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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Resident: “The Amish Destruction” Has Torn Up County Roads. The Sheriff Says Nothing Can Be Done

Resident: “The Amish Destruction” Has Torn Up County Roads. The Sheriff Says Nothing Can Be Done

The Amish community in Lawrence County, Indiana is just a small one – maybe 10 or 12 households. But it’s still big enough to have earned the ire of at least one resident. That person voiced a number of concerns – on road damage and more – at a recent County Commissioners’ meeting. As reported at WBIW: [Resident Evan] Hunter addressed the commissioners to highlight…

A Truck Was Doing 75 MPH When It Hit A Buggy Full Of Amish Teens. Their Horse May Have Saved Them

A Truck Was Doing 75 MPH When It Hit A Buggy Full Of Amish Teens. Their Horse May Have Saved Them

Back in April, we learned of a bad hit-and-run buggy wreck in Geauga County, Ohio. The driver of a pickup truck hit a horse-and-buggy carrying several Amish teens on a local road at 1 AM. I was told then by a local source that the driver was from the Amish community, and “was traveling at a very high rate of speed at the time of…

“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder”: Ben & Rose Join The Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters

“When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder”: Ben & Rose Join The Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters

So this one has been out a week and I missed it, for the same reason I missed “Would You Like To Buy Some Flowers” last year – it went up on somebody else’s channel. “When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder” is a collaboration between Ben & Rose and a group called The Alaskan Sunnyside Sisters. I’d never heard of that group before this….

Idaho’s Only Amish Community Lost Its Market To Fire. 6 Months Later It’s Back — And Bigger

Idaho’s Only Amish Community Lost Its Market To Fire. 6 Months Later It’s Back — And Bigger

Six months after a fire destroyed their country store, an Amish family in Lemhi County, Idaho has reopened it – despite the owner saying he was inclined, at first, to not rebuild at all. Baker Country Market is in the unincorporated community of Baker, about nine miles southeast of the larger town of Salmon, by which the community is sometimes known. Paul and Maria Miller…

Study: Only 154 People Have Joined the Amish in Nearly a Century

Study: Only 154 People Have Joined the Amish in Nearly a Century

It seems there’s no shortage of curiosity about joining the Amish – especially given the recent “Suddenly Amish” television program. We’ve also covered the topic fairly often over the years here. One thing has been consistently true: while joining the Amish fascinates a fair number of people, it’s simply not that common, for reasons we’ve gone into before. Those include cultural differences, misperceptions or wrong…

Amish Auction Raises 6 Figures For A Genetic Clinic They Founded — Another Happens Next Week

Amish Auction Raises 6 Figures For A Genetic Clinic They Founded — Another Happens Next Week

An Amish-organized benefit auction in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania – now in its 14th year – raised $130,000 earlier this month for the DDC Clinic. The Corry Journal reported on the auction’s success. The photos here are of the event and via the DDC Clinic Facebook page. And there is a second one in Ohio coming soon (more on that below). Local Amish families in the Spartansburg…

Inside An Ultra-Basic Amish Home With A Foosball Table — And A Trapdoor (24 Photos)

Inside An Ultra-Basic Amish Home With A Foosball Table — And A Trapdoor (24 Photos)

The listing for this Amish home in Marshfield, Missouri opens in all capitals: “STEP BACK IN TIME AND BRING IT TO PRESENT DAY YOUR OWN WAY.” On one level, that’s a funny thing to say about a house that was only built in 2021. It’s not an old farmhouse that time forgot. And as you can see from these exterior photos, it does have a…

Driver Distracted By Notebook Hits Amish Buggy — 11-Year-Old Suffers Skull Fracture

Driver Distracted By Notebook Hits Amish Buggy — 11-Year-Old Suffers Skull Fracture

Four people were injured Monday evening when a car struck the back of a horse-drawn buggy on State Road 13 in Elkhart County, Indiana. This was another case of distracted driving, according to reports. Three of the four people injured were children. An 11-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with a “non-life-threatening” skull fracture. The crash happened around 5:50 p.m. on Monday, August 17,…

Amish Volleyball Has Gotten Bigger Than You Thought – 4 Takeaways From A New Report

Amish Volleyball Has Gotten Bigger Than You Thought – 4 Takeaways From A New Report

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a long piece over the weekend on competitive Amish volleyball, reported from a tournament at Intercourse Community Park in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania back in June. I spoke to reporter Jason Nark on the Amish sports topic; his full report is here. A few things stood out to me – here are four. 1. Volleyball Holds A Special Function In Amish Culture…

Lovina Zook Left The Amish And Now Shares Her Recipes With 6 Million Followers — Without Breaking Eye Contact

Lovina Zook Left The Amish And Now Shares Her Recipes With 6 Million Followers — Without Breaking Eye Contact

Amish born-and-raised Lovina Hershberger Zook has been getting a lot of media attention beyond her own success online. And for good reason – she now has around six million followers across social media, where she posts recipes and stories about the culture she left. That culture is a conservative Amish community. To my eye and ear she seems likely from a Swartzentruber Amish background (confirmed…