling that I had to study the Amish, and I decided to study abroad as an exchange student in a state with a large Amish population so that I could visit an Amish community. Needless to say, I took that Amish class.

This is the short story of why I strongly wanted to visit the Amish community. I guess this story doesn’t answer “why” very much, but I hope you can sort of understand how I got interested in the Amish.

Visiting Berlin, Ohio

We visited Berlin, Ohio, which is in Holmes County. Holmes County has the second-largest Amish community after Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. My first impression was, “Wow, this place is really touristy.” I didn’t expect the Amish community to become a tourist attraction. However, I soon realized that the touristy area is limited to Berlin. Once you drive away from town, you start seeing the Amish community, exactly the kind of scenery you imagine when you hear the word “Amish.”

Roads with Bike Lanes

When we were driving through the county, we saw Amish people who were riding bikes. The Amish are not allowed to drive a car, so bikes or kick scooters are common transportation for them, and this is why there were bike lanes on both sides of the road. As far as I know, it’s rare that there are bike lanes on both sides of the car lanes in America because most people drive cars instead of riding bikes. Actually, when I go cycling, what I have to search for is not only a good place to stop by, like a delicious cafe, but also whether I can bike on the road safely to get there. You can easily end up in a situation where the bike lane suddenly disappears, and you don’t know what to do. I had experienced such a situation several times, so I realized the roads are built to accommodate the Amish lifestyle in the county.

I am not sure who planned to make the lanes, but I assume the county or the state designed them, since the roads aren’t private and aren’t only for the Amish. I imagined that the Amish community and the outside of the community don’t interact very much, but when I saw the bike lanes, even though it is a very small detail, it made me realize that the Amish and the English (the Amish people call non-Amish people “English”) coexist in this area.

Coexistence of the Amish and the English

The bike lanes weren’t the only sign of coexistence. The parking lot of a local shop is also a good example. Like in the photo below, you can find both cars and buggies there. Probably, for those who live there, it is an ordinary scene, but I found myself thinking, “Ah, this is how the Amish and the English live in the same place,” and it strangely made sense. Before visiting, I imagined that the Amish people didn’t want to live in the same society as the English very much, so their life was very closed, but actually, both the Amish and the English share the same places and local economy. It stood out a lot to me.

Horse-Drawn Buggy Ride

The last thing I want to mention is my horse-drawn buggy ride. Since Berlin was a tourist place, there were horse-drawn buggy rides available for visitors to tour the town. Of course, it was a fun experience to ride a carriage since I’d never had such an opportunity before, but the most memorable thing was not the experience but the conversation with the buggy driver. It was a good chance for me to ask questions about the Amish. During the conversation, he mentioned that he’d given rides to tourists from Europe before. I expected most of the tourists to be domestic, especially since there are so many other attractive places to visit in America, and it is difficult to access without a car. I had a strong interest in how they learned about the Amish and what made them want to visit this place. If I get the chance to go back, I would love to interview them.

To Wrap Up

That was my experience in Berlin, Ohio. I didn’t mention it earlier, but there are good bakeries, restaurants, and stores, and the scenery is, of course, beautiful. If you’re interested, please put Berlin, Ohio, on your bucket list! Thank you very much for reading!!

These are some links that might be interesting for you.

• Visit Amish County Ohio https://www.visitamishcountry.com

• Amish Studies The Young Center https://groups.etown.edu/amishstudies

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