Visit to Lancaster, Pennsylvania 2023

My wife and I went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a ballroom dance competition. We drove up the afternoon before and had a chance to enjoy the town before enjoying a day of dancing.

The view from our 16th floor elevator lobby at night!

We walked around (while it was still daylight) and saw a lot of interesting sites. A geocaching Adventure Lab led us to St. James Episcopal Church, which has some amazing brickwork that the cache owner contributed to. The outside is amazing in its use of bricks for arches and decorative angling.

The back of St. James Church

Penn Square Fountain is an interesting abstract sculpture that was across the street from our hotel (which was connected to the convention center where the dance event was held). 

Penn Square Fountain

Not too far down the street is the entrance to Steinman Park. The area originally (I mean in the 1700s) was home to a publisher that made documents for the government of the colony (and later commonwealth) of Pennsylvania, along with documents for the U. S. government. Right at the entrance is a statue appropriate to a park dedicated to a publisher and philanthropist. The statue is simply called Newspaper Reader and was crafted by J. Seward Johnson, Jr.

Print is not dead!

The park is a very urban park, with trees on the sides and plants here and there. A lot of bricks line the walls and make up the pavement. Mostly the area is for gathering or having lunch outdoors in good weather.

Walking into the park

Park plaza

The Central Market was built in reaction to several other markets (the North, South, East, and West Markets), to encourage farmers and others to sell their wares downtown. The building follows the familiar brick theme of other buildings. I visited on a Saturday morning and picked up some Shoo-fly Pie to take home to the kids and a pretzel donut to share with my wife.

Sign to the market

Market building with one ill-placed tree

Inside the market

An October visit meant pumpkins were for sale

I thought the building across the street had some interesting fire escapes.

I kinda want to try it out

The pie and pretzel donut

Our hotel room had a different view of Lancaster, including a look down on a rooftop restaurant (or two restaurants if you look carefully).

More of Lancaster

A restaurant or two

Also across the street from the hotel is the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial. Originally dedicated to the Lancaster unit that served during the American Civil War, several plaques have been added for locals who served in subsequent wars and a few prior wars (like the American War of Independence). 

View from the hotel

View to the hotel

Yet another angle

My wife and I with a chip on my shoulder

Wandering around Sunday morning after the competition, we saw some interesting houses.

I love these little turrets/bay windows

The Fulton Theater dates back to the 1850s and has been in operation since. Before that, the location was a pre-Revolutionary War jail where an infamous massacre took place. If I had taken a ghost tour, I am sure it would have stopped there.

Fulton Theatre

We went to breakfast at Lancaster Pie and Coffee, a little restaurant specializing in beverages and pies. We had a quiche and a liege waffle (like they have in Belgium). The very friendly lady at the counter asked about us and we mentioned the ballroom competition. She got very excited, especially when we said that we came in first place in our category (in which we were the only couple). She bragged about the celebrities in her cafe to other costumers who came in while we were enjoying a delightful breakfast.

Pie-licious

Pictures and videos from the dance event in the next post!