swiss heritage village and museum

This small town has put together an educational and valuable resource for not only its citizens but people of Swiss/German heritage of any locale. The world's largest cider press is not to be missed! Docents are well informed, dress in period costumes and offer tours of actual historic buildings moved to the property to present a 'village'. Fun for kids.

The guided tour was an excellent value! Ashleigh our docent was absolutely fantastic and kept our children interested throughout the tour. They are still talking about all the things they learned. The site itself contains several unique historically important buildings, including the "worlds largest" apple cider press. If you are interested in history, this is an excellent experience!

Especially enjoyable for everyone, this outdoor village and indoor museum does not have replica structures as are sometimes found in similar villages. This village was reconstructed by moving actual structures into this location. These were all local building brought back together for their preservation, so the public could enjoy the Swiss heritage. The Swiss are proud people, as we all should be, of our roots. The only difference is that a lot of us do not know our roots.Whether Swiss or not, you will especially enjoy the fall festival which is open first on a Friday to the students from the surrounding communities. They are not only shown, but they participate in activities such as milking, churning butter, chopping wood, sawing wood, learning in a one room school with no computers, having outdoor recesses, seeing what their homes were like with no televisions and no electronic devices, visiting the different Native American tribes from the area and learning how they started a fire without matches, participating in making cider. It's a total hands-on day for all of the kids. The following day on Saturday, the community is invited to come and participate. The buildings are open with their expertise storytellers ready to lend your ear about how the building was moved or how the building was used.The ready volunteers are available when the museum and village are open to take you on a walking tour. They are also trained in giving you an exciting story about how the village was assembled and what the buildings had been used for in the past.This is the largest outdoor living museum in this corner of the country. There is a charge to get in. Check their website to get the current information concerning prices and hours that they are open.

We sincerely appreciate the visit of Julia H. of Chantilly, VA to our historic Swiss Heritage Village and Museum in October 2011. Our mission is to spark and sustain an interest in the cultural heritage of the Berne, Indiana area, and answer questions of our valued visitors. Our tour includes matters of faith as it relates to our heritage and our historic buildings, but it is not our purpose to get into a discussion of religious beliefs. We apologize to Julia H. for any misunderstanding and hope she will visit again. Doug Milligan, Executive Director of Swiss Heritage Society, Inc.

I knew going in that the Anabaptists would be mentioned, but thought it wouldn't be the focal point of the talk -- I wanted to hear about the experiences of the Swiss immigrants in Adams County, not get a repeat of the religious lecture I'd gotten at the Menno-Hof. Unfortunately, if you're not familiar with general Christian history, you'll come away thinking that Martin Luther was the only one who ever broke away from Rome, and that the Anabaptists were the only ones who were ever persecuted for their beliefs. Our guide, Ione, was quite anti-Catholic; she brought out the usual twaddle ("Catholics worship Mary!") and when I corrected her she got even more antagonistic. So be warned.