Sampling Amish Wares in Yadkin Valley

The fertile farmland in the Swan Creek area of the state’s Yadkin Valley provides some of the prettiest scenery the state has to offer. A doable day trip from many areas of the state (only one-and-a-half hours from Charlotte, 30 minutes from Winston-Salem and two hours from Raleigh) you’ll find numerous wineries that make up the state’s first American Viticultural Area. It is also home to North Carolina’s Amish community, in the area around Hamptonville.

Shiloh General Store is a popular draw, owned by EnergyUnited members Phil and Margaret Graber, one of the community’s 30 Amish families. According to Phil, people often stop by when headed to the mountains. For others, it has become a destination.

Rows and rows of beautiful jarred canned goods, bulk flour and other baking products, spices, snacks and cutlery line the shelves. The Dutch Kettle jams and jellies are made locally by an Amish family. Other canned goods are shipped in from an Amish community in Millersburg, Ohio. Graber calls them “home-style.”

“We use the old recipes. They taste different from commercial products,” Graber explains.

The store offers a selection of baked goods and sandwiches. One of the specialties is sourdough bread, which is baked on the premises.

The store has picnic tables and other seating out front — a perfect place to unwind and, if you’re lucky, spot a horse and buggy clippety-clopping down the road.

Another nearby Amish store showcases beautiful, handcrafted Amish furniture. About a half mile from the Shiloh General Store is Home Acres Fine Furniture. The store, owned by EnergyUnited members Marvin and Mary Miller, is in a beautiful, two-story, white clapboard farmhouse dating back to 1910, a nice environment to browse the showrooms and arrange for custom-made furniture.

Wholesome Country Creamery, also an EnergyUnited member, is the place to stop for rich, creamy ice cream, yogurt, milk and kefir that is produced on the premises from John Hostetler’s grass-fed, non-GMO dairy. The small, on-farm shop also sells pork produced on the farm.

Nearby: Swan Creek Wine Trail

If you have more time to spend in the Hamptonville area, six vineyards are part of the Swan Creek Wine Trail: Windsor Run Cellars, Laurel Gray Vineyards & Winery, Shadow Springs Vineyard, Dobbins Creek Vineyard, Raffaldini Vineyards & Winery, and Piccione Vineyard (pictured above). (More information on each winery is available.) The wineries host a Harvest Festival Oct. 8-9. On Nov. 19-20, they host a Barrel Tasting Red Riedel Event and Holiday Open House, yet another chance to enjoy the fall season in Yadkin Valley.

A couple of miles further is Shady Hollow Greenhouse, owned by Simon and Lillian Swartzentruber, which offers a selection of beautiful mums and pansies in the fall, and a large variety of bedding plants and vegetables in the spring.

Know Before You Go

Shiloh General Store

Tues–Fri 9–5 | Sat 9–4 |  Closed Sun, Mon
5520 St. Paul Church Rd, Hamptonville
336-468-4789

Home Acres Fine Furniture

Mon–Sat 9:30–4:30 | Closed Sun
6224 Windsor Rd, Hamptonville
336-468-1744

Wholesome Country Creamery

Mon–Sat 8–6 | Closed Sun
6400 Windsor Rd, Hamptonville. 336-468-1520

Shady Hollow Greenhouse

Mon–Fri 8:30–5:30 | Sat 8:30–4:30
Closed Sun
528 Somers School Rd, Hamptonville
336-468-2874