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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Five Interesting Finds in an Amish Appliance Store (Eash Sales)

Five Interesting Finds in an Amish Appliance Store (Eash Sales)

Jim Halverson shares several photos of Amish appliances taken in the well-known Eash Sales store in Shipshewana, Indiana. What you’ll see in the photos below are things that help Amish wash clothes, stay warm, stay cool, and light their homes. Some of these are adaptations of the English version of a given appliance. Others are more old-fashioned. Eash Sales is perhaps better-known for its outdoor…

Seven Ways I’m “Amish” About Technology

Seven Ways I’m “Amish” About Technology

How “Amish” are you when it comes to technology? In “We Should Be More ‘Amish’ About Technology“, columnist Tish Harrison Warren examines how over-use of tech (social media in particular) was harming her family life. And she feels that Amish and others like them can be role models on this: American society could learn from Anabaptist groups, including the Amish, Mennonites and others. Many of…

Amish Sing For Baptist Church (Video)

Amish Sing For Baptist Church (Video)

This video is one of the more unusual ones I’ve seen when it comes to Amish singing. This group, described as “Amish youth”, are singing in an “English” church. It’s also clearly a mixed group of Amish from different communities. A commenter states that “this is a diversified group of Amish. Some Old Order PA Amish and regular Old Order Amish.” I’m not sure what…

Amish Baby Loses Life After Driver Attempts To Pass, Hits Buggy

Amish Baby Loses Life After Driver Attempts To Pass, Hits Buggy

A 38-year-old woman attempted to pass an Amish buggy in the Seymour, Missouri Amish community, leading to a collision Tuesday. From KY3: “All three people in the buggy were ejected,” McClure said. Two of the people ejected were Barbara, and Sammy Schwartz, their baby was also ejected from the buggy. “The child was transported from the scene to an area hospital in Springfield where the…

Inside An Amish Ranch Home (Plus Dawdihaus) – 30 Photos

Inside An Amish Ranch Home (Plus Dawdihaus) – 30 Photos

Ranch-style homes are a bit atypical for the Amish, but you will see them here and there. Especially in smaller communities where Amish might be more inclined to buy already-existing English homes. This particular home was built over 40 years ago, but as we’ll see inside and out it has been thoroughly “Amishized”. This is another home in the Oak Hill community in Jackson County,…

Amish Man Permanently Blinded After Teens Throw Eggs at Buggies (UPDATED)

Amish Man Permanently Blinded After Teens Throw Eggs at Buggies (UPDATED)

An Amishman in the Geauga County, Ohio settlement has permanently lost vision in one eye after teens hurled an egg at his buggy. This was apparently part of a spree in which they threw dozens of eggs at different buggies. From Fox8: GEAUGA COUNTY (WJW) — Geauga County sheriff officials charged four teens with assault after an Amish man was hit in the face with…

Amish Voices Volume 2 – Book Winner & Unused Selections

Amish Voices Volume 2 – Book Winner & Unused Selections

The new book Amish Voices Volume 2: In Their Own Words, 1993-2020 is the sequel to Amish Voices. These two books are comprised of selections from the Amish monthly publication Family Life. If you missed the interview we published last week with compiler Brad Igou, you can check that out and get up to speed here. In that discussion, Brad shared his monumental task of…

Have A Look At Some Amish Garage Sales (12 Photos)

Have A Look At Some Amish Garage Sales (12 Photos)

Jim Halverson shares some photos today from “Amish” garage sales in northern Indiana. Garage sales are popular in the community, as they are in other places. Amish both attend as shoppers and put on the garage sales themselves. And these aren’t just single-family sales. Jim writes: Topeka has a city or area-wide garage sale every year in the middle of May. This year it was…

Amishman & 10-Year-Old Son Lose Lives In Freak Pond Accident

Amishman & 10-Year-Old Son Lose Lives In Freak Pond Accident

An Amishman and his ten-year-old son lost their lives this past weekend in a pond accident. The incident happened under unusual circumstances in a restricted area in their community in eastern Ohio. From WTRF: BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTRF) — An Amish man and his 10-year-old son died of drowning Saturday, according to Belmont County Sheriff’s Department Chief Investigator Ryan Allar. Allar said it happened at…

2023 Clinic For Special Children Auction Schedule

2023 Clinic For Special Children Auction Schedule

The Clinic for Special Children runs a number of auctions throughout the warmer months, to support its efforts in researching and fighting rare genetic illnesses. The Lancaster County-based clinic serves the local Amish and Mennonite population, as well as individuals from beyond the community. The annual series of auctions are a primary source of funding for the clinic, which is now in its fourth decade….