Michigan Family Reunion - Michigan: Shipshewana

Shipshewana, Indiana

Wednesday, June  18, 2025

Today Doug, Janis, Val and I are visiting the Amish community of Shipshewana in Indiana just across the Michigan border.  There is a large population of Amish and Mennonite in the Northern areas of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

You can see Shipshewana marked just below the Indiana border.

Doug and Janis are early risers, but Val and I slept in a little as we had a late night last night and haven't quite adapted to the Eastern Time Zone yet.  We left about 9:30 and drove mostly back roads through farmlands and small towns.  It was a very pretty drive.

We got to Shipshewana around 11:00 and our first stop was Menno-Hof (a museum). The Amish, Mennonite, and Hutterites, all derived from the Anabaptist movement during the Reformation.  Our visit to the museum was very interesting and we spent a lot of time there learning about the Amish and Mennonites.

An Amish buggy.

The Amish shun modern conveniences and live off the grid.  They don’t have any motorized vehicles and use horses and buggies to get around; you have to be careful as they share the same roads as autos.  They also farm using horses to pull their farming equipment.  We learned that some Amish have actually installed solar panels and use LED lighting, but they remain off the grid.  We also have seen them riding the train, but they aren’t allowed to fly.

The Mennonites are similar to the Amish, but they are allowed to use modern conveniences and technology.  The Hutterites are mainly located in Canada and live in communal groups.

After staying longer than expected at the museum, we were very hungry and drove to the nearby town of Middlebury for lunch at Das Dutchman Essenhausy.  It is an Amish style restaurant serving very good comfort food and a wide selection of delicious pies.  We were full and very satisfied after our lunch there.

We drove back to Shipshewana after lunch, and along the way Val spotted the Yoder Popcorn store.  Val loves popcorn so we had to stop and see what they had.  They had a wide variety of different types of popcorn as well as popcorn poppers, bowls, seasonings, and everything else you can imagine needing to make and eat popcorn.  Val bought a good supply of several different kinds to take home with us.

Doug and Janis wanted to visit the huge flea market they have in Shipshewana so that was our next stop.  Unfortunately, we arrived just before 4:00 and 4:00 is closing time, so we had minimal time to spend there.  It was also too late to visit Yoder’s Hardware, another place you have to visit during any Shipshewana visit.  Yoder’s Hardware is an old-time hardware that has any kind of thing you can imagine.  The Amish shop there so they have a big supply of nonelectric hand tools, gadgets and other items.

It was great to visit Shipshewana.  Most of my Michigan relatives live in or near the small town of Sturgis, Michigan that's right on the Indiana border.  Doug and I have many memories of visiting Sturgis with my parents and taking a trip to Shipshewana.

It was getting late in the afternoon, so it was time to head back to Coloma, and it was starting to look like a storm was coming in.  The day had been hot and humid and in Michigan (and probably in much of the Midwest) that often means afternoon thunderstorms.  The storms can be quite severe at times and even leading to tornadoes, but the temperature usually cools down and the humidity drops after they’re over.

The reason I mention this is we got in a storm on our way back.  We had a short drive on Interstate 94 before Coloma and that's where the skies opened up and it poured.  Poured is almost and understatement as it rained so hard you could hardly see the road.  Cars slowed down, some pulled off the road and everyone turned on their emergency flashers.  The only vehicles who didn’t seem to have a problem were the semi-trucks that got in the fast lane drove right through it.  It only lasted about 15 minutes, but it seemed much longer, and it was a terrifying drive for us.  Val was driving and didn’t quite know what to do, but she did a great job and got us home safely.

This is with the windshield wipers going full blast and it was starting to let up before I took this picture.

After getting back to the house safely, we spent the evening relaxing.  We were still pretty full from our late lunch, so we had snacks for dinner.  Val and I were out of clean clothes, but luckily the house had a washer and drier, so we spent the evening doing laundry.