Branch County's Amish communities

Branch County does not have one single Amish community. The latest county table from the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, published in 2025, identifies three separate settlements here: California/Montgomery, Quincy, and Kinderhook/Coldwater. Those are settlement names, not exact township boundaries.

The California/Montgomery settlement is the largest of the three in that table, with an estimated 1,800 people in 12 church districts. Quincy is listed at about 770 people in four districts, and Kinderhook/Coldwater at about 275 people in two. These are estimates, not a live census, and they will change. Local history traces the California settlement to Swiss Amish families who arrived from Adams County, Indiana, in 1960; it describes Quincy as a separate Swiss Amish settlement with roots in Allen County, Indiana.

It is worth resisting one-size-fits-all descriptions. Amish communities make many decisions at the local church-district level, so clothing, buggy styles, technology, and other practices can differ from one settlement to the next. They are communities of neighbors, not roadside attractions. Farm stands and shops may welcome customers; homes, schools, and farms remain private unless you are invited.

The everyday concern for most drivers is sharing two-lane roads with horse-drawn buggies. Michigan’s driver manual says to slow to about 15 to 20 mph as you approach, stay at least 20 feet behind, and pass only when you can see that the road is clear. Do not honk or rev the engine: a startled horse can move suddenly. Leave extra room on hills and curves, and expect a buggy to be moving much more slowly than your car.