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 A Simple “Ohio Nebraska” Amish Home (15 Photos)

Inside A Simple “Ohio Nebraska” Amish Home (15 Photos)

What is an “Ohio Nebraska” Amish home? It’s a home of a Nebraska Amish family located in Ohio. And who are the Nebraska Amish? This is a small group of traditionally quite conservative Amish, who originated in Pennsylvania. Am I making this sound more confusing than it actually is? Well, their name comes from the origin state of Yost H. Yoder, a bishop who helped…

2021 Amish Settlement List (600+ Communities)

2021 Amish Settlement List (600+ Communities)

So in addition to the 2021 statewide Amish population numbers which came out two weeks ago, we now have the updated list of individual Amish settlements for 2021. There are around 600 of them. You’ll find it at the Elizabethtown College Young Center Amish Studies website here. This guide provides the following information for each Amish settlement: the county (or census division, for Canadian settlements) main town or geographical…

100 Amish Help Injured Neighbor To Move Barn – By Hand

100 Amish Help Injured Neighbor To Move Barn – By Hand

Yesterday in LaGrange County, Indiana, a large group of Amish came together to help a neighbor in need. From WNDU 16 News: A group of about 100 Amish were out helping a friend move a huge pole barn. 16 News Now is told the person who owned the barn recently died, and the man who now runs this property has his arm in a sling…

Amish Boy Loses Life In Likely Propane Explosion Fire

Amish Boy Loses Life In Likely Propane Explosion Fire

A danger of depending on appliances and lighting powered by fuels such as propane and natural gas, as many Amish do, is the risk or fire and explosions. An Amish boy has lost his life due to what appears to be propane igniting and causing an explosion and fire in a home in Kentucky. Here’s what happened last week in an Amish home in the…

Justo Smoker Gets Additional 17+ Years; First Parole Hearing Will Be At Age 87

Justo Smoker Gets Additional 17+ Years; First Parole Hearing Will Be At Age 87

With the announcement in July of a guilty plea in the Linda Stoltzfoos murder case, it was expected that Justo Smoker would spend the rest of his life behind bars. Smoker admitted to kidnapping, killing, and burying the 18-year-old Amish girl. He received a sentence of 35.5 to 71 years for charges of third-degree murder, kidnapping, and misdemeanors. Unresolved at that time were the additional…

About Plain Values – The Magazine

About Plain Values – The Magazine

There was a nice article recently in the Epoch Times, a feature on the monthly publication Plain Values, which has become popular with both Amish and non-Amish alike. The publisher of the magazine is Marlin Miller, who grew up Amish. There are three main “pillars” the magazine focuses on – children with special needs, adoption, and “to highlight good works being done both at home…

The Amish & E-bikes

The Amish & E-bikes

I don’t know if it was just coincidence, but two stories on the Amish and e-bikes came out last week on the same day – one on Amish in Ohio, and the other on Iowa (that can’t be coincidence, I’m thinking). If you’re not familiar, e-bikes are bicycles fitted with an electric motor which provide additional power when riding to provide an easier ride and…

Can you be friends with the Amish?

Can you be friends with the Amish?

You may have heard the Amish described as a “separate people” or “in the world, but not of it“. These kinds of descriptions can make the Amish sound like they are simply apart from everyone else – isolated somehow from the rest of us. I think this is one thing that leads to the picture in some people’s minds of the Amish living in closed…

Amish Raise Barn For English Neighbors After Fire

Amish Raise Barn For English Neighbors After Fire

A non-Amish farmer in Morrow County, Ohio lost his barn in a fire in July. Soon after, a local Amish friend offered help (via Morrow County Sentinel): One of the first to come after the fire was their Amish friend, David Raber. The Robinsons have sold hay to the Amish and transported them many times for their logging and other needs. They have known Amish in…

The Amish Population in 2021

The Amish Population in 2021

The new Amish population estimates are out for 2021 via the Young Center at Elizabethtown College. We’ll have some posts related to this coming up, including from Joe Donnermeyer of Ohio State University. In the meantime you can find the tables and map here. Some quick facts from the latest figures: The estimated total Amish population is 361,635 There are no new states, provinces or…