Editing Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania

{{short description|Unincorporated community in Pennsylvania, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name                     = Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania
|official_name            = 
|settlement_type          = [[Census-designated place]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline            = Bird-in-Hand PA Keystone Marker on PA 340 EB.jpeg
|imagesize                = 250px
|image_caption            = [[Keystone Markers|Keystone Marker]]
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               = 
|image_blank_emblem      =

<!-- Maps -->
|pushpin_map              = Pennsylvania#USA
|pushpin_label            = Bird-in-Hand
|pushpin_map_caption      = Location in Pennsylvania##Location in the United States
|pushpin_mapsize          = 
|image_map                = 
|map_caption              =

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Pennsylvania]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Pennsylvania|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]
|subdivision_type3        = [[Township (Pennsylvania)|Township]]
|subdivision_name3        = [[East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|East Lampeter]]
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = <!-- Mayor -->
|leader_name              = 
|leader_title1            = 
|leader_name1             = 
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="TigerWebMapServer">{{cite web|title=ArcGIS REST Services Directory|url=https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/5/query?where=STATE='42'&outFields=NAME,STATE,PLACE,AREALAND,AREAWATER,LSADC,CENTLAT,CENTLON&orderByFields=PLACE&returnGeometry=false&returnTrueCurves=false&f=json|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=October 12, 2022}}</ref>
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 1.62
|area_land_km2            = 1.60
|area_water_km2           = 0.02
|area_total_sq_mi         = 0.63
|area_land_sq_mi          = 0.62
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.01

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = <ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly"/>
|population_total         = 427
|population_density_km2   = 266.79
|population_density_sq_mi = 690.94

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
|utc_offset               = -5
|timezone_DST             = EDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -4
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_ft             = 
|coordinates              = {{coord|40|2|20.5|N|76|11|23.2|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 17505
|area_code                = 
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 42-06496
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 1169655<ref>{{gnis|1169655}}</ref>
|website                  = 
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
}}

[[File:The Old Village Store Hardware and fuel pumps.jpg|thumb|250px|The Old Village Store Hardware|alt=]]

'''Bird-in-Hand''' is an [[Unincorporated area|unincorporated community]] and [[census-designated place]] (CDP) in [[Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Lancaster County]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States, in [[East Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|East Lampeter Township]]. The "Bird in Hand" [[ZIP code]] extends east from the CDP into [[Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Leacock]] and [[Upper Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania|Upper Leacock]] townships. The community has a large [[Amish]] and [[Mennonite]] population.<ref name=amishnews/> As of the [[2010 United States Census|2010 census]], the population within the CDP was 402.<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=1600000US4206496&tid=DECENNIALSF12010.P1| title=Total Population: 2010 Census DEC Summary File 1 (P1), Bird-in-Hand CDP, Pennsylvania| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau| website=data.census.gov| access-date=September 16, 2020}}</ref>

== History ==
The area's first inhabitants were [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[Shawnee]] and [[Susquehannock]] people.<ref name=amishnews>''Bird-in-Hand History'' at amishnews.com</ref>

The earliest European settlers of what was to become Bird-in-Hand were [[Quakers]] and [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[Mennonites]]. James Smith was the first of the Quakers known to have settled in the area, arriving by the year 1715. William and Dorothy McNabb were pioneer landowners and the owners of the original [[Bird-in-Hand Hotel]]. The Quakers built a meetinghouse and two-story academy, which stands today, next to the present-day Bird-in-Hand fire company.<ref name=amishnews/>
[[File:Lampeter Friends Bird-in-Hand PA.JPG|thumb|center|Lampeter Friends Meetinghouse, built 1749, rebuilt 1889]]

