amish illinois

While Amish buggies are relatively simple they do have some modern parts such as battery powered lights and reflective symbols.

The Amish Buggy

In this unique area of Illinois, some of the people still travel by one-horsepower.  We call them "the plain people" or Amish.   You can't miss the Illinois Amish with their different sizes of four wheeled buggies, wagons, and buckboards and their horse-made apples, if you know what I mean.  You can follow the Amish buggies around town to places such as grocery stores, banks, doctor's offices, or even to the local pharmacy for a hand dipped ice cream cone.  Small towns like Arthur, Il have parking for cars and hitch racks for the Illinois Amish scattered throughout the downtown district.

When Amish need to travel outside of the area they will hire drivers to take them.  The Illinois Amish will also use buses, trains, or other styles of public transportation.  Many Amish families have relatives scattered throughout the country and must hire these drivers to attend events such as weddings and funerals.  Occasionally the Amish will even use an airplane to travel to their destinations from Illinois.

Every settlement of Amish including the Illinois Amish have a little different of style to the buggy.  The central Illinois area has three major Amish buggy makers, blacksmiths, and a harnass shop.  Over the years, many improvements have been made to the Amish buggy in relation to its construction.  These were made to improve the safety and concerns of government regulations which pertained to the Illinois Amish and their buggies.  Some of the examples of changes that were made to the central Illinois Amish buggies were things like LED lights for nighttime use, luminous tape that is more visible by car headlight, and luminous triangles on the back of a Amish buggy to warn passing cars.

The average speed of a Amish horse drawn buggy is between 5 and 10 miles and hour.  The Illinois Amish will travel many miles to buy the perfect horse.  Most of the horses that the Illinois Amish use are of racing stocks and are great buggies.  Many Amish families have different buggies to use during different events.  They have a smaller buggy to run errands in and large buggies to hold multiple family members.  The Illinois Amish also have open buggies as well as closed buggies to use during the different seasons.  All the buggies used here in Central Illinois by the Amish are black.