Lititz is a town of almost 10,000 located about 10 miles north of Lancaster. Lititz is located on State Route 501, also known as Lititz Pike.

As a kid, I was always impressed with what a bustling and charming town Lititz was. I always enjoyed looking at it as we drove through town on the way to Pine Grove. Lititz looks especially nice on a sunny Summer evening.

The day I was in town for these pictures, there was a very high amount of foot traffic. I believe that just by coincidence, I was in town for Lititz's 250th birthday weekend. The foot traffic was pretty good, and was good enough for a city ten times the size of Lititz.

My impression of the town after all of these years was the complete opposite of my impression of Pine Grove: I was expecting an absolutely stunning town like a West Chester, PA, or a New Castle, DE. While it was very nice, it didn't live up to my expectations from my childhood. This is probably because most kids are much more easily impressed though. (On the other hand, I was expecting Pine Grove to be in even more disrepair than whe I had last seen it. While it still was mainly run down, I was surprised to see some buildings that looked pretty nice.)

The town was founded in 1756 by Moravians. Only Moravians were allowed to live in Lititz until the 1850's, and only members of the congregation were allowed to own homes.


Wilbur Chocolate Factory, also the home of the Candy Americana Museum. The Wilbur Chocolate Factory was founded in 1865. One product, Wilbur Buds, is very similar to Hershey Kisses, bit Wilbur Buds were created 13 years before Hershey Kisses. Some people believe that Milton Hershey stole the concept of Wilbur Buds when he created Hershey Kisses.

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The old train station.

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The Parkview Hotel on the left.

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Lititz Springs National Bank at the main intersection. This is now a branch of Citizens Bank.

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A garden in the median of the main intersection.

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The John Sutter House. After leaving his homeland of Germany, John Sutter lived in Lititz for a while before heading out west to California, where he founded Sutter's Fort. John Sutter is buried in Lititz.

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Some businesses in downtown.

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Some houses along the main road as I head out of town.

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Be sure to check out my other threads from this area of Pennsylvania:
Pine Grove, PA (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=379249)
The Appalachian Trail (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=379259)

What a very nice, Colonial town!

any Amish in that area?

There are a lot of Amish throughout the county, and buggies can be seen along the roads and at stores around Lititz. I would say that more Amish live south of Lancaster though, based on personal experience.

Yeah nice town, pics, :cheers1:

what a lovely town. thank you.

Looks like a very small oriented town with lots of old homes and historic areas. :) Very nice.

nice tour...nice town

I love Lititz. It is also home to the oldest pretzel factory in the nation, which is still in operation today, baking them the way they originally did. You can tour the factory and even make your own pretzel.

Now, I wish I could see these photos, but it appears that the bandwidth has been exceeded.

You wouldn't happen to have a Strasburg thread somewhere, would you? :)

Im sorry, the pics were removed, so Im just going to be the REALLY immature one.

Is it pronounced le-tits? Pennsylvania small towns always have the best names.

Conoshohocken.
Tunkhannock.
and now Le-tits.

It's LIT-its, but plenty of people pronounce it le TITS just to be cute! :)

I love Lititz. It is also home to the oldest pretzel factory in the nation, which is still in operation today, baking them the way they originally did. You can tour the factory and even make your own pretzel.

Now, I wish I could see these photos, but it appears that the bandwidth has been exceeded.

You wouldn't happen to have a Strasburg thread somewhere, would you? :)

I will upload thm when I get home. Until then, here is my old Strasburg thread (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=351234).

The pictures are up now.

I was in Lititz on my way to Pine Grove, where my grandparents lived and where my dad grew up. Here are threads of that area:

Pine Grove (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=379249)
Appalachian Trail and farmland scenery (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=379259)

i miss the northeast. :(

I was up there on business in December. I decided to stay in town at the Alden House (which was fantastic by the way).

I grew up in Lititz. Its a nice town but really starting to get choked w/ congestion and suburban sprawl (compared to where it was 15 yrs ago). I just hope that it doesn't lose any of its charm for the sake of tourism.

The train station is a replica build in 2000 or so of the original. Its used as the town info center. They really did a nice job with it.

I grew up in Lititz. Its a nice town but really starting to get choked w/ congestion and suburban sprawl (compared to where it was 15 yrs ago). I just hope that it doesn't lose any of its charm for the sake of tourism.

The train station is a replica build in 2000 or so of the original. Its used as the town info center. They really did a nice job with it.

Do you still live in that area? Are you anywhere near Lancaster at all or have you moved on to another region?

Lititz has always been a nice charming town to me. That train station was done in good taste. That entire central area, with the chocolate factory and the bank building, is a nice area to walk around or even drive through.

I live in Pittsburgh now. I tried to move back to central Pa last year but missed Pittsburgh too much. All of the great Pittsburgh threads on here didn't help either :) The low real estate prices back here were nice, too.

I like Lititz, but I never liked having to deal w/ all of the summer crowds (I lived right on Main). I like Mount Joy, Manheim, Ephrata, and E-Town, too.

I live in Pittsburgh now. I tried to move back to central Pa last year but missed Pittsburgh too much. All of the great Pittsburgh threads on here didn't help either :) The low real estate prices back here were nice, too.

I like Lititz, but I never liked having to deal w/ all of the summer crowds (I lived right on Main). I like Mount Joy, Manheim, Ephrata, and E-Town, too.

Interesting. We have a few forumers from Pittsburgh, which I think you're aware of already. They do a good job of representing the cty. I have some pictures from this past Summer of Pittsburgh that I'll be posting later, as well.

I've been to 3 of those 4 towns that you mentioned. I have not been to Mount Joy, yet. I actually have done photo threads of Ephrata and Elizabethtown, and have pictures of Mainheim that I just haven't gotten around to uploading and posting yet.