Back in olden times (15 or more years ago) the entire Lancaster area was idyllic farmland. Oh there were stores and attractions and hotels, but the overwhelming sense of the place was country. The green roofs of Amish houses abounded, you would see as many as 70 or 80 buggies driving about each and every day, and it felt peaceful.

Today the main stretch, running through Route 30, is a busy, loud, crowded retail and tourist mecca. It feels like Las Vegas sans gambling, we didn't see a single buggy until well into our second day and idyllic is the last word you'd use to describe the place. It's all about the outlet malls.

If you want to get a feel for the real Amish country you need to veer off Route 30 onto Route 340 (the Old Philadelphia Pike) and head toward Bird-in-Hand. Bird-in-Hand is a tourist must see, not because it has lots of exciting things to do but because it feels like a sleepy country town of yesteryear. It's an atmosphere stop and a place dotted with wonderful small little stores with individualized buildings, front porches, and a down-home feel.

Its attractions are not outlet malls or art museums. The one or two motels are discreetly placed well back from the main road and away from the main stretch of town. There's no frantic sense of competing against three other shops or restaurants or motels three inches away from you. Instead you'll find nicely spaced-out quilt shops and stores that sell homemade candy. You'll find the Old Village Store, home of the country's oldest hardware store and the world's smallest covered bridge. You'll find the Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market, a small indoor market filled with local craft vendors and foodstuffs. Quite simply, Bird-in-Hand is the heart and soul of the Lancaster area and the one place you shouldn't miss when you visit.

The Old Village Store

The Old Village Store, established in 1890, indelibly imprints itself on you almost from the moment you first enter. Composed of five separate large rooms approximately in a horseshoe shape, the building itself is almost more interesting than the goods you'll find there. The first two rooms are connected by the world's smallest covered bridge, an indoor bridge that's no more than 100 feet long. It's the type of place you remember fondly and in great detail years after you visit. I hadn't been there in over ten years and yet I still remembered the exact layout of the store, which rooms sell which things, and all of the little extras that make it more than just a store.

The covered bridge is certainly the best and most memorable of those extras. Aside from the novelty of walking across the bridge, it serves as an impromptu small museum section of the store. Its walls are covered with articles, drawings, and maps that focus on Bird-in-Hand. Many are historical, showcasing the region as it was 50 or 100 or more years ago, but some of the articles are recent and cover issues of how the Amish adapted to modern times. The most interesting was an article on buggy safety that talked about the change in materials and construction methods.

Oh yes, the bridge houses a lot of neat information. That's not its main purpose though. It's there for atmosphere, to charm you (and it will). Bright handwritten signs like "All disobedient children will be promptly hung on the flypaper" abound. Hanging from the middle of the bridge is a sign that encourages you to kiss your girl for luck. Both sides of the bottom of the bridge are lines with hex signs. Even if you have no desire to explore the rest of the store, go in and walk across the bridge.

The first room of the store is the "traditional souvenir" room. It has the types of things people expect you to bring home from a visit to Amish country, things like Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks, coloring books for the kids, magnets, toys, and other typical souvenir items. It's a shame that this is the first room you see, for it makes the store seem just like any ordinary souvenir shop trying to bilk the tourists in return for "I was here" items. It's all nice stuff and fairly inexpensive, but you can get most of it any number of other places.

As soon as you reach the back of that first room, though, things change. You're at the foot of the bridge, and once you cross that bridge there's no doubt that you're someplace special. The room just on the far side of the bridge is my favorite, one filled with all sorts of candies and jams and dish towels and old fashioned kitchen gadgets and old fashioned toys. It's also home to the better and less expensive t-shirts (I guess the thought is that anyone who makes it past the ultra-touristy front room isn't there for a quick run-and-grab souvenir stop and thus deserves the good stuff). I always walk through all of the rooms of the store, but this is usually the one I buy from.

