Author: Erik Wesner

Erik Wesner is the creator of amishamerica.com, and author of Success Made Simple: An Inside Look At Why Amish Businesses Thrive. Erik began visiting Amish communities in 2004 – eventually meeting thousands of Amish families while selling books.

He began writing about the Amish on this website in 2006, and is often cited in national media, including USA Today, The New York Times, and others on a wide range of Amish topics. A native of North Carolina, Erik has visited dozens of Amish communities across the country, and loves spending time with Amish friends and discovering new Amish places.

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An Amish Garage Sale & More: Scenes From a Michigan Community (17 Photos)

An Amish Garage Sale & More: Scenes From a Michigan Community (17 Photos)

Jim Halverson is back with another look around the Cass City, Michigan Amish community – this one taking in a local Amish-attended garage sale, marked with balloons out front – along with a few other sights from around the settlement. We’ve previously seen how garage sales are popular with the Amish in northern Indiana. This one was being run out of a greenhouse: secondhand dresses,…

Vaccine Mandate After All? Amish School Parents Lose 2nd Round — Court Finds Case “Without Merit”

Vaccine Mandate After All? Amish School Parents Lose 2nd Round — Court Finds Case “Without Merit”

Amish parents in New York face a setback in the latest of a back-and-forth series of court decisions. In news released Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the Amish parents and schools in the long-running case over vaccine requirements in New York schools. As a reminder, the current NY law requires vaccines not only in public schools, but in privately-operated ones…

Amish Father: County Threatened To Take My Children Over Outhouse Permits

Amish Father: County Threatened To Take My Children Over Outhouse Permits

The county, for its part, “vehemently den[ies]” that claim, according to new reporting at Cowboy State Daily. The issue is one we looked at last week in the Amish community at Hulett, Wyoming. A non-Amish rancher claimed that Crook County officials were driving Amish families away due to how it was handling a dispute over Amish use of outhouses. The man in question claimed that…

New from Ben & Rose: “Stroll Over Heaven”

New from Ben & Rose: “Stroll Over Heaven”

Ben & Rose have just released a new tune – “Stroll Over Heaven” is a gospel song written by Carl L. Trivette in 1952. It was popularized more recently by Alan Jackson on his 2005 gospel release Precious Memories. This is their first since their team-up with Rose’s siblings Mike & Marty on “Palms of Victory”. We actually got a short demo clip preview of…

Amish Owner Planned to Breed His Injured Dog, Then Put Her Down. A Shelter Got Her First

Amish Owner Planned to Breed His Injured Dog, Then Put Her Down. A Shelter Got Her First

A really sad, and maddening, story was reported last week out of upstate New York. Some of this is hard to read. Via WWNY: POTSDAM, New York (WWNY) – Warning: the photos and description of the dog’s injury may be upsetting The St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a suspected case of animal cruelty after a severely injured dog was brought to the Potsdam…

Michigan Is America’s #6 Amish State — Here Are Its 10 Biggest Communities

Michigan Is America’s #6 Amish State — Here Are Its 10 Biggest Communities

Michigan is home to America’s sixth-largest Amish population. Over 20,000 Amish live in more than 50 settlements across the state. These ten communities are the largest in Michigan, based on the most current Amish population estimates. Population numbers via Young Center for Anabaptist & Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College (source link at bottom). 1. Centreville Centreville (St. Joseph County) Community founded: 1910 Total Amish population:…

Horse Tramples Person At Pennsylvania Amish Farm; Life Flight Grounded By Clouds

Horse Tramples Person At Pennsylvania Amish Farm; Life Flight Grounded By Clouds

Emergency crews in central Pennsylvania were called to an Amish farm on Saturday evening after a person was run over by a horse. The call came in shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Responders were drawn from both Dauphin and neighboring Perry County. A few details, per PennLive, citing county 911 dispatchers: The call, reported as a traumatic injury,…

The Top 3 Buffet Restaurants in America Are All in Amish Country

The Top 3 Buffet Restaurants in America Are All in Amish Country

That’s according to the latest Top 10 list just released by USA Today, which pegs several Amish Country/PA Dutch-style buffets as the best in the country. The top three, in fact, are all in that category. In order, they are: Shady Maple Smorgasbord (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) Der Dutchman (Sarasota, Florida) Miller’s Smorgasbord (Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) And not only that, but a fourth Amish Country buffet…

Online Influencers Are Recording Interactions With Unknowing Amish People Using Camera Glasses — And Racking Up Millions Of Views

Online Influencers Are Recording Interactions With Unknowing Amish People Using Camera Glasses — And Racking Up Millions Of Views

A pair of online influencers have been scoring a huge amount of online attention – in the millions of views – thanks to videos surreptitiously recording their conversations and interactions with Amish people. The videos are recorded using camera technology built into Meta AI glasses, typically at food stand businesses in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and related markets. But the influencers are now getting attention they…

4 Amish Teens Caught Breaking Into Home — Charged With Felony Burglary, Underage Drinking; Buggies Towed

4 Amish Teens Caught Breaking Into Home — Charged With Felony Burglary, Underage Drinking; Buggies Towed

Four Amish youth have landed themselves in hot water, after allegedly breaking into a home in Holmes County, Ohio. Deputies arrived to see them fleeing – and they were apparently still inside the home when law enforcement arrived. Those involved face charges including felony burglary, underage alcohol offenses, and for one, even an assault charge. This happened in Salt Creek Township on June 21st. And it wasn’t an…