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I know you're out there. Former Orrvillians who have left and now you want out the rat race. You think back to the good, simpler times you experienced here in Amish country. You miss the small hometown feel, the fall leaves, the farms, the countryside and the clip clop of Amish buggies. Well, come on back home to Orrville.
We are in the midst of a revitalization. Orrville is one of a handful of towns across Ohio that are part of the Ohio Main Street program. We have received grants to revitalize our downtown and improvements are evident everywhere. Our downtown is becoming quite quaint these days. If you are looking to open up a little store, come on back and open one downtown. We have plenty of industry and our own electric company too!
Contrary to some statistics you might come across, Orrville is virtually crime free. It is a very safe town. I am prone to take walks in the middle of the night and have never been accosted in any way. I don't know where they got their statistics from because I'm sure if any serious crime happened it would be the talk of the town. There are no such thing as home invasions here, no carjackings and no murder. I feel completely safe here in Orrville.
We have a beautiful park with a creek running through it that holds concerts in the summer and abound with ballfields. We have great schools, in fact they just built a new school. There is a boys and girls club that caters the youth. Your kids can even go there while they wait for you to get off work. This is a wonderful place to raise children.
You are just 20 minutes away from all the shopping in Wooster and close to Canton, Cleveland and Akron. Orrville is not a mecca for shopping but they like to keep it that way. I can sit on my front porch and watch Amish buggies clipclopping down the street. They come in to go to our grocery stores. A very short drive takes you right into the heart of Amish country and its breathtakingly beautiful.
Nearby Kidron is a mecca for the Amish and there you have Lehmans, the largest old fashioned hardware store in the world. They have been selling hard to get non electric items since the 50s. They started out catering to the Amish's needs. Refer to Lehmans.com to see what I'm talking about.
Kidron also has weekly livestock auctions and an outdoor flea market where Amish and "Englishers" mingle. All around the area you can get locally made Swiss cheese and bulk food stores abound. One of the simplest pleasures around here is to take a country drive and get lost in Amish country. Marvel at the beauty of the well kept farms, see beautiful draft horses and dairy cows in the pasture. You'll see the Amish working teams of horses in the field. Okay now your turn fellow Orrville residents, help me explain why living in here is so great!
Thanks so much for hooking me up with your photos. We visited amish country the last time we all visited Ohio which was about 10 years ago. I absolutely loved it. In fact, i sat in the grass outside the hotel which was next to a farm and cried my eyes out because i miss ohio so much.
Your photos are beautiful and really tell a great story about life in Orville. I have heard that if you aren't amish you are kind of...not well liked by them. is this true? How would they feel about someone coming from "Vegas" a town that thrives on sin basically, coming to live in their community?
How would they feel about someone coming from "Vegas"
My gosh the Amish don't know each of our individual life stories! You're not going to move into their house with them hon. You would interact with them at roadside produce stands, gathering places like I described in Kidron, maybe exchange a few pleasantries. Mostly you just admire them from afar. Its not very likely that where you are from would matter to them at all.
Thank you for the compliment on my pics. I will post more after waiting an appropriate time. I don't want to keep bumping my own post up. If you want to come visit I'll put you up and show you around!
Thanks so much for hooking me up with your photos. We visited amish country the last time we all visited Ohio which was about 10 years ago. I absolutely loved it. In fact, i sat in the grass outside the hotel which was next to a farm and cried my eyes out because i miss ohio so much.
Your photos are beautiful and really tell a great story about life in Orville. I have heard that if you aren't amish you are kind of...not well liked by them. is this true? How would they feel about someone coming from "Vegas" a town that thrives on sin basically, coming to live in their community?
The Amish/Mennonite don't care if you're from Vegas or from Mars. They are generally very nice people who keep to themselves, mind their own business, and don't get in other people's way. They co-exist peacefully with their neighbors. They like your money, the money of the so-called "English", selling overpriced baked goods and other type items (granted, there are people who have no clue on how to cook or bake so there's market out there for this sort of thing) and things like Amish-made furniture, quilts, etc. If you like Amish-made, if you like the word "Amish" and the imagery that conjures up, if you like a slower pace of life, have already earned your money, your kids have graduated from college and have a job somewhere, this is a very nice place to live. This is just my opinion though. I realize that some locals who have lived here, more importantly, their family has lived here for over 150 years get the few jobs at the local utility companies and local businesses. I live in a small town about 15 minutes from Orrville, and trust me, the few jobs at utillity companies, schools, etc., are never advertised. They are found out about from word of mouth. If you're not in the inner circle of things and you want a better, higher paying job, you will be driving further away for employment, but living here, not that there's anything wrong with that, it is just the way it is.
