Welcome to Amish Country!

Remember to include a visit to the Amish community on your next trip to southeast Minnesota. One hundred fifty Amish families, about 1,000 Amish, live in the rich agricultural area surrounding the communities of Harmony and Canton.

Visitors can either tour the area on their own, listen to an audio tour while touring, or take a guided tour. Amish Experience of Lanesboro sells pre-recorded audio tours online at amishbackroadstour.com or they are available at the Lanesboro and Harmony visitor centers. Bluffscape Amish Tours (Lanesboro), and Amish Tours of Harmony provide guided tours in southeast Minnesota.

Old Order Amish, a diverse group of people settled in southeast Minnesota in 1974. They are considered the country’s most conservative.

The Amish refer to non-Amish as English.

Two-story simple-designed white Amish farmhouses are distinguishable from highly ornate decorated English farmhouses. Visitors will find horses and black buggies tied to the hitching post and horse-drawn equipment being used in the fields. Look for the black and shades of blue clothes hanging on the clothesline. Even in the winter, the clothes are dried outside and brought inside to finish drying.

It is difficult to see the black buggies at night as there are no lights on them. Some buggies may have a reflective slow-moving sign.

The Amish lifestyle is strongly tied to their religious beliefs. Amish families host church services in their homes.

Pictures of the Amish are not allowed. The Amish believe that if they are made in the image of God, then having an image of themselves is the same as having an image of God. The only mirror in the homes is a small mirror used by the men to shave their beards, it does not show their whole face. Amish dolls are made without faces. Ask permission before taking any pictures of their shops or homes.

Amish homes do not have electricity or indoor plumbing other than cold water in the kitchen and laundry room. Kerosene lamps are used to light the house.

There are no phone lines to the homes. Some businessmen and women have cell phones, but they are not kept in the house. Instead, they are kept in outer buildings where they can be charged. They typically do not answer the phone but will call back.

On guided tours with Amish Tours of Harmony, visitors will get a rare opportunity to tour an Amish home. A visitor will immediately notice the simplicity of the home. Eyes are drawn to the wood-burning cooking stove, the sink, and a table in the kitchen.  A wood-burning store for heating the house is found in another room. A treadle sewing machine is used for making crafts and sewing. The children’s bedrooms are always upstairs, and the parents sleep downstairs. Amish visitors sleep upstairs.

Children attend one-room schools until the eighth grade. After eighth grade, children receive informal education at home.

These Amish are not allowed to have shops or permanent jobs in town. However, in some Amish communities, you will find Amish shops in town and Amish working in English shops and restaurants. They can work in town as long as it is temporary, like construction jobs.

Amish shops are open Monday through Saturday year-round. Stores are also closed on Epiphany Day, Ascension Day, Good Friday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

The Amish accept only cash or checks.

Amish stores carry everything from honey, baked goods, jam, woven baskets, leather belts, furniture, quilts, aprons, cashew crunch, and fruit-filled glazed fried pies.

Greenhouses are very popular with residents and visitors as the selection of plants is vast, the plants are healthy, and are sold at reasonable prices.

The Visit Bluff Country Magazine is delivered to more than 1,000 locations in 35 counties in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. This magazine has a mission of promoting tourism in the Historic Bluff Country (Driftless) region. 

For information on upcoming town festivals and events in Historic Bluff Country, vacation ideas for lodging, recreation, dining, and shopping, check out the magazine in print or online at www.visitbluffcountry.com.