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Jason English
What Happens in Intercourse
by Jason English - November 6, 2006 - 6:11 PM

intercoursepa1.jpgI just returned from a very enjoyable weekend in picturesque Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is the heart of Amish Country, the mecca of sexually suggestive towns, and — for one day in 1777 — home of our nation’s capital. Let’s tackle those in random order.

Our nation’s capital. On September 27, 1777, after fleeing Philadelphia, the Continental Congress set up shop in Lancaster. But only for a day. The mobile capital tour moved on to York, PA.

Sexually suggestive towns. On the way to Intercourse, we passed through Virginville and saw signs for Blue Ball and Paradise (admittedly less suggestive than the others). Intercourse historians are split on the origin of the name, which became official in 1814. Some say it was derived from “Entercourse,” the name of a nearby racetrack. Others say the name was an attempt to position the town as a center of commerce, as “intercourse” had business connotations in the parlance of the times.

The heart of Amish Country. The movie Witness was filmed in Intercourse; the movie For Richer or Poorer was set there. As a window into Amish culture, Lancaster thrives on tourism. Buggy rides are everywhere, and so are farms, as illustrated by Google Maps. Farming and outlet shopping.

All in all, a good weekend. I’ll be back, and promise an Armchair Field Trip next time around.

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Comments (4)

  1. I grew up in High Point, North Carolina, which is halfway between Horneytown and Climax.

    posted by Kerry Rake on 11-6-2006 at 7:48 pm

  2. What…no mention of Bird-In-Hand?
    I grew up in that area, and just a few years ago finally had to switch banks; I’d had enough of the looks whenever I paid for something with a debit card emblazoned with the “Blue Ball Bank” logo.

    posted by Melissa on 11-11-2006 at 12:32 pm

  3. Hey. That is so funny. I just watched a video on Amish country and I would never have known about the sexually suggestive nature of the town. You should check it out, it’s the featured video today on Travelistic (dot) com

    posted by jess on 1-19-2007 at 8:34 am

  4. When we visited Intercourse, PA many years ago (I was a kid on family vacation) an old-timer told us the origin of the name was from an earlier name of the town “Cross Keys” designating the intersection of two major roads, thus the intercourse. (FWIW)

    posted by jjaser on 10-18-2007 at 1:20 pm

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