Wood Country vs. Hershy Way: Comparing Two Amish-Made Wood Porch Swing Brands

If you've narrowed your search down to a solid wood porch swing, there's a good chance you've come across both Wood Country and Hershy Way. Both are Amish-built, both are made to order, and both show up on porches all over the country. But they're not the same swing wearing two different labels. The wood, the pricing, and the finish options all differ enough that picking the right one comes down to knowing what each brand actually does well.

Two Different Woods, Two Different Personalities

The biggest difference between these brands isn't the label — it's the lumber. Wood Country builds its swings from red cedar, a wood prized for its warm color, natural oils, and resistance to rot and insects without any chemical treatment. Hershy Way, on the other hand, works primarily in cypress, a wood with a tighter grain and a naturally occurring preservative called cypressene that makes it notably resistant to decay in humid, buggy climates.

Neither wood is objectively "better" — they're suited to slightly different conditions. Cedar tends to be the more popular pick in drier, temperate regions where its reddish tone and classic look fit a wide range of porch styles. Cypress has a long track record in the Gulf South and coastal Southeast, where humidity and termites make a naturally resistant wood worth seeking out.

Style and Construction

Wood Country's flagship is the Cabbage Hill line, a slatted-back design with a slightly contoured seat that reads as a classic New England-style porch swing. It's a familiar silhouette, and it pairs easily with a matching cedar stand if you don't have a covered porch to hang it from.

Hershy Way's Grandpa Series leans a little more traditional still, with straight slats and a simple, sturdy frame that emphasizes function over flourish. Hershy Way also builds out a wider bench of matching pieces in the same wood — rocking chairs, Adirondack chairs, garden benches, and even potting tables — so if you're trying to furnish an entire porch or garden area in one cohesive material, that's worth factoring in.

Price and Sizing

Street pricing on the two brands lands in a similar range, which makes the decision more about wood and finish than budget. A 4-foot Wood Country cedar swing typically runs in the $450–$510 range before finish upgrades, with the 5-foot version landing around $525–$590. Hershy Way's cypress swings run comparably, with the 4-foot Grandpa Series swing around $450 and the 5-foot around $520, though simpler classic models can come in lower.

Where the pricing conversation gets more interesting is the stand. A matching cedar A-frame stand from Wood Country can add $670 or more, since it's built from the same solid lumber as the swing itself. If you're mounting to a covered porch ceiling, you can skip that cost entirely — something worth confirming before you fall in love with a particular size.

Finish and Customization

Both brands offer factory stain options rather than shipping everything unfinished, which matters more than it sounds like it should — a swing that arrives pre-stained saves you a weekend and gets you swinging sooner. Wood Country offers a cedar stain and a weathered redwash option on many of its Cabbage Hill swings, giving you some control over whether the final look skims toward natural or aged. Hershy Way's cypress pieces tend to be offered with a more limited stain lineup, leaning into the wood's natural silvery-tan tone rather than pushing a lot of color onto it.

If a specific stain color is a dealbreaker for you, check the options on the exact swing size you want before ordering — availability can vary between the 4-foot and 5-foot versions within the same product line.

Which One Should You Choose?

If you live somewhere humid or buggy and want a wood that's built for it, cypress has the edge, and Hershy Way is the more complete cypress lineup if you also want matching seating. If you want a classic reddish cedar tone, a wider range of stain finishes, and don't mind paying a bit more for a matching stand, Wood Country's Cabbage Hill line is the more traditional choice. Either way, you're getting a swing built by hand in a small shop rather than stamped out on an assembly line — the kind of thing that's worth the extra week or two of lead time it usually takes to arrive.

Not sure wood is even the material you want? It's worth browsing the full range of classic porch swings to compare wood options side by side with poly lumber alternatives before you commit.