THE LAST COLUMNIST™

Please People, If You Are Hungry You Go To Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, Indiana

Why are you people coming to a complete stop in Shipshewana to eat at a restaurant? Drive right past the Blue Gate and go into Middlebury. The Blue Gate is good food but Das Dutchman Essenhaus is the place for me to go my friends. By the car or bus load they have room for you. Multiple floors with dining halls that can accommodate everybody. There is restaurant style menu ordering or family style cooking for large groups in the banquet style dining halls.
Take in the atmosphere and have the best meal you have had in a long time in their restaurant. Roast Beef the way long dead Grandmother's used to cook it. You won't want to see an Arby's for the rest of your life. Turkey sandwiches and hamburgers on their homemade buns of course. Homemade bread and dinner rolls right out of their oven, not out of a freezer after traveling across the state in a truck. After eating all that food you can walk through the gift shop hallways leading to the Bakery. Prepare to add two notches to your belt by just walking in and looking around here my friends.
Don't let the prices scare you away, yes everything appears expensive. You must remember everything you see is made the way it used to be made. Homemade recipes used for handmade bread, pies, dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls. Do not leave here empty handed, the expense is worth it. Be smart and remember to take a large cooler for your food purchases, you will end up using it.
Take a walk around The Village Shops with your family and forget about all the world's problems. Before you leave commercial Amish Country don't forget to stray off the State Highway system for a drive down some country roads. Drive carefully watching out for horse and wagon, stop at roadside sales and talk to the real Amish people. Or don't. Your business. Enjoy your visit if you go, we did.

Shipshewana: Amish Inc.

By: THE LAST COLUMNIST
Shipshewana and Middlebury, Indiana, U.S.A.- Thank you for stopping in this slow part of the world with me ladies and gentlemen. While researching a story on the Lost Colony of Roanoke in September I ended up here in the Land of the Amish. The Amish people's religion requires them to shun all modern conveniences that would advance their civilization. The fundamentalist Amish consider themselves to be as advanced as God wants them to be through the practical use of their hands. Transportation is by horse and wagon only. Modernized Amish have found a way to twist the Bible of course, hence modern day 21st Century Shipshewana.

I am surprised at what the town has become in the last 20 years. Reminiscent of carnival barkers, the out of town pitchman have moved in to sell 'made in china' replicas of yester year. The old flea market has become a sideshow for permanent corporate style showcase booths. It looks like most of the people you see there in Amish Costume only dress that way from 9 to 5.
Photo's by THE LAST COLUMNIST
picture of horses
Shipshewana, Indiana

I recommend you stop at the Galarina Folk Arts studio for a real local Amish art experience, located at Morton and Depot Street. You can also view an extensive collection of works for sale by artist Will Moses (Grandma's great grandson). Will Moses visits the gallery for 2 art shows a year. The Galarina owner is well versed in regards to the art he sells so ask him every question you have about Moses. I hit him with questions and he still didn't kick me out of his gallery. You should have heard the questions. The website for the gallery is- www.amishart.com.

Most of Shipshewana is well worth missing now. If you want to see the true Amish experience get out of that cultural disaster and hit the surrounding towns, roadside shops and bake sales out in front of the real Amish Houses. When in Shipshewana stop at Yoder's General Store and the Menno-Hof Museum for a cultural experience I have already described. Go to Middlebury pictured below.
picture of galarina
Send E-mail to b52@thelastcolumnist.com

Voodoo, the Amish and the Missing Link

By: THE LAST COLUMNIST
The exploitation of the Amish religion's culture for profit isn't as denigrating as it is for Voodoo, or as dangerous. It does exist though my friends. One of my mission statements is that I travel to bear witness to all types of Human Behavior. It turns out that I have found strange similarities between the Amish religion and the Midnight Voodoo ritual religion in the lands of Haiti and Mother Africa. The way these two entities practice their religion couldn't be farther apart. Cultural upheaval roots being the same, one religion is considered less controversial to witness while being practiced, I am sorry to report.

The similarities in both cultures are based on the fact that they are denominations of Christianity. One is a break away group from a group of Protestant break aways. The other group practices elements of Roman Catholicism mixed with native spiritual beliefs after breaking away from people trying to enslave them. In their native lands the daily lifestyles are similar when it comes to no electricity, the use of well water and no modern conveniences. Of course one group lives this way by choice with a government to protect them and provide for them if necessary.

The other group lives in misery with no modern conveniences because their corrupt governments keep them in poverty. They turn to their religion for hope in the face of the government's abuse and neglect. Have I found another similarity to all of us? In my opinion Shipshewana has been turned into a sideshow by non Amish investors that seek to profit by exploiting the once simple life of the Amish religion. On the subject of exploitation, the same thing is seen by any tourist caught in Haiti, and it is always showtime in New Orleans, Louisiana when it comes to the exploitation of Religious symbols.

The only thing I could think of doing while in Shipshewana was shake my head at what it has become in the last twenty years. I'm wondering when the World Famous Flea Market will be under the roof of an extension of a Walmart parking lot. Maybe there isn't a story here and I'm just trying to get E-mails from Amish and Voodoo lovers that don't like the comparison. This article's headline spoke of Voodoo, the Amish and the Missing Link. I wrote about Voodoo and the Amish. As for the Missing Link, it is still there my friends.

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