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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9 Ways Amish Women’s Lives Have Changed

9 Ways Amish Women’s Lives Have Changed

How have Amish women’s lives changed in the last 50 years? Fran Handrick recently completed a PhD  entitled “Amish women: work and change – an investigation into the lives of Amish women in Pennsylvania and Ohio” at the University of Birmingham. Fran is here to share some things she learned with us today – specifically nine areas where she discovered Amish women’s lives have changed,…

German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story (Interview & 2-Book Giveaway)

German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story (Interview & 2-Book Giveaway)

Nic Stoltzfus (S. Nicholas Stoltzfus) is a 10th-generation descendant of Nicholas Stoltzfus, one of the best-known figures in Amish and Anabaptist history. Nic is also the author of a book released last year on his ancestor’s family: German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story. The Stoltzfus surname is one that most who know the Amish are well-acquainted with, as it is the most…

Wisconsin Amish Farmhouse For Sale (14 Photos)

Wisconsin Amish Farmhouse For Sale (14 Photos)

While I often share Amish homes which are already off the market, here is one that is for sale right now. This farmhouse on 40 acres of land is found in Marathon County, Wisconsin, in a small two-district settlement. It’s four bedrooms and one bath. As you look through the photos, see if you can guess the price, which I’ll share at the end. There…

Amish in Gallia County, Ohio: We Don’t Vote, But We Like Trump

Amish in Gallia County, Ohio: We Don’t Vote, But We Like Trump

Gallia County is way down in southeastern Ohio on the West Virginia border. I visited back in 2013 – it’s well off the beaten track, but a pleasant place by my impression, with some beautiful hilly country. There are two Amish settlements in this county, one of five church districts and the other of two. A writer named Jason Williams did something rather unusual: he…

Amish Cook Gloria Yoder In Car Accident

Amish Cook Gloria Yoder In Car Accident

Amish Cook Gloria Yoder‘s editor Kevin Williams has filled in on her column this week for an unfortunate reason: Gloria was involved in a serious accident on the road. But this wasn’t a buggy accident, as you might be thinking. Kevin describes what happened: I wanted to reach out to readers this week in place of Gloria. Gloria and two of her children were involved…

Are These “Fake Amish”? (Updated: Not Fake)

The Amish are in the news again, this time as a backdrop to a speech given by President Trump in Lititz, Pennsylvania yesterday. You can see several young Amish-looking fellows in this clip below. This has gotten some strong reaction online, with multiple people claiming they are “fake Amish” or even “paid actors”. Jump to Update Hey people. Just an FYI – these are fake…

Four Amish Wedding Songs

Four Amish Wedding Songs

In some Amish communities, such as Lancaster County, the traditional wedding season is the autumn months following harvest, spanning from late October, through November, and into December. In other communities (and for that matter, in Lancaster County as well), that tradition has given way to weddings happening at other times of the year, such as May or June. But with the traditional wedding season arriving,…

2020 Nationwide Amish Settlement List

2020 Nationwide Amish Settlement List

Where do the Amish live? A new resource has been published listing the locations of nearly 600 Amish settlements across North America. You can access the list at the Young Center’s Amish Studies website. This list actually includes two nations – the US, and Canada with its much smaller Amish population. Organized by state and province, it provides some basic useful information for each settlement:…

Amish Brothers Violate Probation, Sentenced To 15 Years Prison In Abuse Case

This is a follow-up to the Missouri abuse case story widely covered last month. From KY3: MARSHFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A Webster County judge Thursday sent two Amish brothers for prison for violating terms of their probation. Petie and Aaron Schartz of Seymour, Mo. will spend 15 years in prison for their sexual abuse convictions. The judge had previously sentenced the brothers to five years…

What Makes A Good Amish Store?

What Makes A Good Amish Store?

I just happened to be looking at reviews for Mishler’s Country Store, in Dalton, Wisconsin. People seem to really love that place – both readers here, and at review sites like Yelp and Google. It got me wondering – what makes a good Amish store? Here are some of my own criteria, yours might differ: Selection – a big selection of course is nice Amish…