10 Coziest Small Towns in Pennsylvania

A small-scale Pennsylvania town is one where the village green still hosts the summer concert series, the diner remembers the breakfast order, and the bookstore stays open past nine on Friday because the owners feel like it. Lititz runs a 1756 Moravian colonial-era main street with brick storefronts that have held their shape for nearly 270 years. Strasburg keeps its working steam railroad and a downtown Pennsylvania Dutch country grid. Hershey has streetlamps shaped like Hershey's Kisses and a 19th-century chocolate-baron estate. Ten Pennsylvania towns, each with the small-scale interior life that the word "coziest" is actually pointing at.

Lititz

Lititz (population about 9,700) was founded in 1756 by Moravian immigrants from the present-day Czech Republic as a closed religious community; the Moravian Church owned all the land in town until 1855. The result is a colonial-era brick downtown that has held its 18th-century shape better than nearly any other in Pennsylvania. The Lititz Moravian Historic District includes more than 110 contributing buildings, including the Johann Augustus Sutter House (Sutter later moved west and his California mill ignited the 1849 Gold Rush).

The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery on East Main Street, opened in 1861, is the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the United States and still hand-twists hard pretzels on the original brick ovens. Lititz Springs Park behind the Moravian Church covers a spring-fed creek with walking paths and the town's Fourth of July fireworks each year. Wilbur Chocolate Company operated in town from 1934 until 2016, and the factory building now houses a chocolate museum and gift shop.

Strasburg

Strasburg (population about 3,100) is the Lancaster County town that holds the Strasburg Rail Road, the oldest continuously operating short-line railroad in the United States (chartered 1832). The 4.5-mile route runs 1920s-era steam locomotives between Strasburg and Paradise on the original right-of-way, with a working Norfolk & Western 4-8-0 steam engine on most weekend services. The railroad operates April through December.

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania directly across Highway 741 from the rail station holds more than 100 locomotives and rolling stock pieces under cover, including the GG1 electric and several pre-1900 wood-burning steam engines. Downtown Strasburg holds the Iron Horse Inn (1850s tavern) and a working town square. The surrounding Lancaster County farmland still runs working Amish farms; horse-and-buggy traffic shares the road with cars year-round.

Hershey

Hershey (population about 14,600) was built as a company town from 1903 onward by Milton Hershey to support the Hershey Chocolate Company. The streetlamps on Chocolate Avenue and Cocoa Avenue are shaped like Hershey's Kisses (alternating wrapped and unwrapped designs). Hersheypark, opened in 1906 as a recreation park for Hershey employees, now runs about 70 rides on 121 acres including the Skyrush hypercoaster and the Wildcat's Revenge hybrid coaster (opened 2023).

The Hershey Story Museum on Chocolate Avenue traces Milton Hershey's life from his early candy ventures through the founding of the Milton Hershey School (a free residential school for orphaned and disadvantaged children that he endowed in 1909). Hershey Gardens covers 23 acres of botanical collections including the largest butterfly atrium in Pennsylvania. The AACA Museum runs Eastern Fall Meet each October, the largest classic-car swap meet in the country with over 9,000 vendor spaces.

Doylestown

Doylestown (population about 8,400) is the Bucks County seat and the home of three connected museums all built by archaeologist and tile manufacturer Henry Chapman Mercer between 1908 and 1916, all in cast reinforced concrete. Fonthill Castle, his residence, has 44 rooms across six levels filled with the Moravian-style tiles he collected from around the world. The Mercer Museum holds his collection of more than 50,000 pre-industrial American tools and artifacts. The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, still in operation, makes handmade tiles using Mercer's original 1898 designs.

The James A. Michener Art Museum on West Pine Street (named for the novelist, a Doylestown native) holds the largest collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings anywhere. Doylestown's downtown wraps the Bucks County Courthouse, a 1962 modernist building that replaced the 1813 original. Peace Valley Nature Center and Lake Galena, eight miles west of town, run hiking and birding trails through 14 miles of waterfront and woodland.

Chadds Ford

Chadds Ford (population about 3,900) is the Brandywine Valley village that produced and housed three generations of the Wyeth family of American painters. N.C. Wyeth, the illustrator who painted the cover art for Treasure Island and The Last of the Mohicans, moved here in 1908 and built his studio in 1911. His son Andrew Wyeth painted some of his most famous works (including Christina's World, modeled after a Maine neighbor) at his Chadds Ford home. Andrew's son Jamie Wyeth continues the family tradition.

The Brandywine Museum of Art on Route 1 holds the largest collection of Wyeth family paintings anywhere, in a converted 19th-century gristmill on the Brandywine Creek. Brandywine Battlefield Park preserves the September 11, 1777 battlefield where Washington's Continental Army was defeated by Howe's British forces, the largest land battle of the Revolutionary War. Chaddsford Winery on Route 1 runs Pennsylvania-grown wine tastings.

Mercersburg

Mercersburg (population about 1,500) in south-central Pennsylvania is the birthplace of James Buchanan (the 15th US President, born April 23, 1791, in a log cabin that has been relocated to the campus of the Mercersburg Academy). The Academy itself, founded in 1893, runs as one of the older boarding schools in the country, with alumni including actor James Stewart (class of 1928) and more than 50 Olympic athletes across multiple Games.

The Mercersburg Historic District on the National Register spans the school campus and the downtown three-block grid, with the Mercersburg Inn (1909) as the main lodging anchor. Cowans Gap State Park, 15 minutes north of town, covers an 1,085-acre Civilian Conservation Corps-built park with a 42-acre swimming lake. The Tuscarora Mountain provides a backdrop to most of the town's views.

Milford

Milford (population about 1,100) sits at the northeastern edge of Pennsylvania at the Delaware River, where the state borders New York and New Jersey. The town runs Grey Towers National Historic Site, the 102-acre former home of conservationist Gifford Pinchot, the first chief of the US Forest Service (1905-1910) and twice governor of Pennsylvania. The estate's mansion was designed in 1886 by Richard Morris Hunt for Pinchot's father.

The Delaware Highlands area around Milford holds Raymondskill Falls, the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania at a combined 178 feet across three drops. Hawk's Nest Highway in nearby Sparrowbush, NY (just across the Delaware), is a National Geographic-cited scenic drive cut into a cliff above the river. The Artery Fine Art and Craft Gallery and the Golden Fish Art Gallery anchor the small downtown gallery scene.

Gettysburg

Gettysburg (population about 8,300) is the Adams County town that hosted the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War on July 1-3, 1863, with about 51,000 casualties across both sides. Gettysburg National Military Park preserves more than 6,000 acres of the battlefield with 1,300 monuments and 400 cannons across the original engagement lines. The Eisenhower National Historic Site adjoining the battlefield was the post-presidential home of Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower.

The David Wills House on Lincoln Square (the central square downtown) is where Lincoln stayed the night before delivering the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery. The town's downtown wraps Lincoln Square with the 18th-century Dobbin House Tavern, restaurants, and shops within walking distance of the battlefield's western edge.

Wilkes-Barre

Wilkes-Barre (population about 44,300, the largest on this list) sits along the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania and runs a downtown that punches well above the town's size. The city's small-scale credentials come from a tight historic core (the River Street Historic District is on the National Register) rather than small-town scale. The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Public Square, a 1938 Art Deco theater restored in 1986, runs a year-round Broadway touring schedule.

The Luzerne County Historical Society Museum on South Franklin Street covers regional anthracite-coal history and the founding of Home Box Office (HBO), which launched its first cable transmission from Wilkes-Barre on November 8, 1972. The original Planters Peanut Company was also founded here in 1906 by Amedeo Obici. Kirby Park along the Susquehanna covers 50 acres of riverfront with walking trails and the annual Riverfest in late June.

Bloomsburg

Bloomsburg (population about 12,700) is Pennsylvania's only town legally incorporated as a "Town" rather than a borough (a legal distinction dating to 1870). The town hosts the Bloomsburg Fair each September, the largest agricultural fair in Pennsylvania, running continuously since 1855 and drawing about 400,000 visitors over its eight-day run. Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania-Bloomsburg (formerly Bloomsburg University, merged with Lock Haven and Mansfield in 2022) anchors the small-college calendar.

The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, an Equity company founded in 1978, runs a year-round professional theater season inside a downtown venue. The Bloomsburg Children's Museum, opened in 1985, runs hands-on exhibits for children. Town Park along Fishing Creek covers 43 acres with multi-use trails connecting downtown to the regional rails-to-trails network.

Ten Towns On Indoor Scale

Small-scale Pennsylvania is mostly about scale itself. Lititz keeps 270 years of Moravian colonial brick. Strasburg runs the country's oldest short-line steam railroad through Amish country. Hershey wraps a company town around a 1903 chocolate factory and Hersheypark. Doylestown holds Henry Mercer's three connected concrete museums in one downtown. Chadds Ford runs the Wyeth family painters' legacy alongside the Brandywine Creek. Mercersburg holds a presidential birthplace and a 19th-century boarding school. Milford runs Gifford Pinchot's family estate at the Delaware River. Gettysburg covers 6,000 acres of preserved battlefield with a small-town downtown. Wilkes-Barre and Bloomsburg run the slightly larger end with downtown theaters and walkable historic cores. Pick the scale that fits the weekend.