Intercourse, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Intercourse, Pennsylvania (pop. roughly 1,000) is an unincorporated village in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The village is located within the 17534 ZIP code, 717 area code, and 768 local phone code.
As with the nearby towns of Blue Ball and Paradise, Pennsylvania, Intercourse is a popular site for tourists on account of its name, which in modern times has acquired sexual connotations. Sign posts for the town are frequently targeted by thieves.
Besides its name, Intercourse is also famous for its Amish communities. For this reason the movie Witness was filmed in Intercourse and For Richer or Poorer was set there, though not filmed in Intercourse.
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[edit] Economy
Tourism and farmland are major industries in the town. Small businesses sell Amish crafts, food, and give horse and buggy rides. The town thrives on thousands of tourists that visit the region each year. Most of the land surrounding the town is farmland.
[edit] History
Intercourse was founded in 1754. The community was originally named Cross Keys, after a local tavern. Intercourse became the name in 1814, and there are various theories to explain this; one possibility is that the name derived from a race course, the "Entercourse", at the intersection of the town's two major roads. Another is that at the time, the word "intercourse" had commercial connotations relating to business transactions, and that the area was named "Intercourse" in hopes that it would become a center of commerce. "Sexual intercourse" was a secondary, legalistic meaning of the term, roughly analogous to the sexual meaning of "congress" as in "sexual congress". As the more general use of the term fell out of popular usage, the narrower meaning became the term's primary connotation. Now that the town's major industry is tourism, the name serves as an excellent attraction.
[edit] Sites of interest
- Museums and Historic Sites
- American Military Edged Weaponry Museum
- People's Place Quilt Museum
- The People's Place
- Attractions
- Intercourse News
- Intercourse Pretzel Factory
- Restaurants
- Best Western Intercourse Village Motor Inn Restaurant
- Harvest View Family Restaurant and Buffet
- The Kling House Restaurant
- The Lunch Basket
- Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant
- Lodging
- Best Western Intercourse Village Motor Inn
- Carriage Corner Bed and Breakfast
- Shopping
- Crafts of the World
- Good Books
- Immergut Hand-Rolled Soft Pretzels
- Intercourse Canning Company
- Kitchen Kettle Village
- Leacock Furniture
- Mount Hope Wine Gallery
- Peaceful Valley Amish Furniture
- Stoltzfus Meats & Deli
- Village Pottery
- W.L. Zimmerman & Sons Grocery & Hardware
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or MapQuest
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, or WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
