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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Inside An Amish Home: Michigan Amish Relaxation Room

You might remember a photo a couple weeks back, of an Amish kitchen that some people found a bit on the fancy side? Today we have a shot of another room in the same Michigan home: This place looks like it has some nice spots for taking a nap.  Just as long as those clocks aren’t too noisy.  A close-up: Another Amish wall decoration: Special…

An Amishman Defines “Wealth”
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An Amishman Defines “Wealth”

“We could probably build a better car than Detroit can. I will go out on a wing and say that. I honestly believe we could do that.” It’s not often you hear an Amishman make such a claim. But it almost makes sense – when you learn that the fellow who said this is from northern Indiana.  Northern Indiana Amish are different than most Amish….

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Amish fiction characters–stereotypes in Plain clothing?

Last Friday Elin left a comment on the post “Do we romanticize the Amish?“: “I have read some of these books and enjoyed them but I have realized that the Amishness of the characters is not more than polish. They are often just stereotypical ‘good Christian’ wearing Amish clothes. They are the same characters as in the Christian inspired fairytales I had as a child…

10 Views of the Hardin County, Kentucky Amish

10 Views of the Hardin County, Kentucky Amish

I hope you enjoy these shots of an Amish settlement in Hardin County, Kentucky, taken a while back on a beautiful summer day (note: this first photo is not an Amish place, but is from a nearby town; all the rest are Amish).                   More Kentucky Amish posts: Munfordville, Kentucky Amish Graves County, Kentucky Amish Kentucky Amish…

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Inside an Amish…Outhouse

Another photo today, of an inspirational wall decoration from an outhouse at an Amish school (thanks again to Karen Johnson-Weiner). If there is any place that could use a little livening up, I guess it is the outhouse.  And why not include an uplifting message?  Actually I guess this is more of a lesson in humble sharing: Outhouses have been in the news lately.  USA…

Buggy shopping

When was the last time you went car shopping?  Have a fun time? If you were buying new, odds are you had to pick through a whole pile of choices. Amish buggy buyers have their fair shake of options to choose from too–everything from the upholstery to the lighting to the dash to the battery holder (a relatively new feature in Lancaster County has the…

Inside an Amish Home: Swartzentruber Amish Kitchen

Inside an Amish Home: Swartzentruber Amish Kitchen

Following up last week’s photo of a Michigan Amish kitchen, we have another shot courtesy of Karen Johnson-Weiner.  I think you’ll notice quite a difference between this week’s and last week’s photos. This one was taken in a Swartzentruber Amish kitchen.  Swartzentruber Amish are among the plainest and most conservative Amish groups: I’ve zoomed in on a couple of bits.  The utensils: And the stove:…

Do we romanticize the Amish?

Do we romanticize the Amish?

When I first began spending time with the Amish, I felt like I was entering another world.  I would drive my car from gritty Decatur, Illinois, where I was living for the summer while selling books, 45 minutes southeast to the farms, fields and fresh air of Moultrie County. Crossing into “Amish territory”, it seemed like I passed through an invisible border.  Much of what…

Plain Mennonites rebuild after Hurricane Katrina-video

Two weeks ago NBC ran a piece on Mennonites building homes in the Gulf area, post-Katrina. Five years after the fact, it’s easy to forget there is still a rebuilding effort going on down there.  The video below shows Mennonites working on homes in Bayou Country in Louisiana. “We don’t have to know somebody to do good for somebody” says one of the young Mennonite…

10 views of Juniata County, Pennsylvania

Continuing the “10 views” series, today we have photos of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. A couple months ago we had a post on the Juniata County Amish.  This community is one of the many lesser-known Pennsylvania settlements. With 8 church districts, it’s actually a pretty sizeable one.  That’s about 1000 Amish, give or take. But Juniata County is overshadowed by nearby Big Valley, nearly 4 times…