Last week in Holmes County – photos
Michigan Mary, who commented earlier on the Ohio Amish shooting, has shared some photos taken in Holmes County last week.
In my neck of the woods we just hit winter–both technically and meteorologically speaking, with the season’s first snowfall yesterday. Looks like they’ve had a bit of the same lately in Ohio.
Exotic animal farm. There are a couple of these in Holmes County–the Rolling Ridge Ranch, and the Farm at Walnut Creek. They take you through on a wagon drawn by draft horses, or at least they did when I was last by.
About this photo Mary adds:
the remains of a buggy that was in an accident with a car. It has been sitting in front of Miller’s Buggy Shop since at least mid-November; when I first saw it…. it’s still there and I hope it stays for awhile so that auto-drivers will understand what it means to hit a buggy. It turns my stomach every time I see it – it’s burned into my brain forever….
A Swartzentruber Amish farm.
A big thanks to Mary for sharing the photos with us.
Read more on the Holmes County Amish.
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I enjoy looking at pictures of the Amish and their homes. Those are nice pictures of a nice winter scene. I lived in Ohio for a few years about 25 years ago, and sometimes I miss it. The seasons were so nice up there.
Holmes Co. photos
Thanks Mary for sharing these — Snow is so pretty, and I have not had a chance to really “be” in it, in my lifetime, but that will change, before long! We plan to make another trip north, in the future, but next time it will be a winter vacation! Since I am a native Florida girl, I haven’t really been in a lot of snow, before; my husband has, though, and he says, he’s very happy NOT TO BE in the snow! He’s happy to stay in Florida, where for Christmas Day, we’ll be around 80 degrees, in central Florida!! No snowmans here! And possibly no coats or sweaters!
Really enjoy the snow scenes, as they look so pristine, pure, natural and reminds me of a “postcard” or Christmas card!
THANKS, for sharing,
SharonR
Thanks for sharing Mary … beautiful, Christmas card perfect shots! Makes me want to be all cozy, inside one of those Amish homes with a mug of hot coffee and some Christmas cookies.
Holmes Co Photos
DITTO — Robin Miller — you just completed the Christmas card, with the hot mug of coffee, and Christmas cookies! Maybe add a cozy handmade Quilt, too, sitting by the fireplace or wood stove!
SharonR
Thanks for sharing the scenes with snow. I’ve been to Holmes
County several times in the fall, but never when there has been
snow, so enjoyed seeing what it looks like with snow. I would
think it is really beautiful on those Holmes County hills when
there are several inches of snow.
Thanks, Mary. The pictures are beautiful, except of course the one of the damaged buggy. I always cringe when we are in OH and I see how careless some drivers are around the horses and buggies. I, too, have been only in the fall…lucky enough to have been there in both October and November this year. Thanks again for sharing with the group.
Grat pictures, Mary, thanks for sharing them! Some definitely would make great Christmas cards! And I definitely agree with you where it comes to auto and buggy safety.
Kevin
Michigan
BUGGY -V- AUTO
A friend of mine said recently that anyone who has a driver’s license and lives in a decidely Amish settlement area should be required to do 10 hours of passenger time in an Amish buggy every year! Our Amish friends think this is an excellent idea.
One thing I did not know until I rode in one is that you CANNOT hear traffic/noises outside of the buggy – especially on paved roads. They are extremely noisy and if you are talking to the drive you have to shout to be heard over the noise which only causes more of a deficit in hearing outside traffic sounds… It can pretty scary especially on busy, high-traffic roads….
Photos and Buggys and Autos
Good Idea from Michigan Mary! Like the idea of people being educated about buggies!!
I think that people riding in automobiles and trucks, think they ‘own’ the road sometimes! We have the same problem here in Florida, during “BIKE WEEK” (and other times) where motorcycles have been run down or cut off, by a car—AND it’s usually the automobile’s fault, with the motorcycles! The motorcycles are usually the ones obeying all the laws, and the cars are not!! Either motorists don’t care, or they think that Motorcycles are just in the way!!
Same might be true, in relation to horses and buggy’s—people not realizing they are sharing the road with them, or else they don’t like the horse/buggy transportation! While we were in Amish country, both in Ohio and Pennsylvania last fall, we always stayed far behind a buggy and were very careful, as to when to pass or if, because we didn’t want to frighten the horse, etc….plus we slowed down, too. Every time I saw a horse/buggy in the “buggy lane”, I still would “hold my breath”, as we went by — always vigilant of them!!
It’s just plain common sense and common courtesy if it’s “smaller than you” just slow up and watch where you’re going! Everyone has a right to their own mode of transportation!
SharonR
Requirements
Yes, and all Amish on the roads should be compelled to have lights and slow moving vehicle symbols so we “English” aren’t responsible for putting them in the hospital or graveyard when they’re out there in the dark. Someone nearly wrecked here in SD coming upon them in the dark. You don’t know they’re there until you are right on them.
What “right” do Amish have to not only endanger their own life but ours too? We have to abide by laws, they should too or stay off the public roads. I pay fuel tax, for a driver’s license and for license plates for the right to use that road, they pay none of that.
Thank you Mary for sharing those beautiful pictures!
Mary's photos
Your photos are so beautiful Mary! Thank you for sharing them. You make me want to visit Amish country.
I agree that drivers need to be educated, and laws strictly enforced, regarding sharing the road with all kinds of alternate vehicles and pedestrians, too.
Wishing Erik and all Amish America readers a safe and blessed Christmas!
