Entering Intercourse

Along Old Philadelphia Pike, October 2, 2010: East of Lancaster, we took Route 340, the historic King's Highway, through Amish Country. Amish communities throughout the United States are based on a labor intense agriculture and small craft industries, particularly woodworking, quilting, cheeses and preserved food. Their kempt fields and farmsteads make for a bucolic landscape dotted with farmers markets, signs for craft products and often restaurants featuring hearty Pennsylvania Dutch family fare.

Route 340 has become a tourist destination where the authentic has morphed into an almost Disney-like in-authenticity. More surprising was that the real estate bubble has penetrated even here with the occasional subdivision intruding on Amish serenity.

Route 340 takes you first through Bird-In-Hand and then through Intercourse: