West Tisbury Farmers' Market

If you're staying on Martha's Vineyard for more than a weekend, swing by the West Tisbury Farmer's Market, open on Saturday's at the site of the West Tisbury Grange. There's lots of local farmers selling fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as homemade jams, teas, and other goodies.

There's also a family that makes fresh squeezed lemonade, limeade, and a "citrus refresher," all squeezed right in front of you.

The market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon.

Lancaster City Market

Located in the heart of downtown Lancaster is Central Market.

Central Market boasts itself as being one of the country’s oldest, continuously operating farmers’ markets, and a trip to downtown Lancaster should not be without a trip here.

Fresh baked goodies, home grown produce, fresh meats, even fresh apple cider…not to mention PA Dutch goodies you can only find at homegrown stands like these. Here you’ll find scrapple, butter pickles, and chow chow as well as fresh preserves and homemade jellies and jams.

You can also find hand made crafts here like kitchen goods, woodcrafts and children’s toys.

Central Market is located at 23 North Market Street in downtown Lancaster and is open Tuesday and Friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

LOVE Park

Built in the 1960s in the "City of Brotherly Love", LOVE Park is located centrally in the city right outside of City Hall.  At all times during the day, you'll find this park packed with people.  The central fountain is gorgeous as it rises into the sky behind the famous LOVE sign that is displayed centrally in the park.

Also located here, on Wednesdays in the summer, is a Farmers' market.  Although it is quite small in size compared to other farmers' markets, it is something different than you see in the central part of most major cities.  

And for this summer only, you can find one of the city's 20 Philly Phanatic statues located right here.

Intercourse, PA and Bird-In-Hand, PA

Our Saturday took us right into the heart of Amish Country. Driving around here, you'll see numerous horse and buggys roaming the streets. Be careful not to spook the horses when passing them on the road! (Pass with care and DO NOT honk at them - they always have the right of way.)

While we didn't get to do one of the "Amish tours" this time around, we did get a Pennsylvania Dutch Country experience for sure. The first thing you'll notice is the smell as soon as you get out of your car. It's an aroma of manure, so it isn't very pleasant, but you'll probably get used to it pretty quickly.

Our first stop here was in Intercourse, PA at the People's Place Quilt Museum, located on the 2nd floor of the Old Country Store. The store itself has various items for sale which are exactly what you'd think of when you think of Pennsylvania Dutch Country...homemade furniture, quilts, etc. The museum upstairs has excellent examples of various styles of quilts and was a pleasant surprise. It's quite small, so it doesn't take long to go through, but for anyone with any interest in quilts, or even just an art fan, you'll enjoy your quaint visit. Another plus is that it is completely free to enter.

After this stop, we went further down the road to Bird-In-Hand, PA. There is an excellent Farmer's Market here where you can find some Amish wares as well as top quality baked goods!

Across the street from the market is the Americana Museum, which I must say was quite disappointing. It's basically a store filled with PA Dutch Country type items, which is all fine if you're interested in shopping. However, calling that a museum I think is quite mis-leading and I think can be passed up on any trip to this area.