Life in an Amish Town

Recently, my mom, Allison and I made a two-hour trek from Kansas City to visit Jamesport, Missouri - a town which boasts the largest Amish settlement west of the Mississippi. It was quite an educational trip, and we observed an entire community enjoying the simpler things in life.

The Amish forbid the use of modern technology, so they travel by horse-drawn buggies, plow their farm fields by hand, and use kerosene or wood-burning appliances instead of electricity. They even believe that buttons are "too worldly," so their clothes are fastened together by pins. We learned that they don't take kindly to having their pictures taken, so if you want to snap a shot of them, you must go into "stealth photography mode." This was my mom's covert attempt at capturing an Amish buggy driver, as we passed him on the highway:

Snapshot of Amish dude FAIL.

At first glance, the Amish way of life seems strict and harsh - but they all seemed incredibly happy. I doubt that most of them would trade places with "the English" (a term for anyone non-Amish) for anything. I can't say that I blame them...simple is good.

While in Jamesport, we sampled home-baked goods, admired hand-crafted Amish furniture, and enjoyed the rural countryside. I would advise first-time visitors to 1) bring plenty of cash (they don't take plastic and there are no ATMs) and 2) find something to eat for supper before every food establishment in town closes at 5pm. Otherwise, you're out of luck.

The highlight for me was discovering dehydrated, seasoned green beans at the local H&M Country Store. I'm not kidding. These beans were delicious. They crunched like a chip, and were a sweet and salty combination. I want to purchase more in bulk, but sadly, the Amish aren't known for fulfulling online orders.

My mom marveled at the size of this windmill, which towered over the farmhouses.