Harmony, MN

Harmony is a Fillmore County city in Minnesota's Blufflands, where farm roads, limestone bluffs, and the trail all point toward the same small center. Founded in 1880, it is the southern end of the 18-mile Harmony-Preston Valley State Trail, which links with the Root River Trail in Preston. The trail makes Harmony a natural starting point for rides and walks through the river-cut country, while U.S. 52 and Minnesota 139 handle the everyday traffic.

Then there is the Amish country around town. Families arrived from Ohio in 1974, and Minnesota's largest Amish settlement now includes farms, construction shops, furniture makers, markets, quilts, baked goods, and other goods sold through area businesses and farm stands. Fillmore Central keeps its high school in Harmony, with elementary and middle school in Preston. The local mix is unusual but easy to understand: trail town, farm town, school town, and gateway to a living Amish craft and farming economy, all in one limestone valley. That combination gives Harmony more layers than its population would suggest.