Horses definitely seem to rule in Mesopotamia Ohio,
where the Amish make up more than 60 percent of the population.
I wrote about this charming small town in northern
Ohio a few days ago, but here are a few more photos from our recent visit
there.
Automobiles and buggies commonly share the road in
this region of Ohio, and it’s possible to gas up your car at Mesopotamia’s
1940s-vintage gas stations on a day other than Sunday. But the town does
reserve special spaces for their hard-working equine residents.
Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for
creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts
across the Web.
© Dominique King 2009
I wonder about the town's name... who decided long ago to call it Mesopotamia? Hmmm... regardless, it looks decidedly charming!
Posted by: Angela Nickerson | January 23, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Very interesting--thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Linda | January 23, 2009 at 09:37 AM
How wonderful to be able to meet the yesterdays charm like this. Like being thrown back in town. I wish we could go back to horse carriages - much more romantic! *giggles*
Posted by: Lifecruiser.com | January 23, 2009 at 11:22 AM
That should have been: "...been thrown back in TIME..." *giggles*
Posted by: Lifecruiser.com | January 23, 2009 at 11:23 AM
I love that street sign! Sometimes it's easy to forget that even within the US there are people who live very different lives from what I experience and what we see on TV. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Deborah Dubrow | January 23, 2009 at 03:45 PM
I love the "no car" sign.
Horse-drawn carriages would be so much more romantic. And just think- no more worrying about the price of oil!
Posted by: gypsyscarlett | January 24, 2009 at 08:35 AM
You know I've never been on a horse-drawn carriage, or buggy, o.k. I'm a bit out of touch because I don't even know what to call it. I would like to try it, it sounds like a nice and slow way to travel. It would be a nice change from my morning commute.
Cool pictures, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Carolina | January 24, 2009 at 09:25 AM
Angela-The town derives its name from the fact that it sits between two Ohio rivers, the Cuyahoga and the Grand...much as its ancient namesake sat between two rivers-the Tigris and Euphrates. Check out the original story I did about the town (you can get there from the first link in this post). I talked a little about the name and linked to another post that explained how the town got its name in the early 1800s because it was one of several with the same name and they changed it to Mesopotamia to avoid confusion for folks delivering things to one or the other of the several different locations.
Linda-Thanks for stopping by. This is one of the most visibly Amish of the towns in this largely Amish area of Ohio.
Lifecruiser-Mespo is a charming little town. You should see it on a day other than Sunday, when the area in front of the general store and that "no cars" sign is filled with Amish men and their horses and buggies. I'm guessing it's quite the social center for the area's Amish community.
Debbie-I've seen the sign a few times in the past, but I've always been reluctant to pull out the camera when the area is busy with Amish going to the store. I was glad to finally get out there on a Sunday when I could take photos at will :)
Gypsy-Oil prices aren't very romantic, are they?
Thanks for stopping by!
Carolina-I've usually heard the Amish vehicles referred to as horse and buggies. They're pretty utilitarian.
It seems like the "carriages" I've seen are a little more opulent and you can often take the top down (they give horse-drawn carriage rides around a couple of small downtown areas here in southeast Michigan, Mackinac Island in northern Michigan is well known for its carriages on an island where they do not allow cars, and I saw carriages for tourist rides around Cincinnati Ohio).
Posted by: Dominique King | January 24, 2009 at 09:49 AM