A little effort yields big rewards in visiting the Amish

BOWLING GREEN, Mo. -- The turn from the paved road onto gravel and the handmade signs signal this destination isn't intended as a big tourist attraction.

But with a lot of time -- and a little patience -- exploring Missouri's Amish communities makes for a far-from-standard experience.

The Amish are a religious sect who live simply as part of their faith. Some Amish practices vary from community to community. Around Bowling Green, families live without electricity, plumbing or telephones. Many of the Amish use horse-drawn buggies and farm equipment, both without rubber on the tires. Clothing has no zippers and few buttons, which are considered ornamental. Instead, the Amish rely on hook-and-eye fasteners or pins.

A community of about 75 Amish families lives outside of Bowling Green in Pike County, about 85 miles northwest of St. Louis.

Bowling Green resident Ed Lawson has been giving educational tours of the Amish countryside for about a decade. He explains the Amish who put out signs by the roadside are happy to sell items -- like baked goods, rugs, handmade furniture or buggies -- to the public.

But if there's a wedding or a funeral, for instance, they'll close up shop, and there's obviously no way to call ahead and check. Sundays are a day for worship. In the Bowling Green area, Mondays are for wash, Lawson said, and on Wednesdays the Amish often visit among themselves so trips aren't advised.

Also, the businesses aren't seeking to become a tourist destination, so the few small stores sell common odds and ends -- like greeting cards and key chains, sticker books and coin purses -- along with the regional cookbooks, fabrics, homemade jams and Amish dolls a visitor might be seeking.

At Amos and Elizabeth Yoder's store, Elizabeth, 42, said some visitors do ask her questions about the way she lives. She is wearing a bonnet and long dress that she has made, meant to reflect her simpler way of life and separation from much of the world.

But, while polite, she doesn't appear to want to talk about it at length. "I know it for myself, but for me to explain it to others, I wouldn't even try," she said.

At most of the other businesses, conversations flow easiest when talking about how shopkeepers craft items, rather than trying to delve too much into Amish traditions.

Other sizable Amish settlements include those located near Seymour, Clark, Stanberry, Mount Vernon, La Plata and Windsor.

Crist Miller, the Amish owner of Miller's Ozark Country Bakery in Mount Vernon, said baked goods are available from his business on Thursday afternoons, except for the pies, which are ready on Fridays and Saturdays. He makes homemade noodles, angel food cake and nine kinds of pie and said visitors are welcome. He said everything is made from scratch, but he didn't single out a specialty. "We're nothing fancy, just plain people," he said.