September 3, 2004

• AMISH COUNTRY, OHIO

  
  

  On the way to Lehman’s Hardware Store in Kidron, OH, we decided to steer through some of the other small towns in the area.  Horse-and-buggy travelers were more common than autos as we approached Sugar Creek.

  
  

  I should back up and say what very little I know about the Amish and Mennonite communities.  Both groups eschew many of our modern conveniences.  Mennonites drive cars and Amish don’t.  Mennonites use electricity and Amish don’t.  We’d previously thought that it was the Mennonites who split away from the too-strict Amish.  Come to find out, it was the other way around.  The Mens weren’t strict enough to suit the Ams, so the Ams formed.

  
  

  When I have a chance to plow through the literature we acquired, I might straighten up and/or embellish the foregoing.

  
  

  So we walked up and down the streets of Sugar Creek and had a satisfying meal at one of the many restaurants that beckoned.  The local folk are almost as renowned for their cooking as they are for their handmade furniture.  Farm-fresh and scrumptious and large portions.

  
  

  Between Sugar Creek and Kidron was Walnut Creek, where we spotted a sign leading us to a bed-and-breakfast.  Not being sure of the availability of accommodations in Kidron (10 or 15 miles away), we followed the sign.  As we drove into the driveway we were greeted by the sight of a 7-year-old girl sweeping the porch, her younger brother who was washing another portion of the porch, and a large friendly dog named Jake who the girl offered to call off of us, but we assured her we liked dogs, even big ones.

  
  

  The lady of the house had rented all her rooms.  But she told us of another place down the road.  It didn’t have a sign up, but she described the place well enough for us to find it (after driving past it once).  Hmm, did we like what we saw!  It was like an elegant time-share, and it DID have electricity, meaning our hosts were Mennonite.

  
  

  We settled in, drove to Kidron, Barbara bought a bunch of stuff, we found another great restaurant, and got back to our digs by 7 p.m., being leery of trying to find our way in the dark.  Chris, the lady of the house, offered to make us some lemon muffins in the morning to supplement what was already in the pantry.  “Knock if you need anything, in the morning.  We’re going to a tent meeting tonight,” she said.

  
  

  “Are outsiders welcome?” I asked.  Sure, she said, and we wound up piling into her van and going to this revival meeting where the preacher was an Amish missionary who was home on two months leave from his post in Nicaragua.

  
  

  It was a well-attended, low-key meeting, and we had a lovely time, though of course our Unitarian Universalist faith doesn’t much resemble what the preacher was talking about.

  • 2:00 pm
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