Dutch Country Roads

Dutch Country Roads spans the rolling farm country in southeastern Pennsylvania settled by Pennsylvania German communities — the Amish, Mennonite, and Brethren families whose plain-living traditions still shape the agricultural landscape. The terrain is gentle limestone country with deep, productive soil; the farms are working operations, not preserved relics. Lancaster, Berks, Lebanon, York, and Adams counties anchor the region, with Lancaster, York, Reading, Hershey, Lebanon, and Gettysburg as the main travel anchors. Smaller towns like Strasburg, Lititz, Intercourse, Bird-in-Hand, Ephrata, and Kutztown carry much of the Pennsylvania Dutch character. Trips here are paced for a long weekend. The Amish farmlands and markets cluster east of Lancaster around Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand; Strasburg holds the railroad museum and the Strasburg Rail Road; Hershey runs the chocolate-themed park and resort; Gettysburg National Military Park covers the battlefield. The region is rural enough to feel slow and close enough to Philadelphia and Baltimore to fill weekends year-round.