I Love Intercourse
Written: Feb 03 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: best jams and jellies anywhere, petting zoo, live music, quality craft village
Cons: The People Place; Kitchen Kettle crowded, too little parking, smaller than I remembered,
The Bottom Line: Kitchen Kettle Village seems smaller than I remember it, but it is just as nice. It's the centerpiece of the town and the main reason why I love Intercourse.
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| quasar's Full Review: Intercourse, Pennsylvania |
I grew up in the outskirts of Pennsylvania Dutch country, about 90 minutes from Lancaster and the heart of Amish country. Every year we took three or four day trips to Lancaster and its immediate environs. We did different things on different trips, but there was one place we always visited no matter what else we had planned: Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA.
Located several miles from Lancaster just past Bird-in-Hand along Route 340 (Old Philadelphia Pike), Intercourse is a slightly more commercialized version of that town. It's still a country town, surrounded by farms. It still has all of the charm of the Amish country. However, it has a slightly busier and more traditional center of town (which could still pass for an old slow country lane) and it caters a bit more obviously to tourists.
A lot of the hoopla is given to The People's Place, one of several living history museums in the area. I haven't been there in years so I'm not going to comment extensively, but back in the day it used to be greatly inferior to all of the other similar places. Try The Amish Farm and House in Lancaster or The Amish Village in Strasburg instead.
No, the main attraction in Intercourse is Kitchen Kettle Village. It's a craft village built around the world's best jam and jelly store. On the small side but packed with quality, the village has a nice mix of food stuff, crafts, craft supplies, and souvenirs. There's enough variety to feel like each store is different and worth visiting but they still, for the most part, have a common country craft and workmanship feel.
There's a cross stitch store that has every type of stitchery supply imaginable. There's a fudge shop where you can watch them make the fudge and, if you time it right, get a free sample. There's a music box shop with hundreds of music boxes of all types of workmanship and quality. There's an art gallery with lovely prints and paintings by local artists featuring lots of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Dutch scenes. There are also the requisite "find my cousin a cheap souvenir" stores, although their surroundings make them feel like a step up from a gift shop stop even if their merchandise is the same.
The centerpiece is the jam and jelly store, also named Kitchen Kettle. Come hungry, for they have sample stations all over the store. Ever wondered what damson plum preserves tasted like? How about garlic herb jelly? Or my favorite, cinnamon apple which doesn't particularly taste like apples or cinnamon but does have a light tart yet sweet flavor that truly complements crackers or bread well. The main taste station is a giant black kettle topped with homemade oyster crackers surrounded by open jars of about 30 different jams and jellies. Prefer no sugar added? No problem. There are also a selection of salsas, salad dressings, marinades, traditional Pennsylvania Dutch salads and garnishes like chow chow and four bean salad if you aren't a jelly person (but even if you aren't, try these - they're the best I've ever had). There's also an outlet store four miles down the road in the Bird-in-Hand Farmer's Market if that's more convenient. It's smaller but has the basics including a smaller version of the tasting kettle.
This store itself can eat up an hour of your time if you let it, but even if you're in a bit of hurry, at least take a turn or two at the samples kettle and take home a jar or two of your favorites. It does get crowded, especially around the samples, but it's worth dealing with masses of people. Even in the off season it's busy - we saw larger crowds inside this store than at any other point of our entire vacation. If you absolutely can't handle the crowds or manage time for a stop here, Kitchen Kettle has mail order catalogs and will ship anywhere in the United States.
There are only about two dozen stores in the village and you can pop in an out of all of them in 20 minutes if you just want a peek or you can spend a half day wandering around slowly and looking at everything. In addition to the stores, there are a few outside stalls selling mainly food (hot cider and freshly popped popcorn were a big hit during my most recent visit). There's also a small area in the middle of village with some benches and tables for a dozen or so people. There's a small waterfall here and it's really peaceful. You'll often stumble on a small concert here - it's more common to have music than to not have it, and it's almost always excellent. My most recent visit featured an excellent brass jazz quartet. There was also a lute player wandering through the village on that visit which added atmosphere.
The village seems smaller than it used to be, although all of the stores I remember are still there. I think in part that's because I've made a recent visit to Olde Mystic Village which is considerably larger (I tend to group the two together as "good craft villages" when I think about them) and in part because they've greatly expanded the parking lot making the village area seem smaller in comparison.
The parking lot is several times the size of the village itself and, even in the off season, parking was still scarce. There were five or six people directing traffic and sending cars to specific spots, preventing chaos. It was still a bit confusing and it could be difficult to remember where you parked on exiting. Aside from additional parking, the expansion also included the addition of a small playground and petting zoo along the edge of the parking lot opposite the village. The playground was little more than a small area where little kids could run around a bit and work off some excess energy, but the petting zoo was wonderful. It might more accurately be called a feeding zoo as of the miniature pony, pot bellied pigs, goats, and chickens, only the goats are safe to touch (the others are fed through chutes or by tossing feed over the fence). The goats were great fun, particularly the antics of the older goats as they tried to keep the little ones from getting any food (sharing is obviously not a treasured value in goat society). Food was available through turnstile vending machines (like the gum machines at a drug store) and cost 25 cents for a generous handful. I was able to feed all of the animals, spend extra time with the goats, and even give a little girl a little bit of her own to feed the goats.
Perhaps the best feature of the petting zoo was its cleanup station. There were actual sinks, soap, and paper towels provided for use after you finish feeding or petting the animals. Most petting zoos don't provide a complete setup of this sort - they might have paper towels or some hand sanitizer (rarely both) and almost never have actual running water. There were no restrooms nearby and this was our last stop after visiting the village proper so I really appreciated not having to get into the car with gunky hands.
Kitchen Kettle Village does not seem as large as I remember it, but it is just as nice. The addition of a petting zoo is particularly nice for young ones (or those who are young at heart) and the jam and jelly store is one of the nicest and more unique stores anywhere. It's the centerpiece of the town and the main reason why I love Intercourse.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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