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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Be Careful Around Buggies If Your Vehicle Is Loud

Be Careful Around Buggies If Your Vehicle Is Loud

There is a certain type of driver who likes gunning his engine and waking up the residents of the local graveyard when passing through town. That driver is unlikely to heed the warning of this post. But others who drive vehicles louder than a typical car would do well to keep the lesson drawn here in mind when around buggies. A week after the logging…

Sam Mullet Seeks Release Due To Coronavirus Threat

Sam Mullet Seeks Release Due To Coronavirus Threat

Sam Mullet was the pseudo-Amish bishop of a breakaway church who orchestrated the beard and hair-cutting attacks which terrorized an Ohio Amish community in 2011. Mullett is currently serving out the end of his 10-year, 9-month sentence in a halfway house. He would like to be released to finish his sentence under house arrest due to the coronavirus threat. Mullett is 74 years old and…

Three Amish Teens Sing “The Whippoorwill Song” (I Give You Freedom)

Three Amish Teens Sing “The Whippoorwill Song” (I Give You Freedom)

Following our NYC Amish singing post, I came across a few more nice videos of Amish singing. This one features three Amish teens from somewhere in Minnesota. The song is “The Whippoorwill Song” (aka “I Give You Freedom”), written by Alfred B. Smith in 1975 (lyrics below). You can hear quite a contrast when it’s just three singing, versus the groups of two dozen or…

Look Inside An Indiana Amish Farmhouse (18 Photos)

Look Inside An Indiana Amish Farmhouse (18 Photos)

While putting together last week’s post on 5 old but small Amish communities, I came across another real estate listing for an Amish farm – this time in Indiana in the Kokomo settlement. While the exterior photos are not great (taken on an overcast day), there are good photos of the interior showing the different rooms. This place has a classic Amish look to it…

The Amish & COVID-19

The Amish & COVID-19

Questions on the Amish & coronavirus – awareness, risk, and  protection from disease With the coronavirus topic heavy in the media, I thought it might be worth addressing several questions regarding COVID-19 infection and the Amish. Do the Amish know about COVID? Reader Beverly posed this question yesterday. With all the recent hubbub over this public health issue, it might seem odd to think that…

5 Old – But Surprisingly Small – Amish Communities

5 Old – But Surprisingly Small – Amish Communities

One thing that has always fascinated me are the Amish communities which have a long history – but for one reason or another, today are surprisingly small in size. With the high Amish birth rate, and today most Amish choosing to remain Amish, you would expect most communities to continue growing larger with the benefit of time. We see this in many examples today, as…

Amish Sing “I Am Free” Underground In NYC (Video)

Amish Sing “I Am Free” Underground In NYC (Video)

We’ve lately seen photos of Amish on the beach on Staten Island, so how about Amish singing an uplifting Christian song in the NYC subway?  Update: The uploader has disabled playback on other websites, so you can view it here. Beautifully sung. There is some discussion in the Youtube comments over whether these are Amish, or a Mennonite or other Anabaptist church. Would you…

PA Amish Woman, Child Killed In Logging Truck Accident

Sad news from northwestern PA: CLINTONVILLE, Pa. — One adult and one juvenile were killed after a logging truck and an Amish buggy crashed in Clintonville, Venango County, on Sunday afternoon, the Pennsylvania State Police confirmed. According to PSP, the logging truck struck the horse-drawn buggy from behind while both were traveling eastbound in the area of 2414 Clintonville Road around 3:50 p.m. A family…

12 Amish & Mennonite Food Outlets in Upstate NY

New York Upstate lists the 12 destinations, which I call “food outlets” because they are not all traditional shops and markets, though some are. Several are multi-vendor markets. Most of these are Mennonite-owned or “Amishy“, but there are at least two Amish-owned markets on the list – Troyer’s General Store, and Weaver’s Farm Market. Many advertise Amish-made or Amish-style products. Here’s the write-up for Troyer’s…

Are There “Different Levels” Of Amish?

Are There “Different Levels” Of Amish?

Gloria Yoder answers questions from time to time in her Amish Cook column. In her latest, she gets an interesting question from a reader: another friend and reader, Betsy, from Lebanon, Ohio…wondered if there are different levels of Amish and how we believe about our relationship with Jesus, which is so very sweet and important. Her answer: Thanks for asking Betsy, your question blessed my…