Orrville, OH and more specifically, Kidron, OH (if you're looking at the pictures of Lehman's General Store) is definitely a slower pace of life than Vegas. It has beautiful scenery, cows and other livestock in the fields grazing during the warm months, idyllic fields and farms, fresh air intermixed with manure depending on the time of year. I don't see Orrville as Amish paradise though, although there is a good number there, as well as Mennonites and Nazarene. As I said, Lehman's (pictured) is in Kidron, OH, not Orrville. You will see more Amish people, buggies, in Kidron than in Orrville. If you venture out into Holmes county, you will be getting closer to the epicenter of the Amish. Lehman's in Kidron is indeed a stroll down into the past with today's prices attached. I wonder how many "Amish" really shop there for their everyday things or is it the huge tour busses that are bringing the "City folk" ("The English") that constitutes most of the business there??? I don't really know...but I wonder sometimes. I've been to Lehman's many times (we are about 30 minutes from Kidron, about 15 minutes from Orrville; there is also the University of Akron branch in Orrville, Wayne College, which started out as a technical college/2 year college, has greatly expanded now). I've attended Wayne College in Orrville for a good number of years, my two oldest sons did the first two years of their degrees there before transferring to the main campus in Akron, OH.
If you like fresh chicken, you will like Gerber's poultry which is just down the road from Lehman's in Kidron, OH. The "Amish" (probably more like Mennonite) work in the kitchen and the front part of the store while the sales people, "The English", work in sales getting accounts for Gerbers and documented or undocumented workers (your call) do the hard physical work in the plant.
If I was coming back to Ohio from out of state and wanted a break or a whole lifestyle change, the Amish/Mennonite imagery of a simpler yesteryear would be appealing. Truthfully, for me, I'm ready to get out of Dullsville and more importantly out of the grey and gloom that is here for a good portion of the year. The nice part is that if you want it, it is here. Come out and visit. If you're truly looking to take a huge breather from where you're at (it sounds like you are), I think that you would really like it in this area.
P.S. - You'd be surpised how many people who have "made it" in other parts of the country come back to live in "these here parts" (joking) because they crave a simpler life. One in particular, moved to the town where I live, purchased a lot of property and land, renovated extensively. The townspeople wondered where all the money was coming from...the mayor even reported him to a federal agency. It turned out that he was part of a huge ponzi scheme operation. Won't get into it more because people that are familiar with this area know all about it and it can be looked up online. The point is when you move to a small town, trust me, if you do anything that doesn't blend in with the locals, you will be scrutinized and people will want to know what you're doing, where you made your money, if it was made legally or illegally. For me, a small town would be the last place I'd move if I didn't want to blend in with the local yokels or if I wanted to remain anonymous. Being anonymous in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business is not easily possible. The good news is that it's not the Amish that will be doing the gossiping, it's all the other people who live there. Take it for what it's worth. Good luck with everything.
Another P.S. - the pictures posted are lovely. However, if you're looking strictly at Orrville, OH, it is important for you to know that Orrville is a growing and updating community. It has a great college, already mentioned, new housing developments, YMCA, churches, modern grocery stores, car dealerships, schools, etc. Most of the people are regular, every-day people. The pictures (my opinion only) are not indicative of Orrville proper, if they are indeed from Orrville, they are in the outlying areas of Orrville, possibly even towns close to Orrville, towns that are further out in Wayne County. As I already said, the Lehman's General Store is NOT in Orrville, it is in Kidron. If you want serious Amish, really getting out, look into towns like Kidron and then Holmes County. FYI.
I never meant to imply that Kidron was IN Orrville. If you will go back and look I said it was nearby. It is about 20 minutes away. I wrote the post quickly and I knew there would be those who would love to pick my post apart and show how much more they know, plus put down Orrville. That's fine. I see that in every message board for every city.
As far as the Amish selling goods to the English I say why not. They will not keep up with the modern farming methods which require machinery that they do not use, so they have turned to woodworking and other enterprises to supplement their incomes while they still farm simply.
As for locals only getting the jobs in the businesses around here that is simply not true. In fact my fiancee from SC got hired on right away at a large, well know metal fabrication outfit here in town.
Living in Orrville is not like living right among the Amish though you will see them everyday in town. So you live in a normal town with all its amenities and in 20 short minutes you can be out in the countryside enjoying all that it has to offer including the Amish. There is that better for you? Are you jealous because the Amish don't come into your town up there wherever you are?
