My 5 Favorite Amish Communities to Visit

Which are the best Amish communities to visit? I give you my 5 favorites in this video (plus 4 more that almost made the list) - and explain why. Let me know which are your favorite Amish communities in the comments!

[miriam]

The Amish in America give the country a beautiful balance to the western communities. A reminder of a simpler life

[luacreskid]

I was reared on a farm about 4 miles south of New Wilmington, PA. In fact, we had a young Amish man live with us at the end of WWII since to avoid draft they had to have "points" based on animal census and once the home farm points were exhausted the other boys would "farm themselves out" to neighboring farms. I was 6 at the time. We stayed in touch with Mr. Byler and his family until his passing.

[roberthayes]

My wife and I once contemplated moving near to the Amish Community in Ohio. Not to become Amish, but to live close and be able to essentially buy most of our food from them and live in what is probably a safer environment. I could never adapt to that lifestyle, but I admire many of the ways they live. Theologically they are legalist. That is they believe that their "Group" is the true way. Obey the rules, do what the Elders say, be a good person and go to heaven. Most of them do not do a lot of Bible study, but they know instinctively that much of what they do is not in the Bible. However they are stuck in a system they might not totally agree with, but fear keeps them there. In a way, it would be like living with a wife you know is lying about an affair, but divorcing her and living without her is something you cannot contemplate, so you do not want to really know and you just remain in the relationship.

[cathysmith]

Last week I had amish gentlemen that came to my house and put a new roof on. They did an Awesome job!! Very nice and friendly!!

[brucestorey]

Where in Lancaster (my favorite Amish community) will you be next week, Erik? Im sure we have many Amish friends in common, especially if you frequent Salisbury Township. My wife and I moved here solely to be amongst our close Amish friends and to live in, what we consider to be, the most tranquil and beautiful area we know. What makes this place so beautiful and tranquil are the people, however, the beautiful landscape/farmland does contribute. I am sure you are aware of the Lancaster Farmland Trust — they are doing a great job of getting the farmland here preserved forever…forever! I have several Amish friends who have taken the selfless action of making sure their farmland will always remain the way it is now — it will never, ever be developed upon, and will remain the legacy of these wonderful people as their contribution to keeping Lancaster County beautiful forever. I wish more people knew of the Lancaster Farmland Trust so they could help to preserve this gem of a County, and I find it very odd, the huge number of local non-Amish/Mennonite, who know nothing of this non-profit group. I donate whenever I am able to. I just wish that all of the tourists who visit here to experience what is left of the beautiful farmland they come to see would reach into their pockets and give what they can so tourists after them can experience the same thing they came here for in years to come.

If anybody reading this comment is interested in helping to preserve Lancaster County, please visit the website of the Lancaster Farmland Trust to see what they do and what YOU can do to keep Lancaster County beautiful. I would post a link, but I don’t think YouTube allows doing such.

[sewcrazybaker]

I was born and raised in northern Ohio, within a mile of Lake Erie. I'm now 69 years old and I still live within a mile of Lake Erie, but about 100 miles from where I was born. I've been going to the Holmes County Ohio area since 1972. I was taught how to make quilts and do canning by a few Old Order Amish friends who were closer to my Mom's age. They're all gone now, but I still visit Holmes County to buy my fabrics for quilting. My husband, who is from Long Island, NY also enjoys Amish Country. Holmes County is our favorite, but we also love going to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We visit Holmes County about once every 4 or 5 weeks.

[lisacraze]

I enjoyed visiting the Amish community in Geauga County, Ohio on several occasions -- especially during the Geauga County Fair. Many Amish families would bring their maple syrup, crafts, pies to show - and along the way, there were several stores I would visit. Also, when my late husband owned a micro-brewery, he would send his spent grain to a farmer (not Amish) who would feed it to his cows while they were milking. They loved it so much they would run to the milking barn when it was there! Once a year, the farmer had a big picnic/party to thank us for the donated grain, and several of his Amish friends would attend as well. We had baked potatoes heated with an old-fashioned steam engine! Other picnic foods and corn-on-the-cob as well as lots of Amish-made pies shared by one of the local families.

[conniemartin]

We love visiting. the Amish in Etheridge, Tennessee only 3 hours away. They are so friendly and beautifully made furniture. We bought a farm table from
Sam Yoder.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They have the most beautiful farms and landscapes. Several years ago I bought
10 quilts from
Riehl's Quilts for Christmas presents. I have been to bunches of Amish communities across the country.

[New-bwkz]

Visited Shipshewana in Indiana.. beautiful community.. looks like a movie set..

