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.
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