The Community Table · Presented by The Churchville Inn

Peddler’s Village: From a Rundown Chicken Farm to Bucks County’s Favorite Afternoon

Sixty years after Earl Jamison bought a run-down farm the locals called “Hentown,” Peddler’s Village is still teaching Bucks County how to spend an afternoon.

The windmill and gardens at Peddler’s Village, Lahaska, PA

It’s hard to picture now, but the 42 acres of brick pathways, gardens, and storybook architecture known as Peddler’s Village started out as a run-down chicken farm the locals called “Hentown.” In 1962, Bucks County resident Earl Jamison, inspired by a trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea, took out a loan from his uncle and bought the old farm in Lahaska. He kept much of the original barns and coops in place, folding them into the design of what would become fourteen shops and a single restaurant, the Cock ’n Bull.

More than sixty years later, that small experiment has grown into one of the region’s most visited destinations, with dozens of independently owned shops and restaurants, the Golden Plough Inn, and Giggleberry Fair, the Village’s indoor family entertainment center built around a restored 1922 carousel. What hasn’t changed is the underlying idea Earl started with: take something old, keep what’s worth keeping, and build something people genuinely want to spend an afternoon in.

A quiet corner of the Village gardens

Late summer at Peddler’s Village still carries some of that same low-key charm. The Bucks Fever Tunes at Noon series and the Sights in Sand installation wrap up their runs before the Village turns toward fall, with the Pet Photography Competition and the Scarecrows in the Village display marking the seasonal handoff. It’s a reminder that even a destination with millions of annual visitors can still feel like a neighborhood spot if you catch it on a quiet weekday.

At The Churchville Inn, we like pointing people toward places like this, not because they need the promotion, but because a full day out in Bucks County is exactly the kind of local loop we’d like to see people make more often. Peddler’s Village has been part of that loop for over sixty years, and it’s not hard to see why.

Part of The Community Table series · The Churchville Inn