Thanks Margie, and everyone, for sharing here. And especially Mary for the photos 🙂
mary's pics..
thanks so much for sharing.. i so love the Amish people and have the utmost respect for them and how they live. I could do w/o so much of what i have and am used to..but i would never be able to keep my mouth shut and ‘obey’..lol…
it saddens me so to be reminded of how the buggy’s and cars get in accidents..
i wonder if in most cases the accidents involve young kids driving the cars fast on the back roads???
anyone know?
Last week in Homles Co.
Hedy, I’m not sure the age of the drivers involved in car/buggy accidents but as someone who is a taxi driver for amish families I am in buggy traffic quite frequently. Black buggies on blacktop are sometimes hard to see until you are closer to them. Many times the buggy drivers do not turn on their lights until dark and depending on the church district the reflective tape patterns are sometimes not as attention getting as other patterns. The tape patterns on the wheel hubs are especially eyecathing for car drivers. The Swartzentrubers do not use reflective tapes or slow moving vehicle triangles so they are harder to notice. Also it is more dangerous in parts of Homles and Carroll counties which tend to have more hills and curves than Geauga and the Mespotamia areas. In hilly areas the double yellow lines are predominate and car traffic tends to back up behind a buggy and then someone gets antsy and tries to pass several cars and the buggy. Tourists often are not familiar with the roads, where it is safe to pass and where bad hills or curves are in an area. Those of us who drive alot in buggy areas may get too familiar and have to even more careful. I also drive a pony and cart and do not like to be on the roads, you feel very fragile and targeted.
Thank you Mary for the beautiful pictures. I am from the Philadelphia suburbs but have lived the last 40 plus years in Sunny South Florida…. so every once in a while I miss the changes of seasons (including the snowy one) and the beautiful country side on Pa and Ohio.
Merry Christmas and a ver Happy New Year.
Snow photos
OH — I see someone else misses the “change of seasons”, too!! I pray for snow, here in central east coast of Florida, too, but never get my wish…we don’t even get color changes!!! Everything is always GREEN down here, and gets boring — that’s why we love all of the snow pictures from up north!! Don’t quit sending them!! We love them!
SharonR
Mary's Pictures
Thank you for sharing the pictures, Mary. They’re beautiful. Also I agree with you on the 10 hr per year ride.It would cause them to have more respect for slow moving vehicles.
Theresa
Exotic animals
The first photo of exotic animals looks like reindeer. I would love to raise reindeer/caribou! And there looks like maybe a llama or alpaca with them. The sheep look like Jacobs and Shetlands. It’s interesting that the Amish are raising unusual breeds.
The pictures are beautiful Michigan Mary. There are no close Amish settlements near my area, so it’s always a treat to see photos of Amish rural areas. And the animals, oh how I love the animals! Alpaca yarn is my favorite yarn to work with, it is the softest & smoothest I believe I’ve ever used. And, one can’t beat the warmth of it. Thanks so much for sharing Mary’s pictures with us, Erik. (I finally spelled your name right Erik, sorry about earlier attempts.)
Natalie, no worries, I am quite used to getting the “c” 🙂 So that is an alpaca in that photo? That’s what I thought. A big thanks to Mary, I’ve kept returning to this post the past day or two to look at these pics. Something about them, I think I like the mood that is captured here.
Buggies and Autos
Nice pictures Mary!
I think many accidents could be avoided if people used caution on winding and hilly roads. You never know what might be around a curve or on the other side of a hill.
Lovely pictures! Thank you for sharing.
Some of them, particularly the ones of the homes, look to me like they where on the same or neighboring properties.
I was just wondering, is everyone ready for Christmas, is your shopping done, how about the wrapping.
I just have wrapping to do.
Well…..
I have two gift ideas I want to get done, a photograph and a book.
The picture is easy, the book, well, that deserves a trip to a local book store.
Shom my Christmas shopping will conclude about 1pm tomorrow.
It’s called living on the edge 🙂
Mary, your photos are making me “holmes” sick. I missed going to Holmes county this Thanksgiving, and seeing the photos take me back. The Swartzentruber Amish home, was that down from Ashery’s bulk food, I think the house is in Paint or Bath county. Looks like the house that I purchase my homemade amish baskets at, their last name is Hershberger? There are two huge red barns on the property and they are next to an Amish school house? Thank you for sharing your photos.
Happy Holidays to everyone!! Marie B, Windsor Ontario Canada
Damaged Buggy Photo/Driver's Ed Classes
I would be interested in knowing if the driver’s ed classes in Holmes County and surrounding counties teach the teenagers learning to drive about safe driving around buggies. Perhaps the damaged buggy could be taken “on tour”, so to speak, to local high schools to show teen drivers what can happen.
Just today in the news is discussion of problems in the Mayfield, KY, Amish community with the unmarked buggies, the ACLU, etc.. It’s a continual issue.
I won’t get started on how I feel about the Swartzentruber and the their unmarked buggies, but suffice to say, I agree with the state in this case. Where I live, almost everyone would agree.
Buggies don’t need to have orange triangles – there are many other low-key options which work well. They should use SOMETHING. Everyone on the road should be held responsible, not just vehicles. We have a lot of farm equipment and horse riders and bicylers on our road – they are expected to be responsible, too, right?
RE: drivers ed – you can’t drive around here without a buggy always around the bend or over a hill. The kids are very used to it. It is actually rarely a younger driver who has an accident; usually older longtime residents who become complacent, or out-of-the-area drivers.
Oops, part of my comment cut off. I meant to say that I agree with the state that something has to be visible…
I was going to add that the KY Amish appear to be willing to make the “gray tape” compromise, which is good and I don’t agree with KY for not compromising on that. But around here where I live, they won’t compromise and it’s an issue.
Looks like what we get in central Texas when the weather man says we might get accumulation. lol Beautiful pictures!