Beards, bonnets and buggies: if you like things plain and simple, bring your appetite for home-cooking and rural roaming to Illinois Amish Country

Travel America, Sept-Oct, 2004 by Randy Mink

THOUGH ONLY THREE HOURS south of Chicago, the gently paced Amish communities of central Illinois seem worlds away from the rush of metropolitan life.

For nostalgia-minded travelers seeking a total escape, touting the countryside near the towns of Arthur and Arcola satisfies a yearning for the simple life and a curiosity about the Amish, a people who've found contentment and purpose without the modern conveniences most Americans take for granted.

Shopping for quality handicralis and dining on homestyle cooking are just icing on the cinnamon roll for wayfarers looking to commune with the Prairie State's rural past.

With some 4,000 Amish residents, the Arthur-Arcola area in Douglas County is the largest Amish enclave in Illinois, which has the fifth largest Amish population (after Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin) in America.

Who are the Amish and what makes them tick? The best place to find out is the Illinois Amish Interpretive Center in Arcola (pop. 2,700). Exhibits and a video strip away some of the mystery while spotlighting area history and Old Order Amish ways.

Amish Country Tours, at the Interpretive Center, can arrange for a guide to ride along as you drive through the country. Visits to Amish homes and farms, even meals with a family, also can be arranged.

It's an adventure to go driving through the Amish farmlands that surround Arthur and stretch to Arcola, nine miles to the east. Be prepared to slow down for clip-clopping buggies, usually driven by a bearded man in a brimmed black hat. (Married men wear beards. Women cover their heads with a white prayer bonnet indoors, a black bonnet outdoors.) Sometimes punish children will be trailing the buggy on their bicycles.

The Amish are friendly to visitors and often wave, but, for religious reasons, do not want to be photographed.

The scenery itself is monotonous--Douglas is the flattest county in Illinois--but keep a lookout for Clydesdales grazing in the paddocks or a farmer harnessing a team of hefty Belgians. And watch for Amish cottage businesses (closed Sundays). Hand-painted signs read "Kaufman's Custom Cabinets," "Quilts," "Fresh Eggs" and "Home-Grown Potatoes for Sale."

The Amish are renowned for the beautiful furniture produced in their woodworking shops. Many farmers have turned cabinet-and furniture-making into a full-time occupation.

The gift shop of the Illinois punish Interpretive Center abounds with Punish history hooks, cookbooks, quilts and other crafts. Steps away, the little shops along Arcola's Main Street, housed in century-old, tin-ceilinged buildings, sell antiques, handicrafts and specialty foods. The Dutch Kitchen restaurant dishes up Amish-style fare, including Dutch sausage, homemade noodles and molasses-based shoofly pie.

The Raggedy Ann and Andy Museum, a Main Street tourist magnet since 1999, honors illustrator Johnny Gruelle, an Areola native who created the floppy, red-haired dolls during World War I. Founded by Gruelle's granddaughter and her husband, the museum-gift shop showcases his life story, original artwork and Raggedy memorabilia.

At the Arcola Tourist Information Center, a converted train depot, pick up brochures on the area and see one of the nation's largest collections of antique brooms and brushes. Arcola, once called the "Broom Corn Capital of the World," celebrates its broom-making tradition during the annual Broom Corn Festival (Sept. 10-12). Broom corn, with a brash at the top and no ears, is a variety of sorghum used in the manufacture of brooms.

Four miles west of Arcola is Rockome Gardens, a theme attraction that illuminates the Amish-Mennonite way of life with exhibits, buggy rides and special events. (Mennonites, often confused with the Amish, are allowed to drive cars and use other modern amenities. Rockome Gardens is operated by Mennonites, the Yoder family.) General admission is free except for a few special events.

Now in its 45th year, Rockome Gardens is centered around a farmhouse (open for tours) and a barn with antiques displays, a rock shop and lookout perch in the silo. The name comes from the floral and rock gardens created by a farmer who acquired the property in 1939. Decorative stonework, a mix of whimsy and serious craftsmanship, forms archways, large hearts, birdhouses and garden borders.

A family favorite open from mid-April to mid-October, Rockome Gardens offers a train ride, a petting zoo, tree house and haunted cave. In Old Bagdad Town, a reconstructed main street from a 19th century village that existed nearby, kids like to ring the schoolhouse bell, watch the blacksmith and ride the horse that powers a log-cutting saw. At the bakery it's hard to bypass the soft pretzels dipped in warm butter or leave without buying cinnamon rolls, cookies or a loaf of bread.

Gift shops at Rockome Gardens sell country crafts and locally made jams, jellies, syrups, sausage and cheeses. Its own brand of apple butter (Elvan Yoder Old Amish) is the best anywhere. For the kind of meal grandma made from scratch, have an all-you-can-eat lunch or dinner at Rockome's restaurant.