If you wonder how many Amish shop at Lehmans why don't you get your butt down there and look. They are walking around all over the place with stuff in their hands to buy. I don't know why you choose to come in here and slam my post? What is it inside of you that feels the need to rain on somebody else's parade? If you will look I said that the pictures were from AROUND Orrville.
I should have known I couldn't post a simple post here without some negative know it alls coming in to show how superior they are. Listen up folks, to how peevish and shrewish people can get about the Amish!!! It doesn't matter how simple and good you try to live your life, hypocritical discontents with their own lavish livestyles will come along and bash you.
Here's a scene from Market Street Orrville. I recently took this picture from our truck. Also the picture with the gingham checked tablecloths, that is taken IN Orrville at the Farmer's Market. The sellers of the goods were AMISH. No they don't drive cars and that is not their car.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z192/LakeLilly/WonMarket.jpg (broken link)
Sonneberg Valley (Valley of the Sun) is on the way to Kidron which is only 20 minutes from Orrville. It is between Orrville and Kidron. It is very hilly and the roads twist and turn around. Its absolutely beautiful. There is a great bulk food store there where you can get all kinds of food items very inexpensively like cheese, baking items, meats, bakery, etc. It is the best kept secret around shhhh.
Here is an excert from a post on rootsweb.com and I quote,
"The background here are the Swiss Mennonites - whose heimat is Signau, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. These families moved to the Alsace in France and from there, went down the Rhine to Holland and then to the US. Many settled around the area called Sonneberg, near Orrville, Ohio." Unquote
I never meant to imply that Kidron was IN Orrville. If you will go back and look I said it was nearby. It is about 20 minutes away. I wrote the post quickly and I knew there would be those who would love to pick my post apart and show how much more they know, plus put down Orrville. That's fine. I see that in every message board for every city.
As far as the Amish selling goods to the English I say why not. They will not keep up with the modern farming methods which require machinery that they do not use, so they have turned to woodworking and other enterprises to supplement their incomes while they still farm simply.
As for locals only getting the jobs in the businesses around here that is simply not true. In fact my fiancee from SC got hired on right away at a large, well know metal fabrication outfit here in town. He didn't even have a local address yet when he got hired.
Living in Orrville is not like living right among the Amish though you will see them everyday in town. So you live in a normal town with all its amenities and in 20 short minutes you can be out in the countryside enjoying all that it has to offer including the Amish. There is that better for you? Are you jealous because the Amish don't come into your town up there wherever you are?
If you wonder how many Amish shop at Lehmans why don't you get your butt down there and look. They are walking around all over the place with stuff in their hands to buy. I don't know why you choose to come in here and slam my post? What is it inside of you that feels the need to rain on somebody else's parade? If you will look I said that the pictures were from AROUND Orrville.
I should have known I couldn't post a simple post here without some negative know it alls coming in to show how superior they are. Listen up folks, to how peevish and shrewish people can get about the Amish!!! It doesn't matter how simple and good you try to live your life, hypocritical discontents with their own lavish livestyles will come along and bash you.
Here's a scene from Market Street Orrville. I recently took this picture from our truck. Also the picture with the gingham checked tablecloths, that is taken IN Orrville at the Farmer's Market. The sellers of the goods were AMISH. No they don't drive cars and that is not their car.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z192/LakeLilly/WonMarket.jpg (broken link)
Naturgal, get a grip on yourself. My God, do you jump to conclusions. Post whatever you want to post, I'm not going to defend myself nor my own opinions. However, I do have to chuckle at the "lavish lifestyle" comment considering I'm the mother of 7 children ages 23 to age 6, live in a rural community in Wayne County, have animals, garden, my own business, etc. More like hard work for everything that we have...which is typical of people around here. With that said, there's a place for everyone in this great country. God forbid that someone has something to add to your Chamber of Commerce posts; you sure are defensive which is not necessary. This is a public forum board that last time I checked where people are allowed to voice their opinions without getting attacked. Not only did you attack me, you also made up a bunch of cr*p in the forum of assumptions about me as you went along. I've been living in this area for 36+ years, so I think that I'm slightly qualified to know something about living here. Maybe my opinion isn't the same as yours (thank God for small miracles), however, no one deserves to be attacked over typing a post on a public forum board.
Last edited by Donna7; 01-29-2008 at 10:55 AM..
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some images from Wayne County Ohio
more scenes from around Orrville
Sonneberg Valley
