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Alpine Hills Museum
While enjoying Sugarcreek, Ohio’s Little Switzerland, get to know its past at the Alpine Hills Museum. The area was a popular landing spot for Swiss, German and Amish immigrants, a fact that’s reflected in the village’s culture — and at this museum, founded in 1976. Peruse artifacts, including clothing items, books, cheesemaking tools and photographs — as well as audio-visual displays. Walk through exhibits simulating an 1895 firehouse, an 1800s Swiss cheese house, a 19th-century Amish kitchen, a blacksmith shop and more. 106 W. Main St., Sugarcreek, 330-852-4113, alpinehillssugarcreek.com
Guggisberg Cheese
In the 1940s, Alfred and Margaret Guggisberg left Switzerland and immigrated to Ohio — quickly finding a place in the land of opportunity. Using American milk and keeping the more sensitive stateside palate in mind, Alfred developed a new, subtler kind of cheese based on his homeland’s best-known offering: baby Swiss. It’s a creamier, milder version of the mainstay. Guggisberg Cheese, founded in 1950, is now world-famous. At the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest, Guggisberg’s Ziller and smoked Swiss took first place. Take home a block to taste Switzerland. 5060 state Route 557, Millersburg, 330-893-2500, babyswiss.com
The Ohio Swiss Festival
Ladies in long red skirts, black vests and lacy headpieces. The rich aroma of cheese. Yodeling voices and polka music. Though visitors to Little Switzerland find themselves surrounded by Swiss heritage all year, it’s during the Ohio Swiss Festival, from Sept. 26 to 28, that the spot truly comes to life. Since 1953, Sugarcreek has hosted this all-out celebration of Swiss culture. Featuring live music — including the simultaneous sounds of alphorns, long wooden instruments — wine and cheese tastings, contests such as a Little Swiss Miss pageant and parades, it transports visitors to an alpine village. Don’t miss a traditional game of Steinstossen, in which contestants compete to throw a stone weighing up to 138 pounds the furthest. Sugarcreek, ohioswissfestival.com
Swiss Heritage Winery
After sampling signature cheeses at the neighboring Broad Run Cheesehouse, stop by Swiss Heritage Winery for the perfect complement. Opened in 2002 by Broad Run’s founders, Hans and Nancy Schindler, the winery is still family-run today. Over 20 varietals of wine are made on-site, including fruit and berry wines, white wines and red wines — aged in oak barrels for around six months. Its Dog Gone Good red wine won two platinum awards at the 2018 international Monterey Wine Competition, edging out California wineries. Swiss Heritage wines are sweeter — Ohio’s climate, like Germany’s, is conducive to more sugary grapes. Try the Dutch apple, rhubarb strawberry, red raspberry or cranberry cherry — Hans’ favorite blend. The latter’s bottle depicts the founder in traditional Swiss garb, honoring his heritage. 6011 Old Route 39 NW, Dover, 330-343-3884, swissheritagewinery.com
Towering Cuckoo Clock
Though the cuckoo clock may be emblematic of Swiss culture, one need not travel overseas to see one of the world’s largest examples. A working cuckoo clock, over 23 feet tall and 24 feet wide, graces the center of Sugarcreek’s Swiss Village. Its construction, beginning in 1963, took 12 years to complete and cost $50,000. By 2007, it had been restored — and, by 2012, it had moved to its current home. Surrounded by a small garden, it chimes every half hour, triggering a miniature polka band to appear beside a rotating water wheel. A bell sounds and a cuckoo bird flaps its wings. Jolly Swiss music plays as mechanized musicians mime along — providing a tune for a small dancing couple. 100 N. Broadway St., Sugarcreek, visitsugarcreek.com
