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 Ohio Amish “Mini-Farm” Home (15 Photos)

Inside an Ohio Amish “Mini-Farm” Home (15 Photos)

The listing is calling this one a “mini-farm”, which I’m not sure has a technical definition, but I guess can mean any property of some acreage where you can raise animals, plant crops, etc. This one is attached to a 10-acre plot. Let’s start with the aerial view: The locale is Somerset which is in Perry County, Ohio – one of dozens of lesser-known-for-the-Amish corners…

Sad News: Amish Cook Gloria Yoder’s Husband Daniel Dies In Accident

Sad News: Amish Cook Gloria Yoder’s Husband Daniel Dies In Accident

A reader reached out to me a few days ago with this sad news, and it was confirmed with a note from Gloria’s editor Kevin Williams at the beginning of her latest column: Note from Kevin Williams, Editor of the Amish Cook column: It is with great sadness and shock that I tell readers that Gloria’s husband, Daniel, died in a logging accident on Monday,…

Indiana Barn Arsonist Couple Now Charged With Setting Fire To Amish School

Indiana Barn Arsonist Couple Now Charged With Setting Fire To Amish School

Joseph Hershberger, 41, and Sherry Thomas, 32, had already been charged with eight counts of arson for barn fires in the Elkhart County area, including Amish-owned barns. The eight fires were started in southern Elkhart County and northern Kosciusko County periodically throughout 2021. Charges for the barn arsons were brought against the couple in December, and it sounds like they have admitted to the crimes….

Amish Cook: Wedding Prep an Excuse to Remodel

In her latest Amish Cook column, Gloria Yoder describes preparations for an upcoming wedding at her home. The bride-to-be is a friend of Gloria’s of the same age, so this is a bit atypical for an Amish wedding as someone getting married at a later age (I believe Gloria is in her 30s). Gloria describes preparations which go beyond setting up temporary accommodations and tidying…

Amishman walks away from high-speed collision; “Had an angel riding with him”

Amishman walks away from high-speed collision; “Had an angel riding with him”

This accident took place last night in the area of Junction City, Ohio (Perry County), where there is just a small Amish settlement of maybe a dozen households. In the Scioto Post report the accident site was described by firefighters as “250 feet worth of a debris field”. Here’s a look at part of that debris field: And the vehicle with severe damage: More: Fortunately,…

Inside An Amish Shop Home With Storm Shelter (26 Photos)

Inside An Amish Shop Home With Storm Shelter (26 Photos)

This is a bit different than your standard Amish home. The simple box design and top-to-bottom metal siding is a clue that this is a shop home. Amish families typically build these cheaper structures, intended to be later used as workshops, as starter homes to live in for a time, until they’re able to build a proper home on the property. In the photos below…

Eat a Meal in an Amish Home (Arthur, Illinois)

I have seen more and more of these Amish home meal businesses emerge over the years. It was once the case that these were more off the radar, so to speak. Now it seems in recent years they’ve become more public, and we see another example today from Illinois. A writer named Cindy Ladage describes how you can eat in an Amish home in the…

Lancaster Amish Weddings By Month

Lancaster Online reached out to Steven Nolt of the Young Center at Elizabethtown College on when Amish weddings take place in Lancaster County and related settlements. He provided some data based on the Amish publication Lancaster Gemeinde Brief, which is a church newsletter. Autumn and specifically November is traditionally the most common time for Amish weddings in Lancaster County and related settlements. Here are Amish…

Bathrooms in Amish Homes (And the alternative…)

Bathrooms in Amish Homes (And the alternative…)

So, simple question here. Do the Amish have bathrooms in their homes? After all, this is one room of the home that most people would consider indispensable. The answer is: it depends. Some Amish groups do, and some groups don’t. All in all, the majority of Amish do have bathrooms. However, there’s still a significant number of Amish who do not have bathrooms in their…