Several times a year we plan day trips all around the state and take our 8 year old granddaughter along with us. It's a great way for us to spend some bonding time with her and a great way to get her out into the community learning new things. We try to find educational and fun things to do, and
Lititz in Pennsylvania has plenty of them!
Lititz Historical Marker
Lititz - Settled during 1740's, Moravians established here a "Land Gemeine" or country congregation in 1756. It was named by Count Zinzendorf after a Bohemian town which sheltered prosecuted Moravians in 1456.
If you're looking to locate the historical marker shown above, you'll find it right in front of the park and close to the old Wilbur Chocolate Factory.
Here's a rundown on our day trip down to historic Lititz, Pennsylvania.
We live 40 minutes away, so we left around 9 AM in the morning and got there just before 10 AM. It was a Saturday and already the downtown area was flooded with visitors. It took us 10 minutes to locate parking and finally found a spot on East Main Street, down past the Linden Hall School for Girls.
Our day started out with a tour at the
Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery which was a 5 minute walk from where we parked. Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery was the first commercial pretzel bakery in the United States and after 150 years, they're still in operation.
The pretzel bakery offers family-friendly tours for a small admission fee. Tours start every 30 minutes and last for about 20 minutes in length. During the tour you'll try your hand at rolling out your own pretzel and twisting it into proper shape. You'll be given the history on the company and a brief overview on how pretzels were made during the good old days. After the tour concludes you'll be given a free single-serving bag of Julius Sturgis pretzels! There is an on-site gift and bakery shop where you can purchase snacks, a cold beverage and pick up some gifts & souvenirs.
We then headed down to the
Lititz Museum and explored their beautiful botanical gardens. They're located behind the museum building and are FREE to explore! You'll find beautifully landscaped gardens, plenty of park benches, a water pond with gold fish and there are some great areas within the gardens if you want to take a few photographs of the kids. We spent around 20 minutes checking out the gardens and really enjoyed them.
Next up...we headed downtown and did a little bit of shopping along the way. You'll find the downtown streets lined with mom and pop owned boutiques, candy stores, restaurants, collectible shops, antique stores and more! I love supporting small businesses within our communities, don't you?
We arrived at the
Wilbur Chocolate Store which was definitely on my bucket list. Once your inside the store you'll find hundreds of different chocolate and candy confections. Toward's the middle of the store you'll find a large glass window where you can sit or stand and watch the candy makers in action. Our granddaughter enjoyed watching the ladies making their newest batch of confections. We did a little bit of shopping and then headed out.
Right across the street you'll see the OLD
Wilbur Chocolate Company factory building that sits right along the railroad tracks. I had always heard about this old building, but had never seen it in person until our visit. It's a LOT larger than what I thought it would be. I've always enjoyed looking at old buildings and checking out their amazing architecture.
Across the street you'll see the
Lititz Welcome Center and Lititz Springs Park. This park is free to visit and is open year-round from dawn to dusk. The community hosts various events in the park throughout the year. Some events are free for the public to attend and other's will have an admission fee attached.
As you enter the park you'll notice that it has beautiful water features throughout. Everyone seemed to be drawn to the stream and pond area where you'll find hundreds of ducks. In the center of it you'll see a beautiful water fountain and on a hot day...that mist feels pretty darn good on your skin. If you want to feed the ducks, there is a machine by the bridge where you can purchase duck food for a quarter. Please remember, you can ONLY feed them the food that is offered there. Do not bring your own food and toss it to the ducks!!!
Throughout the park you'll find paved walking trails, so feel free to explore the park. The Welcome Center is a replica building to depict the old railroad station. Right behind the center you'll see an old red caboose train car from the Reading Railroad. Super cool. We spent a good hour exploring the park and feeding the ducks. Fun!
A lot of small towns in America seem to have their own town clock. Lititz is no exception! You'll find their historic
ROLEX town clock sitting along the street in front of the park and welcome center. I know a lot of travelers enjoy photographing town clocks, so that's why I'm telling you where you can find it!
We started walking back towards where we had parked and decided to grab a late lunch/early dinner at
Nino's Pizza and Italian Restaurant on East Main Street. They have a really vast menu of items. We enjoyed pizza (it was really good!) and afterwards we had Italian Ice for dessert. The place is extremely clean, the service was fast & friendly and their prices were affordable.
Linden Hall is the oldest all-girls boarding school in America. I've heard about Linden Hall for many years, but had never seen the building myself. Wow...the buildings that make up Linden Hall are AMAZING! It's one of the tallest buildings in the area and when I look at it...I see a gothic and religious influence. You can look up
Linden Hall School for Girls online and learn all about it's history and historical importance.
Right in front of the property you'll find the
official historical marker with information on it. It reads as follows:
"Linden Hall - Oldest girls' resident school in the United Sates. Founded in 1746 by the Moravian Church. Originally a day school, it has since 1794 drawn boarding students from a wide area. The school was chartered under its present name in 1863".
Lititz is a beautiful small town in America! We spent a total of 6 1/2 hours exploring some of the family-friendly attractions that the town has to offer. We enjoyed our visit and now we're planning a weekend getaway to Lititz, so that we can explore it even more! It's definitely one of those travel destinations that should be on your bucket list!
1 comment:
This is the first time I have heard of this town. Lititz seems to have a lot of historical importance and it would be fun to visit and explore it.
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