Visiting Amish country respectfully

Shipshewana is a working town. The buggy ahead of you is someone going to work, to school or to church. The farm you drive past is a family's living, not a backdrop. Things here run on a farm's clock: early mornings, early closings and a quiet Sunday. Most of what makes a visit here good comes down to remembering that.

If you want to understand the why behind what you'll see, start at Menno-Hof. It walks through the history and beliefs of the Amish and Mennonites, and an hour there makes the rest of the day make more sense.

Sharing the road with buggies

You will meet buggies on almost every road around town, at all hours. A horse and buggy moves at a walking or trotting pace, so you come up on one faster than you expect. On a busy road like State Road 5, you may follow one for a while. That's normal. A minute behind a horse costs you nothing.

• Slow down early. Ease off as soon as you see one, not when you're on its back wheels.
• Pass only when you can see well ahead. Hills and curves hide oncoming traffic. Wait for a straight, clear stretch.
• Give a wide berth. Move fully into the other lane to pass, and don't cut back in until the horse is well behind you.
• No honking, no revving. A horse can spook at a sudden noise, and a spooked horse in harness is dangerous for everyone.
• Watch for them after dark. Look for lights or lanterns and the orange triangle on the back. They're easy to miss until you're close.
• Park only in marked spaces. Hitching rails and buggy lots are for horses. Leave them clear.

Sundays

Sunday is a day of worship and rest, and most of Shipshewana closes. In our listings, only 9 of 190 places show Sunday hours, and none of the 8 places we've confirmed as Amish-owned do. Plenty of non-Amish businesses close too.

Plan your shopping for Saturday. Use Sunday for the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, a slow drive on the back roads, or the few places that do open. See what's open Sunday.

Photographs

Many Amish hold that posed photographs conflict with their faith. Please don't photograph people, and don't photograph buggies either. That includes pointing a phone out the car window as you pass, and zooming in from across the street.

What's fine: the countryside, your food, your own family, the shops' buildings. Inside a shop, ask before you take pictures. Some owners don't mind, some do, and it's their call.

Buying well

The best thing you can do with your money here is spend it where things are made.

• Buy close to the source. Bakeries, furniture shops, leather and harness makers, quilt and fabric shops. You get better work and the money stays with the people who made it.
• Ask who made it. "Amish-made" on a tag can mean a lot of things. A good shop will tell you whose hands built the table or sewed the quilt.
• Haggling at Amish-owned shops is uncommon; the asked price is usually what they expect.

See the Amish-owned places we've confirmed. We only mark a place Amish-owned when we've confirmed it, so the list is short and honest.

Davis Mercantile is an easy place to start downtown: 21 independent shops and eateries under one roof, with a restored 1906 carousel on the third floor.

At the Flea Market

The Shipshewana Flea Market runs Tuesdays and Wednesdays, May through September. It opens at 8 and closes at 4. Admission is free; parking has a small fee. It's big, it's busy, and every booth is someone's business.

• Ask before you handle anything fragile, and before you photograph a booth.
• Keep the aisles moving. Step to the side to talk, look at your map or wait for your group.
• Mind the edges. Buggies and horses come and go around the grounds. Give them room in the lots.

Dress and words

There's no dress code for visitors. Dressing a little modestly is a courtesy people notice, but nobody expects you to change who you are.

The Amish call people outside their community "English," and many speak Pennsylvania Dutch at home. Most are happy to say hello, answer a question at the counter, or tell you about what they make.

What isn't welcome: staring, following, or treating people as part of the show. Talk to people the way you'd want a stranger to talk to you at your job. And if someone would rather not chat, or says no to a picture, take the no kindly and move on.

The short version

• Slow down for buggies and pass wide.
• Shop on Saturday. Most of town is closed Sunday.
• No photos of people or buggies.
• Buy where things are made, and ask who made them.
• At the Flea Market, ask before you touch or shoot.
• Be the visitor you'd want in your own town.