Chapter 14, Pennsylvania Dutch Country & Lancaster Central Market
- traci wilson
- May 26
- 5 min read
We only moved 40 miles from our previous location near Gettysburg to The Circle M Thousand Trails Campground in Lancaster PA. The reason for the move was to get us closer to the Pennsylvania Dutch country, and at one point, to Hershey Pennsylvania, home of Hershey Chocolate Company. In the spirit of trying to not cram so many things into a short amount of time, we decided to ditch Hershey because the main draw to this part of the country was to learn more about the Amish way of life here in Pennsylvania.
The campground itself was spacious and easy to maneuver, thankfully, and we once again had an assigned site with full hookups and 50 amps. There was lots of space to walk here without ever going out on a road, and it had all the activities you’d expect at a TT campground. There was a beautiful canopy of large trees lining the road into the park giving it a tunnel effect, which we absolutely loved! We even took time to play miniature golf here—Dave won by a single point!
We only had two days at this location, so the first day (Thursday) we decided to do a driving tour of the Amish countryside. The other thing we really wanted to do was visit the Lancaster Central Market, the oldest Saturday market in the U.S., in continuous operation since 1730! It’s only open Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, so since we’d only be in the area on Thursday and Friday, that decided the order of things.
We almost chose to do the Amish Village Tour until we started reading reviews and discovered it wasn’t worth the money. They were going to charge over $50 each for the tour that basically drove you around the farm country in a bus, pointing out animals and stopping briefly at a couple of locations to look around and shop. And we’d need to leave the dogs at the trailer as they’re not allowed on the bus. We found a detailed route on the internet that would take us through the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, stopping at several key locations where we could see samples from the local artisans and sample the Amish food, and the best part—it only cost us the gas in the truck. We were able to take the puppies with us as it was a cool, overcast day, and really take or time. So glad we made that choice!
It was a wonderful day driving through the rolling green fields of the Pennsylvania heartland dotted with picturesque farms and stands of trees. It was so fun to see the horse drawn buggies which is still the main mode of transportation for the Amish people. One such buggy had three kids facing backwards, staring wide-eyed at us as we passed. We made three stops along the route. The first was the Countryside Road Stand that was adjacent to an Amish farm. It had so many yummy looking pastries and pies, ice cream and handmade gifts, jams and other canned goods we had a hard time deciding what to buy! I settled on a handmade purse (I love purses) and we bought woopie pies. I found a nice gift for my daughter’s upcoming birthday.
The next stop was the town of Intercourse at the Kitchen Kettle Village—such a cute area of shops and restaurants. There was a man outside playing a fiddle, singing, and tapping his feet all at the same time! There was also a pygmy goat farm with food you could buy to feed the goats, which I, of course, had to do! They were so adorable!
We wandered around looking in shops and buying more local baked goods. We also found a lovely bird fountain that was so unique we had to have it too. We’re now out of extra space in the trailer, so no more large purchases on this trip! We went to the Amos Café inside the Stoltzfus Meats Store to grab some lunch. We decided to split a 12-inch classic cheesesteak, and it’s a good thing we shared it because it was huge and loaded with chopped steak, cheese, grilled onions, peppers, and mushrooms (I’m not sure if mushrooms are usually included on the classic but it sounded good) served on a soft hoagie roll. We got sweet potato fries with it, but I couldn’t even finish mine; the sandwich was so filling, and delicious. Even though we were quite stuffed, we still found room for homemade ice cream from an Amish farm. They raise the cows that make the cream and do everything by hand. I have to say it’s probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had, sorry Hersey!
Our final stop was at Bird in Hand (that’s the name of the township), where we found even more unique shops. We didn’t spend as much time at this location since we’d already done quite a bit of shopping, but we did buy a few things from the bakery. So many new things to try from the day—a soft pastry rolled in cinnamon and sugar with cream cheese filling (not sure what it’s called), woopie pies from two different bakeries, a shoefly pie, homemade cheese, cinnamon and sugar pretzels, and a loaf of cheese bread. Everything was so craveable it was hard to resist buying even more goodies!
The following day, we took the puppies for a run in the morning to wear them out, then left them for a couple of hours in the trailer so we could go to the Lancaster Central Market. Even though we’d had to plan our visits to the two locations based on when this market was open, it worked out for the best because Friday it poured rain! The market is all indoors so the bad weather didn’t matter one bit! It was a bustling market with everything you’d expect to see in such a place—booth after booth of wonderfully delicious looking fruits and veggies, meats, cheeses, various ethnic food booths, flowers, baked goods—the list went on and on. We walked the entire market before making our selections. Lovely big “breakfast” radishes, cauliflower, baker potatoes, zucchini, and a large yellow pepper.
We got lunch from a Mediterranean booth. I chose a spinach pie and Dave got a veggie tart. We also tried a couple of the Mediterranean style cookies. I got a pistachio cookie and Dave a hempseed cookie. The cookies were interesting, not very sweet. Dave’s was better than mine, but I wouldn’t say I liked either all that much. My spinach pie was pretty bland, but Dave’s choice was more flavorful. I guess he won with the food choices today!
! There was a mead tasting booth, so we tried samples of each variety they had. It was different than what we’re used to on the west coast, not as sweet. We decided to buy a four-pack variety sampler. We also bought some empanadas from a Paraguay booth that was said to have been voted the best in Lancaster County. We took them home to eat later as we were already full from lunch. It was a good couple hours spent at this historic market. And a good stop all together. Really enjoyed both stops in Pennsylvania!
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