Great day in Amish country!

May 29 – It was a busy day and we were tired puppies when we got home but it was a great

Original Ben Franklin Store

day!  The only bad part was I had to order a charger for my laptop from Amazon as Bill tripped on the cord and broke the plug to the laptop.  I had it sent to Grafton, OH where we are headed from here.  Then I put a load of laundry in to wash and off we headed to Carrollton, OH, which is a little east of Dover.  The Athletic Director of West Orange is from there and told Bill what nice town he was raised in and his mother runs an original Ben Franklin store there and his step-dad is the curator of the Ashton Home Museum.

It’s a little up and down hills with curves thrown in to get there but we made it.  I love the Ben Franklin store as it totally reminds me of going to town with my mom or grandmother to our 5 and 10 cent store.  They have some of everything, from fabric and yarn to rope and yard supplies.  I found a 1 inch cookie scoop that I’ve been looking for and a replacement egg cup as Bill broke the one in the RV the first day or so on the road.  We picked up a few other small items and Bill got to meet his friend’s mother.

Ashton House Museum

From there we went to the museum and had a personal tour and history of the house and museum.  The family owned numerous Ben Franklin stores but the father did very well with his investments and left a huge sum to a foundation that one of his grandsons oversees.  The novelty of the house is that they never got rid of anything.  It was always boxed up and put in the basement or other storage areas of the house.  Items on display are to show our children what we grew up with, like rotary telephones, tape recorders, adding machines,; things that kids will never see in stores or at their homes.  There were lots of historical papers, magazines, original children’s games.  We enjoyed revisiting our youth as well as learning about this extraordinary man.  Mr. Ashton.

Guggisberg Cheese Factory

From there we crossed back through Dover and headed into Amish country.  There are numerous towns but I kind of planned out a circle to hit my favorites, as well as the cheese makers along the way.  The first stop was for lunch.  It was supposed to be a “Dutch” as in Pennsylvania Dutch place and it was OK.  Bill had the buffet but I had the special, creamed chicken over biscuits.  It included mashed potatoes, so I carbed out and it kept me going all day!  On the way to our first town, Farmerstown, I spotted a sign along the road advertising log homes and the logs appeared to match mine at my house.  I’ve been searching for a place that makes the same cut as my logs and siding, so Bill turned around and we drove back in.  The owner is Mennonite and was very nice.  He showed me all the cuts he had and said several he could modify if I needed.  I left with a sample piece and really looks like my siding and his card and cell phone number.  I asked about shipping and delivery and he said it would give him a reason to make a trip to Florida this winter!  So I’ve got to check it with the profile of my siding and hopefully we have a match!

There was nothing of interest in Farmerstown but we did see lots of Amish buggys and farmers out in the fields gather hay and such.  In the town of Charm we stopped at the Guggisberg Cheese Factory and enjoyed some samples and our first cheese purchases of the day.  It was only the beginning!  We love cheese, I come from a family of cheese addicts! 

Further down the road we stopped at Hershbargers Farm and Bakery.  I think the bakery part sucked us in but actually there we found fried pies so Bill picked 3 and I picked 2 and I got a huge bag of rhubarb fresh picked for $1.99 a pound. If I can ever find it in Florida is $4 or more a pound.  I knew I didn’t have a lot of room in my freezer right now but bought a bunch and figured I’d deal with it later! 

Vats in Heini's

We went as far as Millersburg and turned and started heading back.  We ventured off the main drag to visit Heini’s Cheese Factory where you can watch them make cheese but it was late in the day and the vats were all

Just a part of the samples

empty and cleaned.  They offer the most samples though.  So we tried 15-20 kinds of cheese and “butters” and meats.  A great afternoon snack at no expense.  Well, we did buy some cheese.  You can never have too much GOOD cheese.

We stopped at Troyer’s Country Market in hopes that they would have better prices on the Troyer’s trail bologna, but is was only a few cents cheaper so I passed on it.  We did get some Lebanon bologna for me and ham for Bill for lunches.  We bought cheese ends for a great price too!

The last stop along the way heading back was the famous Little Switzerland town of Sugarcreek.  They

World famous Cuckoo Clock

used to have factory tours there but no more.  Too much government interference with visitors.  The town is VERY Swiss and has the world’s largest cuckoo clock.  It has dancing characters and chimes on the half hour.  We’ve been visiting that clock since I was a little girl and it’s still cool!

Once we got home and put away bags of cheese, rested a while, I made a unique dinner:  grilled cheese sandwichs with some of our Colby cheese and day old bakery bread.  YUMMY!  We followed up with fried pies.  The crust is the best part, full of shortning!    We were in a cheese coma and didn’t last long after dinner.