[Walkingwithjordan]

I live 20 minutes from Arthur IL. It will always be my favorite, the Amish folks there are so kind!

[whippet]

I live near the Ashland County Ohio Amish group. Have bought from them at farmers' markets. I think they are migrating to my county, Richland, because I have seen their horses/buggies and I have bought plants and baked goods from them at a nursery on a farm north of my town. Have seen their laundry drying on the clothes lines of farms in that area.
You're right. The best way to meet them is to frequent their places of business. Lovely people.

[brianjonker]

Mohawk Valley and i can remember the neighborhood before they moved in.

[cathleenflynn]

I still remember as a child, my parents taking us to Holmes County Ohio. We would shop and eat there sometimes. One of my very favorite meals I’ve ever had was in Holmes County….still remember the chicken, gravy, biscuits and of course, the pie. My parents lived to buy Amish furniture as well. Beautiful craftsmanship.

[grahamhayden]

I live in the Holmes county community! The other day i was impressed when I saw an Amish man biking up a hill massive hill and he wasn’t on one of those electric bikes!

[notsosilentmajority]

Burke's Garden definitely looks like an interesting place to visit. If you really want to avoid the outside world to some extent that looks like a great place to do so while living in a beautiful location. It has natural barriers all around it and looks very protected geographically. That in itself is amazing.

[LisaN]

I wish I'd have known of the community in Va when we lived there. I'm from Ohio and Sugarcreek was one of my folks' favorite places to go for a day trip. I still use some of the furniture and ironware I purchased there so many years ago. If anyone goes to Lancaster, be sure to tour the working farm there. I've never forgotten the herb gardens there.

[marisueharves]

Thank you so very much for sharing your favorite Amish communities! My favorite one is the Big Valley community, as my family has been in that area since the 1700's. Even though I am not Amish by culture, I have blood ties with the Big Valley Amish, being a descendant of several Big Valley Amish families (ex. Yoder, Kaufman, etc.). I spent a lot of time throughout my life exploring the valley, enjoying Amish baked goods (whoopie pies, half-moon pies, shoofly pies, etc.) and browsing the Amish stores (Peight's Country Store, etc). My grandmother used to buy big loaves of home-made bread and churned butter from the Amish - YUM! The last time I visited was back in 2017, staying at my cousin's bed and breakfast located at the bottom of Jack's Mountain. Seeing Big Valley in your video brought back wonderful memories. Thank you once again for your videos - they are so very interesting and informative!

[rhyami]

The people in the Arthur Illinois community were wonderful to me as a child when my grandpa arranged visits to buy cheese every three months or so. I was born blind, and they showed patience and mercy to a little girl who needed to touch, smell, or taste things to explore and understand. Most English shopkeepers seemed upset if I wanted to touch the fabric of a sweater before deciding if I wanted to buy it. They were unwilling to talk to me or describe things, so I felt I didn’t really belong there. It was different among the Amish people. I could hear smiles in their voices, and they weren’t just being polite by letting me touch the pattern of a quilt. Their kindness is the only reason I know what several quilt patterns look and feel like. They were very reserved with most adults, but I will never forget their kindness and willingness to let me learn about them in their world.

I’m about to turn 50 now, and I’d love to visit another Amish community. If I had not developed some severe health issues in my late teens and early 20s, I might have tried to find a way to join one of the more moderate communities. As it stands now, I visit communities by reading all kinds of books, fiction and non-fiction, as long as it is written respectfully to the Amish people and the author is willing to describe places, things, and people well. That is also why I highly value this channel and your website. I hope one day I will find a friend who wants to take a short road trip since there are Amish communities within two or three hours of where I live. I couldn’t share in the driving, but I can.cook and pack a delicious picnic basket, and I enjoy being with other people. It could be a lot of fun! :-)

[jeanetteclintonridgegarden]

Fort Plain NY has a growing Amish community. I live on the South side of the river and most of my Amish neighbors are from Lancaster and have moved up here. There are several different communities here in NY, I know you said you had visited here, you really need to come back and see all the changes that have been going on here. I do enjoy having Amish neighbors.

[MCI]

My grandfathers farm is just outside
La Rue Ohio and after grandma passed, the family sold the farm to the neighboring Amish family who have done an amazing job preserving, updating, improving the farm and they are wonderful people and we grew up with them. I lived in A small town called Oxford Iowa about 10 miles west of Iowa city off I-80 and we had the Amish from the Swartzendruber clan just south of me in Kalona Iowa and also just a few miles west in the Amana Iowa area right around the Amana Colonies. Absolutely wonderful folk, lots of cheese and woodworking/cabinet shops around.

I’m in NC now and really miss living with the Amish.