Michigan's oldest Amish community

The rolling farm country around Centreville and Nottawa is home to the oldest — and largest — Amish settlement in Michigan. It began in 1910, when a Swiss Amish family moved up from Indiana and settled southeast of Nottawa; others followed, and today roughly 2,000 Old Order Amish live across this part of the county in more than a dozen church districts.

For someone moving here, that shapes daily life in small ways. You’ll share the back roads with horse-drawn buggies — slow down and pass with care, especially on hills and at dusk, since they move far slower than a car and aren’t always easy to see. And you’ll find Amish farms, sawmills, furniture and harness makers, bakeries, and roadside stands tucked all through the countryside; the farm stands and shops are one of the real pleasures of living out here.

The community is a long-established and respected part of this corner of Michigan — quietly keeping to its own way of life, but woven into the fabric of the place.