Fairview and Oscoda's Amish country

Fairview, in the northeast corner of the county, is Oscoda County’s second community and the center of a long-standing Amish settlement. Amish families first came to the Mio area from Ohio more than a century ago, and today’s community — one of the oldest in Michigan — farms the rolling open land around Fairview. You’ll share the road with horse-drawn buggies here, and you’ll find Amish farm stands, a bulk-foods store, and small family workshops.

Fairview is also known, of all things, as the “wild turkey capital of Michigan” — a fitting title in a county this full of woods and game. A couple of homegrown attractions sit right in town: the Michigan AuSable Valley Railroad, a quarter-scale ridable miniature railway that carries passengers on a loop through the jack pine (Kirtland’s warblers are often visible along the way), and Steiner’s Museum, a collection of pioneer artifacts.

It’s a quieter, more agricultural pocket than the forested rest of the county — rolling farmland edged by the Huron National Forest, with small lakes scattered around. If you’re looking at property here, the same rural basics apply: wells, septic, and a lot of open sky.