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 Pole Barn Home (with Farm Stand) – 20 Photos

Inside an Amish Pole Barn Home (with Farm Stand) – 20 Photos

I suppose the trendy word for this type of home is “barndominium”, but the listing simply describes it as a pole barn with living quarters, and that’s what I’ll go with too. This property address is in Remus, Michigan (Mecosta County). The county has a pair of Amish settlements (though this may actually be a part of a nearby community in the neighboring county). It’s…

Be Aware: Amish Wedding Season Is Happening Now

Be Aware: Amish Wedding Season Is Happening Now

Officials in one Maryland county are getting a message out to the public – one that’s relevant not only for their part of the country, but for many others. For safety’s sake, the community wants people to be aware of Amish wedding season, going on now in the Amish settlement at St. Mary’s County, MD. The traditional Amish “wedding season” runs after the harvest, from…

Dozens of Amish Pick Up & Move Another Barn (14 Images)

Dozens of Amish Pick Up & Move Another Barn (14 Images)

It’s been a little while since we’ve seen a good Amish barn move. This one is courtesy of Jamie Dinger on Facebook, and looks like it happened back in September. Going through the many comments, it seems this was somewhere in Iowa. It’s unclear where however, suggestions include the Bloomfield area, Kalona, and northeast Iowa. No matter for now, it’s a great video of another…

Man, Woman & Child Life-Flighted Following Buggy Wreck; Horse Put Down. Driver Cited for “Following Too Closely” (New York)

Man, Woman & Child Life-Flighted Following Buggy Wreck; Horse Put Down. Driver Cited for “Following Too Closely” (New York)

Yates County, New York saw a bad buggy wreck yesterday afternoon, leaving three seriously injured and a horse dead. But these (in all likelihood) weren’t Amish victims. Yates County is home to an Old Order Mennonite population. Old Order Mennonites typically use horse-drawn vehicles similar to those of the Amish. It’s a reminder that not only the Amish are exposed to horse-drawn accident danger on…

Amos Raber with Ben & Rose: “Fill My Cup, Lord” (Video)

Amos Raber with Ben & Rose: “Fill My Cup, Lord” (Video)

This tune is another pairing of Ben & Rose with Amos Raber. We’ve actually heard them already together on this track – but without the video. It’s another nice one, which is described on Amos’s channel like this: Fill My Cup, Lord is a great gospel song that beautifully portrays a heart seeking for the living water that one can only find in Jesus Christ!…

Amish Man Killed In Forklift Accident (Missouri)

Amish Man Killed In Forklift Accident (Missouri)

A tragic accident happened yesterday morning in Macon County, Missouri – and not one you might expect to see involving Amish people. More from KTVO: WEST OF ETHEL, Mo. — A member of a northeast Missouri Amish community was killed in a Macon County forklift crash Tuesday morning. The tragedy happened just before 7:30 a.m. on Beechnut Street, three miles west of Ethel. The state trooper…

David Luthy 1941 – 2025

David Luthy 1941 – 2025

I was informed yesterday that David Luthy had passed away earlier in the morning. Among other things, David was an Amish historian, founder and maintainer of the Heritage Historical Library, and an editor and contributor to Family Life, one of the most well-known and influential publications in the Amish and Plain Anabaptist world. Personally, he was one of the people who, through his writings, helped…

Amish Man Built Barn Without Permit; Township Says “Tear It Down”

Amish Man Built Barn Without Permit; Township Says “Tear It Down”

The Township calls this a “recurring issue”: people – it seems they mean primarily Amish people – building structures such as horse barns without following the rules. The current matter involves a man in East Earl Township Earl Township* (Lancaster County, PA), reported a few days ago at Lancaster Online. *Corrected: the township in question is Earl, which is not the same as East Earl….

Three Kentucky Buggy Crashes: Amish 19-Year-Old Killed In Van Collision; Hit & Run Leaves 3 Injured, One Seriously

Three Kentucky Buggy Crashes: Amish 19-Year-Old Killed In Van Collision; Hit & Run Leaves 3 Injured, One Seriously

There have been a spate of car-buggy crashes reported in Kentucky over the past several days. Some quite serious, starting with this wreck in central Kentucky which claimed a young man’s life. 1. 19-Year-Old Killed in Casey County First, the most serious (at least at this point). It involved a van and a buggy driven by a 19-year-old Amish male. This happened in Casey County,…

New From Ben & Rose: “Twilight is Stealing”

New From Ben & Rose: “Twilight is Stealing”

We got an intriguing short clip of this song back in August. So I’m happy to see Ben and Rose release the full studio song with video. I found it intriguing due to its background. It’s a hymn written by Aldine Kieffer and B.C. Unseld way back in the late 1800s. That’s not so old compared to, say, Ausbund hymns. But for songs rendered in…