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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“We’ll Try To Build Back”: Amish Help Fight Fire — But Missouri Variety Store Is A Total Loss (UPDATE: Days Later, The Store Is Already Going Back Up)

“We’ll Try To Build Back”: Amish Help Fight Fire — But Missouri Variety Store Is A Total Loss (UPDATE: Days Later, The Store Is Already Going Back Up)

ByErik Wesner

Despite Amish efforts to aid firefighters in extinguishing the blaze, a variety store in the Canton, Missouri Amish settlement burned to the ground yesterday evening. As reported by Michele McCormack in Muddy River News: LEWIS Co., Mo. — Just after 5 p.m. Thursday, a fire erupted at the Amish Variety Store along Highway 81 just north of Canton, Mo. “This is a bad time of…

An Amish Organic Farm & House Just Listed For $1.42 Million — Electricity Not Included (28 Photos)

An Amish Organic Farm & House Just Listed For $1.42 Million — Electricity Not Included (28 Photos)

ByErik Wesner
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An Amish organic dairy farm in the perfectly-named New Holstein, Wisconsin just listed for $1,420,000 — and no, as you might expect, electricity is not included. This is one of the highest-priced Amish properties we’ve covered in this series. We did recently see a $1.5 million Amish farmstead in Kentucky. Pricewise, this Wisconsin property is in that ballpark, but is a somewhat different kind of…

Pickup Driver Hits Buggy Full Of Amish Teens & Flees — Leaving Two Seriously Injured And A Dead Horse (UPDATED)

Pickup Driver Hits Buggy Full Of Amish Teens & Flees — Leaving Two Seriously Injured And A Dead Horse (UPDATED)

ByErik Wesner
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A buggy carrying Amish youth was hit by a pickup truck late Friday night in Geauga County, Ohio, causing serious injuries to at least two Amish teens. Unfortunately, the young driver of the pickup did not see fit to stop and help the occupants of the buggy he’d just hit. Instead, after freeing his truck from a ditch, he fled, according to authorities. More from…

Young Amish Woman “Critically Injured”, Airlifted After Car Rear-Ends Buggy — But Horse Left Unharmed

Young Amish Woman “Critically Injured”, Airlifted After Car Rear-Ends Buggy — But Horse Left Unharmed

ByErik Wesner
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Two Amish people were hurt – one critically – in a wreck which left the horse standing remarkably unharmed. This happened late Sunday night in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. No ages are given in this report – just a “young Amish woman”, and an “Amish man”. It describes how the buggy the pair were riding in was struck from behind, ejecting both and sending them to…

Close Call For Amish Mom And Baby as Barn Explodes in Ohio

Close Call For Amish Mom And Baby as Barn Explodes in Ohio

ByErik Wesner
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It’s been a bad couple of weeks for explosions in Amish buildings. Following the Amish schoolhouse explosion in northwestern PA, yesterday a barn and workshop were destroyed in an explosion and fire at an Amish property in Geauga County, Ohio. The cause was reportedly a propane gas leak. A caller reported a “hissing” noise coming from the barn. Fortunately no one was hurt, but based…

2-Year-Old Amish Boy Dies After Falling Into Septic Tank

2-Year-Old Amish Boy Dies After Falling Into Septic Tank

ByErik Wesner
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Just an awful story out of the New Wilmington, Pennsylvania Amish community. A two-year-old boy has died, after falling into an open septic tank. From New Castle News: The Lawrence County Coroner’s Office and state police investigated the drowning death of a 2-year-old Amish boy who reportedly fell into an open septic tank Saturday. The child, identified as Steven Byler, was discovered deceased around 11…

For The First Time In A Century, The Amish Now Live In This Southern State

For The First Time In A Century, The Amish Now Live In This Southern State

ByErik Wesner
12 Comments

We often think of the Amish as living in the Midwest, and states like Pennsylvania. But Amish communities in the South are nothing new. States like Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee have seen their Amish populations grow robustly in recent decades. However, there’s one part of the South that the Amish have (for whatever reason) not settled — the “Deep South”. The Deep South is most…

Two Weeks After Pennsylvania Amish School Explosion, Here’s How the Three Girls Are Doing

Two Weeks After Pennsylvania Amish School Explosion, Here’s How the Three Girls Are Doing

ByErik Wesner
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We’ve got a new update following the March 27 explosion at the Spartansburg, Pennsylvania Amish school which left three girls seriously injured. Two of the girls were aged 6 and 11, and are students at the school, while the third girl, age 17, is their teacher. We learn in the update (shared in full below) that the 11-year-old and 17-year-old are sisters. Following the early-morning…

Remember Those Puppies Stolen from a Lancaster Amish Farm? One Year Later, A Suspect Has Been Charged

Remember Those Puppies Stolen from a Lancaster Amish Farm? One Year Later, A Suspect Has Been Charged

ByErik Wesner
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Last April, we learned of the theft of five Labradoodle puppies from an Amish farm in Lancaster County. Someone had slipped into the barn under cover of night, taken the pups — and also made off with the owner’s “black box” phone and a piece of paper. At the time, police were investigating, and a suspect hadn’t been named. And that was the last we…

A Rare Deep South Amish Homestead for Sale: 54 Acres, No Bathrooms — And a Furniture Shop (24 Photos)

A Rare Deep South Amish Homestead for Sale: 54 Acres, No Bathrooms — And a Furniture Shop (24 Photos)

ByErik Wesner
2 Comments

Here’s something you don’t come across every day — an Amish homestead for sale in Mississippi. The Randolph community in Pontotoc County is one of only two Amish settlements in the entire Deep South. It was founded in 1995, primarily by settlers from the community at Ethridge, Tennessee  — and close ties between the two communities remain. This is a Swartzentruber Amish community — one…