The community was founded in 1734. The legend of the naming of Bird-in-Hand concerns the time when the Old Philadelphia Pike was [[surveying|surveyed]] between [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] and [[Philadelphia]]. According to legend, two road surveyors discussed whether they should stay at their present location or go on to the town of Lancaster. One of them supposedly said, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," which means it is preferable to have a small but certain advantage than the mere potential of a greater one; and so they stayed. By 1734, road surveyors were making McNabb's hotel their headquarters rather than returning to Lancaster every day. The sign in front of the inn is known to have once "portrayed a man with a bird in his hand and a bush nearby, in which two birds were perched," and was known as the Bird-in-Hand Inn. Variations of this sign appear throughout the town today.<ref name=amishnews/>

In 1834 construction began on the {{convert|86|mi|adj=on}} [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] line between Philadelphia and [[Columbia, Pennsylvania|Columbia]]. Bird-in-Hand, featuring [[Tanning (leather)|tanneries]], [[fodder|feed mills]], and [[coal]] and [[lumber yard]]s, was the most important stop on the Lancaster-to-[[Coatesville, Pennsylvania|Coatesville]] section.<ref name=amishnews/>

In 1836 the village post office was established as the Enterprise [[Post Office]], as the village was then officially called, until the name officially changed to Bird-in-Hand in 1873.<ref name=amishnews/>

The town remained relatively unknown until a musical called ''[[Plain and Fancy]]'' opened in [[New York City|New York]] in 1955. The play was set in the village of Bird-in-Hand and is often credited as a catalyst for the boom in [[Pennsylvania Dutch Country]] [[tourism]] in the mid-twentieth century. The Plain & Fancy Restaurant opened in 1960 and is the oldest "family-style restaurant" in the area.<ref name=amishnews/> Bird-in-Hand is often named in lists of "delightfully-named towns" in [[Pennsylvania Dutchland]], along with [[Intercourse, Pennsylvania|Intercourse]], [[Blue Ball, Pennsylvania|Blue Ball]], [[Lititz, Pennsylvania|Lititz]], [[Bareville, Pennsylvania|Bareville]], [[Mount Joy, Pennsylvania|Mount Joy]] and [[Paradise, Pennsylvania|Paradise]].<ref name="Ward65">Ward's quarterly (1965) p. 109 quote: {{blockquote|...in such delightfully-named towns in Pennsylvania Dutchland as his native Mount Joy, and neighboring Lititz, Blue Ball, Bareville, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, and Paradise.}}</ref><ref name="Anderson79">Anderson (1979) p. 214 quote: {{blockquote|"...but anyone who names their towns Mount Joy, Intercourse, and Blue Ball can't be all bad. Obviously they have more on their minds than just religion."}}</ref><ref name="Museums06">Museums Association (2006) p. 61 quote: {{blockquote|Which brings us to Intercourse. You can imagine my delight when I found out that the Amish call the town of Intercourse, Pennsylvania, their home. There seems to be a lot of explanations from locals trying to pass off the name as a bastardisation of 'Enter Course' and so on, but seeing as there are other local towns called Bird In Hand, and Mount Joy, I suspect that the person responsible had a very juvenile sense of humour. The town sits in upstate Pennsylvania and is a tourist trap for anyone even remotely curious about the Amish way of life.}}</ref><ref>Rand  McNally and Company (1978) p. 52</ref><ref>Mencken (1963) p. 653 quote: {{blockquote|In the years since then many of these names have been changed to more elegant ones,<sup>2</sup> and others have vanished with the ghost towns they adorned, but not a few still hang on. Indeed, there are plenty of lovely specimens to match them in the East, in regions that were also frontier in their days, ''e.g.'', the famous cluster in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: Bird in Hand, Bareville, Blue Ball, Mt. Joy, Intercourse and Paradise.}}</ref>

In 1968 the Smucker family opened a small 30-room [[motel]] called the Bird-in-Hand Motor Inn, with an adjacent [[coffeehouse|coffee shop]], in hopes of capitalizing on the growing tourist trade in the area. Over the years, the small coffee shop grew into the larger Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant & [[Smorgasbord]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bird-in-hand.com/our-history/|title=History of Bird-in-Hand|website=Bird-in-Hand|language=en-US|access-date=2019-01-28}}</ref>

