Things to do in Lititz

Visiting Lititz

Lititz was founded in 1756 as a closed Moravian community, and for its first century only members of the church could live in town. That heritage still shapes the streetscape: 18th-century stone and brick buildings line East Main Street, and Lititz Springs Park, deeded by the Moravian congregation, has hosted one of the country's longest-running Fourth of July celebrations since 1818. Budget Travel named Lititz "America's Coolest Small Town" in 2013, and the label stuck.

Two food landmarks bookend downtown. The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, opened in 1861, was the first commercial pretzel bakery in America and still gives hands-on twisting tours in the original stone bakehouse, while the Wilbur Chocolate store keeps the town smelling of chocolate and sells its signature Wilbur Buds. A short drive north, the Wolf Sanctuary of PA offers guided tours through a resident wolf pack's woodland home.

The town eats well for its size: Tomato Pie Café for brunch, the Bulls Head Public House, an English-style pub regularly ranked among the best beer bars in the state, the historic General Sutter Inn on the square, and the Knight & Day Diner around the clock on Lititz Pike. Oregon Dairy's farm market and its Milk House ice cream counter, Penn Cinema's IMAX screen, and Stauffers of Kissel Hill's garden center round out a family day.