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.

LinkedIn
Nickel Mines & Amish Forgiveness. 15 Years Later (Video)

Nickel Mines & Amish Forgiveness. 15 Years Later (Video)

It was 15 years ago – October 2, 2006 – that the school shooting at the West Nickel Mines School took place. I made a video looking back at that day, but especially focusing on what came afterwards – the forgiveness shown by the Amish. The forgiveness story went around the world, covered in media far and wide. In the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness…

Inside A Once-English, Now-Amish Home (14 Photos)

Inside A Once-English, Now-Amish Home (14 Photos)

What makes this home particularly interesting is that it is another, originally English-built, home that a Swartzentruber family converted to their needs. This is actually the second home from this community at Whitefield, Maine (previously we had a look at the home I nicknamed “blue barn”). You can tell instantly that it’s not built in the distinct Swartzentruber style, going by features you’ll see below…

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen: Wedding Prep For 1,000

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen: Wedding Prep For 1,000

How would you like to manage the shopping, food prep, and cleanup to feed 1,000+ people? Lovina Eicher is facing this task as she prepares for the upcoming wedding of her daugher Loretta, as she writes in her latest column. She will, of course, have some help: Yesterday my three head cooks came, and we went through the recipes to see what all we need….

Inside A Cozy Missouri Amish Home (16 Photos)

Inside A Cozy Missouri Amish Home (16 Photos)

The addresss for this latest home is Curryville, but the community is better known as the Bowling Green settlement (Pike County, MO). We’ve got a three-church-district community that is the Show Me State’s oldest, having been first settled back in 1947 by Swiss Amish from Indiana. I first began hearing about this settlement around a decade ago when a reader sent in photos for a…

Non-Amish Man Puts Up 100 “Please Slow Down” Signs For Amish Neighbors

Non-Amish Man Puts Up 100 “Please Slow Down” Signs For Amish Neighbors

This is a neat story on how a local non-Amish resident of Medina County, Ohio has taken matters into his own hands to try to help Amish neighbors be safer on the roads. There have been multiple recent car-buggy accidents in the area, and Jim Coleman decided to try to do something about it, reports the Medina County Gazette: SPENCER TWP. — Driving in Spencer…

The Amish & Cars (6 Surprising Facts)

The Amish & Cars (6 Surprising Facts)

 Here’s a look at six surprising facts about the Amish and cars. Contrary to some belief, the Amish do make use of cars – just not as drivers. They are often passengers in cars, may hire non-Amish to drive them, and in some cases even own their own vehicles (e.g., for work purposes). This article answers questions including: What is an “Amish taxi“? Do…

Amish Buggy Safety Seats

Amish Buggy Safety Seats

Just a small addendum to the post on the tragic loss of a three-year-old in upstate New York. In that one I made the frequently-made point that different Amish do things differently, and also that some ways of being Amish are more dangerous on the whole than others. Following that post, Jim Halverson has sent in some photos of an Amish vehicle with child safety…

Amish Three-Year-Old Dies After Buggy Fall

Amish Three-Year-Old Dies After Buggy Fall

Tragedy hit on Sunday in an upstate New York community. A young Amish boy lost his life after falling from a buggy. There are not a lot of details, but this is most of the report at news10.com: New York State Police confirmed that on September 12, troopers responded to a report of an accident involving an Amish buggy on Elmer Road in Moira. According…

Stopping in at the Bee County, Texas Amish Community

Stopping in at the Bee County, Texas Amish Community

Reader Rebecca Rury recently took a visit to the only Texas Amish community, at Beeville in Bee County. She stopped in at the community’s best-known Amish business – Borntrager’s Combination Shop – but writes that she “didn’t get to chat with Mr. Borntrager as he was busy shoeing a horse.” Mr. Borntrager is the owner of the combination shop, and the bishop of this community….

A New Map Highlights 17 Businesses in Kentucky’s Largest Amish Community

A New Map Highlights 17 Businesses in Kentucky’s Largest Amish Community

I like drawing attention to these Amish business maps, and it seems more and more communities are creating them. Other recent examples we’ve seen include maps for communities in Buchanan County, Iowa, Livingston County, New York, and Crittenden County, Kentucky. It makes sense as a good way to attract visitors and of course supports the local Amish community. The map we look at today features…