In 1976 the Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market opened adjacent to the Bird-in-Hand Motor Inn.<ref name=amishnews/>

The [[Bird-in-Hand Hotel|Bird-in-Hand Village Inn and Suites]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1992.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

The town is home to the [[Bank of Bird-in-Hand]], the first bank in the United States to open following the passage of the [[Dodd Frank Act]].<ref name=WSJ>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-local-bank-in-amish-country-flourishes-amid-dearth-of-small-lenders-1427677879 |title=A Local Bank in Amish Country Flourishes Amid Dearth of Small Lenders |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 29, 2015}}</ref>

==Geography==
Bird-in-Hand is in central Lancaster County, on the eastern edge of East Lampeter Township. [[Pennsylvania Route 340]] (Old Philadelphia Pike) runs through the center of town, leading west {{convert|6|mi|0}} to [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]], the [[county seat]], and east {{convert|4|mi|0}} to [[Intercourse, Pennsylvania|Intercourse]].

According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the Bird-in-Hand CDP has a total area of {{convert|1.6|sqkm|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|0.02|sqkm|order=flip|2}}, or 1.11%, are water.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2019">{{cite web|title=2019 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Places: Pennsylvania|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2019_Gazetteer/2019_gaz_place_42.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 16, 2020}}</ref> The area drains westward to Mill Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the [[Conestoga River]], part of the [[Susquehanna River]] watershed.

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|2010= 402
|2020= 427
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|accessdate=June 4, 2016}}</ref><ref name="USCensusDecennial2020CenPopScriptOnly">{{cite web|url=https://api.census.gov/data/2020/dec/pl?get=P1_001N,NAME&for=place:*&in=state:42&key=5ccd0821c15d9f4520e2dcc0f8d92b2ec9336108|title=Census Population API|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=Oct 12, 2022}}</ref>
}}{{clear}}

== Economy ==
Tourism is very important and many businesses cater specifically to [[tourist]]s.  Many of these businesses have an Amish theme, such as [[horse and buggy]] rides and crafts.

== Museums and historic sites ==
*Amish Country Homestead
*Lampeter Friends Meetinghouse<ref>See [http://www.keystonefellowship.org/ Keystone Fellowship Friends Meeting]</ref>

== Churches ==
*Bird-in-Hand United Methodist
*Stumptown Mennonite
*[[Weavertown Amish Mennonite Church]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite news
  | title =  Bird-in-Hand History
  | url =  http://www.amishnews.com/Towns/birdinhandhistory.htm
  | access-date =  2006-10-09
  | url-status =  dead
  | archive-url =  https://web.archive.org/web/20061021063853/http://www.amishnews.com/Towns/birdinhandhistory.htm
  | archive-date =  2006-10-21
  }}
*[[William Charles Anderson|Anderson, William Charles]] (1979) [https://books.google.com/books?id=_lrblWJOI4UC ''Home sweet home has wheels: or, Please don't tailgate the real estate'']
*Henry Louis Mencken, Raven Ioor McDavid (1963) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qsFZAAAAMAAJ ''The American language: an inquiry into the development of English in the United States, Volume 1'']
*[[Museums Association]] (2006) [https://books.google.com/books?id=3v0SAQAAMAAJ ''The Museums journal, Volume 106, Issues 1-6''], Indexes to papers read before the Museums Association, 1890–1909. Compiled by Charles Madeley.
*[[Rand McNally]] and Company (1978) [https://books.google.com/books?id=G6gIAQAAMAAJ ''Vacation & travel guide'']
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=vNEWAQAAMAAJ ''Ward's quarterly, Volume 1''], 1965
*''[https://bird-in-hand.com/our-history/ Bird-in-Hand History] "Connect With Our Past", timeline of Bird-in-Hand history.''

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania}}
*[https://bird-in-hand.com/ Bird-in-Hand visitors website]

{{Lancaster County, Pennsylvania}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania}}
[[Category:Populated places established in 1715]]
[[Category:Census-designated places in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1715 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Quakerism in Pennsylvania]]