Stephanie Reed's Blog: Plain and Simple Blog - Posts Tagged "plain-city"

Today I will mail copies of The Bargain to a contest winner and some family members. Last night I had the bright idea of mailing them out from the setting of The Bargain, which is Plain City, Ohio. Plain City is partly in Union and partly in Madison County, roughly northwest of Columbus. In 2005, when I first interviewed the woman on whom I based Betsie Troyer, only nine Amish women remained from a once-large population. Today only five Old Order Amish women remain. Where did all the rest of the Amish go? Many moved to find cheaper land. Columbus and its rapidly expanding suburbs have gobbled up land and driven up prices since the 70s. Also, many of the former Amish still live in town, but nowadays they're Beachy Amish, or some say Beachy Mennonite. If you keep your eyes open, you can see many of the old Amish names on business signs. If you're really curious, you can take a drive along Amish Pike and see where many used to live. The Amish cemetery on Amish Pike tells the rest of the story.