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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A Look Inside 3 Different Amish Stores (22 Photos)

A Look Inside 3 Different Amish Stores (22 Photos)

Don Burke shares photos from three businesses in the Clark, Missouri Amish community. This is the state’s second-largest Amish settlement, of around 10 churches and 1,500 people, and one of the three oldest in the state. We previously saw this community in Don’s photo post from 2015, “A Thanksgiving Visit to The Amish of Clark, Missouri“. So today we have a look inside some of…

Visiting An Amish Community For The First Time (Video)

Visiting An Amish Community For The First Time (Video)

I have written a lot about visiting new Amish communities (new for me, that is) over the years. And so this past December when on a trip through Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio, I filmed what it is like for me when I go to a new community. As I’ve written before, I usually just try to find Amish businesses and start from there. That’s what…

Plain-Friendly “Amish Radio” Initiative Seeks To Save Lives Following Tragedy

Plain-Friendly “Amish Radio” Initiative Seeks To Save Lives Following Tragedy

Two springs ago, there was a particularly tragic story out of Bath County, Kentucky. High waters overcame an Amish buggy, overturning it in a swollen creek. Five children were washed away and lost their lives. Now, local non-Amish efforts are seeking to help get weather alerts to Amish in this community. The answer appears to be an Amish-friendly radio – one that only gives weather…

Another Amish Home For Sale in this Kentucky Community (31 Photos)

Another Amish Home For Sale in this Kentucky Community (31 Photos)

Two years ago I shared a post on seven Amish homes I’d found for sale online in just one community – Hillsboro, Kentucky. Today we look at another I came across. When I was in this community in December, an Amishman I spoke with made reference to a number of their people moving out and non-Amish moving in. I didn’t get to asking him much…

Do Amish Homes Have Curtains & Shutters?

Do Amish Homes Have Curtains & Shutters?

 One misconception that I see often enough is the idea that Amish homes don’t have curtains covering their windows. There is an idea out there that curtains signify vanity and thus Amish don’t have them. I can see the kernel of truth this may have emerged from (Amish tend to shy away from things that lead to vanity and pride), but curtains are certainly…

Gloria Yoder Recounts Day of Husband Daniel’s Passing

One month ago, Amish Cook columnist Gloria Yoder suffered the loss of her husband Daniel in a logging accident. In today’s column, Gloria candidly recounts the events of that day, and Daniel’s eventual passing in the evening. Here’s how it starts: The door swung open, in walked my mother, kindly asking, “Gloria, did you hear that Daniel was in a logging accident? There are two…

Driver in VA Buggy Crash Charged With Manslaughter; Over $300K Raised For 8 Orphans

Driver in VA Buggy Crash Charged With Manslaughter; Over $300K Raised For 8 Orphans

Back in October we learned the sad news of two Amish parents in their late 30s being killed in a car-buggy crash in the Farmville, Virginia community. The buggy in which John and Barbie Esh were traveling with their eight children was struck from behind in the evening while on their way home from a friend’s place. One parent died on the scene and the…

Are the Amish hypocrites?

Are the Amish hypocrites?

“The Amish are hypocrites.” So this claim is hardly a new one. It’s something I’ve seen often enough over the years, both in comments here on the website and elsewhere. I just made a video about it, because I started to see it a lot in the YouTube comments on some videos, in particular one I did recently on how Amish keep food cool. I…

Inside A Nine-Acre Amish “Farmette” Home (27 Photos)

Inside A Nine-Acre Amish “Farmette” Home (27 Photos)

This is another home for sale in the Perry County (Somerset), Ohio community (same community as last week’s home, hat tip to John). So two things strike me right off about this property. One is that I quite like the layout of this property. It’s a sizeable though not huge piece of land (another “mini-farm” or “farmette”) at just under 9 acres. But the home…

Inside an Amish “Bent-n-Dent” Grocery Store (Video)

Inside an Amish “Bent-n-Dent” Grocery Store (Video)

I visited this store in the Hillsboro, Kentucky settlement in December (here’s a previous post related to that trip, and stores I visited). The store in this video is called Miller’s Country Store. When I arrived a bit before closing, the owner, an older Amish gentleman was kind enough to let me film inside the store and answer some questions about it. It’s a bent-n-dent…