Its a busy Saturday morning in Fredericksburg. The day is heating up and so is the ball game in the field down by Salt Creek. Tractors, horse buggies, cars, trucks and electric bicycles are jockeying for space and taking their turn at the 4-way stop in the center of town. Lem’s pizza is doing a brisk business with the Amish as ice cream proves popular this morning. The parking lot for horse buggies hitched behind the Fredericksburg Square Market is nearly full, though no horse is being turned away.
Ted and I get a coffee and share a carrot cake at the Salt Creek Cafe and sit at the corner table watching the tapestry of the town unfold. As it turns out, beyond some similarities in clothing the local Amish accept technology in varying degrees depending what group they belong to. In Holmes county, there are 11 different Amish affiliations, each with their own set of customs.
One elderly couple passes by in a buggy that does not have the slow-moving triangle sign attached to the back of their vehicle while another woman slowly drives a large tractor into town. A young couple with seven children pass us and wave from their buggy. Some Amish pass through town on electric bikes.
The sounds of the streets are filled with the clip-clop-clip-clop of horses. In town there are a few essentials: grocery, hardware, library, post office, bank and one luxury: an upscale coffee shop. This is part of the Amish way: mostly the essentials.
As we leave the coffee shop, we meet the man and daughter who had passed us before on a bicycle. He is using an electric bike. I teased him about needing the extra assistance. “Well look at what I have to tow,” he said. I smiled. The irony was not lost on me. We both wished each other a safe trip ahead.
