Amish Byways - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 667

canny resemblance to the rural alpine valleys they had left behind in their native countries
of Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
TurningnorthwardonRte.95atButler,thedrivecontinuestoMalabarFarmStatePark,
once the country estate of Pulitzer prizewinning author Louis Bromfield. Named for the
India subcontinent's Malabar Coast, a spot where Bromfield had once spent time, the farm
encompasses more the 900 acres of fields and forests.
AmongthemanycelebritieswhovisitedBromfieldwereHumphreyBogartandLauren
Bacall, who spent their honeymoon here in 1945. Bromfield's 32-room mansion, which
seems all the more lavish in contrast to the nearby Amish country, is open year-round, and
tours of the grounds—the only working farm in the Ohio State Park system—are conduc-
tedbytractor-drawnwagon.Afewmilesfartheron,PleasantHillLakeParkdrawsboaters,
anglers, and anyone else in search of a cooling dip.
2. Mohican Memorial State Forest
Back on Rte. 97 the drive continues east through rolling hills as it approaches Mohican
Memorial State Forest. Embracing a total of some 5,000 acres, the preserve straddles the
Clear Fork-Mohican River. Though 22 miles of trails and old logging roads beckon visit-
ors into the wilds, you can also see a great deal by car. For a quick tour follow the park
road north to the covered bridge that spans the river, then venture on foot along the water's
edge to Big and Little Lyons Falls and plunging Clear Fork Gorge, just below the Pleasant
Hill Dam. It's hard to tell, but most of this area was once cleared for farming; during the
Depression-era 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps helped in reforestation efforts.
3. Millersburg
AmishcountrybeginssomewhereeastofLoudonville.There'snoofficialboundary;you'll
know that you have arrived when you find yourself sharing the road with a horse-drawn
buggy or spot a team of Belgian horses pulling a plow or wagon through a field. Some
35,000 Amish—the largest community of its kind in the world—reside in the gently fol-
ded farmlands that roll eastward from this point, the 400 square miles of very special land
known throughout the region as Amish Country.
Millersburg, like many towns in the region, is a busy crafts center where visitors can
rub elbows with the Amish who come to buy supplies and sell their wares. Prowl the
shopsforleathergoods,furniture,woolens,andhandmadequilts(truetreasures).Thenvis-
it Victorian House, an opulent Queen Anne home turned museum, whose 28 antique-filled