The next two large rooms are filled with knick knacks, furniture, home decorations, artwork, and nicer Pennsylvania Dutch-flavored items. If you want to decorate a room or take home a higher-end souvenir, you want these rooms. I enjoy browsing through them, but most items are too large and too expensive for my tastes.

The last room is the original hardware store which has been expanded to include kitchen items and a surprisingly nice collection of art supplies. It keeps the tone and ambiance of the full store and welcomes tourists, but it also serves a lot of locals. It's separated a bit from the main store by a large ramp and it has its own entrance for folks who don't want to browse the rest of the place. People will come in and buy things like nails or glass lamp globes or a spatula. It's busier than the rest of the store and generally has the longest lines.

The Old Village Store is one of best places in area for authentic craft and souvenirs and to just look around for local flavor. It's one of the few "must visit" places in Amish country even if you have no desire to spend money. You can just run into the first room for 10 minutes and buy souvenirs for your kids, but if you do then you're losing out. Take an hour or two. Relax. Spend time looking at the covered bridge. Kiss your girl in the middle. Kiss her again. Get some homemade candy. Look at the hand carved woodwork. Buy a tea towel covered in distelfinks. Sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself.

Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market

Located diagonally across the street from the Old Village Store (within easy walking distance), the Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market is the best of the several local farmer's markets (for the best Pennsylvania Dutch farmer's market anywhere, you'll need to travel 90+ minutes away to Zern's at the intersection of Route 100 and Route 73 in Gilbertsville, PA). While not that large and certainly not worthy of a special trip, the Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market is worth some of your time once you're already in the area.

Located entirely indoors, the Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market contains perhaps 40 individual stalls mostly selling local good. There are a lot of perishables and other food items including an outlet location of Kitchen Kettle (the main Kitchen Kettle store is located 4 miles down the road in the Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA). There's a small counter restaurant reminiscent of the old drugstore counters. You'll find several stalls that sell fresh handmade soft pretzels, two or three local candymakers, a few bakery stalls, places that sell dried fruits and nuts, a cheese shop, and more. Groff's Candies stall, located in the far right near corner from the main entrance, has both the best and the cheapest fudge in the area. They give samples of any flavor you request and sell all sorts of other unusual and quality chocolates.

You can just walk around, inhaling the sights and smells, or you can turn a visit into an impromptu al fresca lunch. Just get a little cheese from one stall, some fresh produce from another, some nuts or dried fruits from another, et cetera, until you've had your fill. It's a great way to try small portions of local foods. You can get a taste without breaking the bank or the annoyance of a long wait for other food if you don't like something you try.

There are also some craft stalls that sell homemade candles, quilts, bonnets, and the like. Tucked away in the far corner there's even a stall or two that sell more traditional souvenirs and also one that sells rather garish costume jewelry. I'd have been a lot happier if these more modern stores hadn't crept in; they break up the country atmosphere of the place.

The Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market is only open on Fridays and Saturdays during most of the year. They also open on Wednesday and Thursday during the summer high season. Although many of these vendors have been in the farmer's market since my very first visit over 25 years ago, many also have other locations nearby or sell wholesale to other venues. You can find most of this stuff elsewhere, just not all in one place and not with the delightful market feel.

The Rest of Bird-in-Hand

Bird-in-Hand has definitely been built up a bit in the past several years, but they've done it in a fairly unobtrusive way that didn't mar the atmosphere. It still feels like an small old-fashioned town in the middle of farmland. There's a museum now, the Americana Museum, but it's only open during the summer and fall so I haven't been there. In true Bird-in-Hand fashion, it's inside a converted wooden house and you'd have no idea it's a museum at a glance. The name of the game is fitting new or more modern things into the existing way of doing things. Unlike the neighboring Lancaster, Bird-in-Hand would probably be recognizable to folks who lived there at the turn of the last century. At the same time, it's accessible to the modern visitor, giving them a glimpse of the way things once were and letting them wish, just for a day, that life was a little bit slower. That's what a visit to Amish country should be about, not finding designer clothes at the cheapest possible prices.

Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime