Recently we took a road trip to Sugarcreek, Ohio and some of the surrounding businesses. Sugarcreek is known as the Little Switzerland of Ohio and is most famous for having the World’s Biggest Cuckoo Clock. This, of coarse, was the reason it landed on my travel bucket list.
Let’s start with a brief history of the town…
The early settlers of Sugar Creek valley were Amish families, then German and Swiss families. It is said that the German and Swiss settlers chose the area because the climate and beautiful countryside reminded them of the where they originated from. The Swiss families had deep roots in cheese production and began producing cheese in what is now Sugarcreek using the milk from the local Amish families. Cheese productions is still a big part of the community today, and you can see traces of the cheese production history throughout the community. During our visit I saw several cheese vats on display at various location such as in front of the Cuckoo Clock and at the Broad Run store.
To promote the cheese produced in the area and to draw visitors to the town, Sugarcreek held the first Swiss festival in 1953. The festival was such a success they continued doing it annually and the popularity continued to grow. Seeing how successful the festival was and how many tourists it brought into the town the local business owners began turning Sugarcreek into a Swiss Village. By the 1970’s tourist-oriented business began opening in the town.
We began the day by stopping at Broad Run Cheesehouse. When you walk in you are met with some eclectic items that seem to serve as decorations for the shop, but most are also for sale.
The main area has a deli and assorted packaged cheeses. According to their website they have over 30 varieties of cheese to choose from.
The rest of this building, including a second floor, is a gift shop and boutique. There is a wide range of items including everything from wine and food items, clothing jewelry, home decor and many more unique items.
Next stop was breakfast at Dutch Valley Restaurant. The restaurant offers Amish inspired food in a beautiful dining room. For breakfast they have a full menu to choose from or a buffet, we opted for the latter. I can never turn down a buffet because it allows me to sample more of what the restaurant has to offer. Something unique about the setup of this buffet that I had not seen at others is they have a place built into the buffet were the plates are kept that keeps the them warm. I love this idea! No more cold plate chilling your food before you can get it back to the table to eat.
All of the food was delicious but my two favorites were dishes that I had never tried before…their bread pudding and a frozen pineapple dish. I know, I know…frozen pineapple?!? It seemed weird but boy was it good. I asked the waitress about it and while she couldn’t remember what all was in it it she did know it contained bananas, orange juice and of coarse crushed pineapple. The combination, at least to me, worked very well together.
In addition to the dining room there is also a bakery and coffee shop attached. They have prepackaged items as well as a bakery counter service. The coffee looked so good, but we had eaten so much already there just wasn’t room to try any. I guess that leave me something to look forward to trying next trip.
In between the restaurant and bakery there was a small gift shop with a wide variety of items, including many locally made items. I especially loved the squirrel section…it rang so true to what I deal with everyday at my house lol.
Where the restaurant is located there is also a hotel, theater, gift shop and market. The Dutch Valley Hospitality website has information on all that they offer and other locations. We wondered around and explored the market and gift shop and worked off some of our breakfast. The market offered frozen food, deli good, dry and canned good and so much more.
The gift shop was absolutely beautiful. Made up of three floors brimming with home decor, outdoor decorations, kitchen items, clothing, toys and so much more. What made the shop so beautiful was more than just the building itself, it was how they displayed the merchandise.
We finished up and made our way into downtown Sugarcreek. The first thing will notice is the Swiss-styles storefronts and the murals throughout the town. A local artist, Tom Miller, painted the murals and also designed the storefronts.
Make sure you to stop and look at the mural on the Huntington Bank in particular. A train emerges from one mountain tunnel and then enters into another tunnel, it’s easy to miss if you are not looking for it.
Sitting as the centerpiece of the town is the World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock. The clock is over 23 feet tall and 24 feet wide. In 1977 the clock was featured on the cover of the Guinness Book of World Records.
The clock began it’s life in the 1970’s as part of the Alpine Alpa restaurant in Wilmont, Ohio. After the closing of the restaurant in 2009 the clock was purchased and restored as part of the “Save-a-Landmark” program and found it’s new home in downtown Sugarcreek in May 2012.
During the spring, summer and fall seasons you can see the full operation of the clock every half hour from 9am to 9pm. The cuckoo bird will pop out and the Swiss polka music will being as the band emerges and a couple dances. Please check out my Intragram for videos.
Across the street from the Cuckoo Clock is a brick wall containing 13 sculpted brick panels that depict the story of Sugarcreek and the surrounding area. The panels were designed and sculpted by a local artist, Sherry Crilow.
Next up the up, the Alpine Hills Museum which takes you back in time with three floors of displays relating to the early days of the town’s Swiss and Amish Heritage. Some of the displays even have audio and video presentations.
On the main floor you’ll see displays of a traditional Amish kitchen, a 1890’s cheese house, woodworking shop, printing press, vintage clothing and many other items.
The second floor has displays that depict the everyday life of those living in the Sugarcreek area, a music display complete with Swiss Alp Horns and other remnants from the rich history of the area.
The lower level was probably my favorite. This area contains a display and audio presentation of 1895 fire equipment, modes of early transportation, and tools of the trade from the past.
After taking in the main attractions we explored several of the stores. One quirky store stands out from the rest because it is just as much of an attraction as it is a store. Unfortunately I cannot tell you the store’s name because there was no signage outside to tell me but it is located on the main drag.
Within the store you will find a variety of antiques and oddities for sale, these items alone are interesting to just walk around and check out.
One display in particular I found fascinating was the replica horror movie houses on the top shelf as you walk into the store. I have never seen anything like these.
In addition to the items for sale in the store, they offer a Sci-Fi – Horror movie “Museum” made up of Halloween props, horror movie memorabilia and random horror/sci-fi items.
While this store felt out of place from the town and other shops, me being the Halloween and horror movie fan that I am, I loved it.
Walking around Sugarcreek, listening the the Swiss music, make sure to take your time and notice all the little extra touches that have been added. There are many interesting things to be seen.
We finished out our day by exploring a few other shops around the area including in Millersburg and Walnut Creek, but did not have time to take in everything. This just means I will need to plan another trip to the area, maybe more than one…I still need to check out the wineries too.
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