Posted November 2, 201113 yr Lancaster is one dense, urban rascal. Tons of history too. It packs quite a punch in a fairly small area. I spent a few hours there a couple of months ago (on a Friday), and the weather started out great. But eventually a thunderstorm came through and I had to cut my visit. Hope to get back there sometime to cover more of the city. Lots of pics, but limited description/comments. The Northside Amtrak Train Station (under renovations) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Clipper Magazine Stadium area(home of the Barnstormers) 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Lancaster General Hospital area including shots from the top of the hospital's parking deck. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Downtown in the distance. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. Franklin and Marshall College area 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. Old Main 44. Lancaster Theological Seminary 45. Heading downtown through some of the Northside residential 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. Downtown 51. Starting at Central Market area (I got there 15 minutes before it closed). 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. Looking toward Penn Square. Penn Square Area 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. Some general downtown pics with a few comments. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. City Hall 79. Public Library 80. 81. New section of the county courthouse Small church graveyard downtown 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. Definately an old sign 91. 92. Old Lancaster County courthouse 93. 94. 95. 96. Not a bad looking parking structure on right. 97. 98. Sure would have liked to explore this but......... 99. .....I was afraid of this guy.:( 100. Kind of a strange looking group of buildings. 101. 102. I believe this is the 3rd tallest building in the city. 103. 104. 105. 106. The Southern Farmer's Market Finally, I went up to the top floor of the Marriott for a few shots. 107. 108. 109. 110. Uh-oh, what's that I see? 111. Car fire - they got it out OK. 112. Storm cluds approaching 113. So long from Lancaster Hope you enjoyed the tour. :)
November 3, 201113 yr Fantastic little city. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
November 3, 201113 yr Thanks, nice tour. I had no idea Lancaster was that large and urban-looking w/such historic buildings (too many Amish stereotypes would always come to mind). http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
November 3, 201113 yr Wow, some of the best shots of a city ever! What a handsome, urban community. Thanks, Ex-Ithacan, for so many rich, finely-detailed photos--you captured so much here that one viewing will hardly be enough--I'll be back again and again to enjoy!
November 3, 201113 yr Met friends there for a regional micro brewery tour. I was overwhelmed by the density and the architecture. It's very charming. It's such a great thing that they were able to preserve so much of the history.
November 3, 201113 yr The Marriott hotel was built inside the shell of the old Watt & Shand department store. They tore down the store but saved the beautiful facade, which you can clearly see in picture #70.
November 4, 201113 yr Great comprehensive tour; the Marriott was under construction when I visited during a very hot August in 2008, and I never made it as far as Franklin & Marshall College. I'm happy to see the renovation/restoration of the Amtrak station; it's a classic PRR station and was getting shabby around the edges. There was entirely too much kitschy clutter in that grand waiting room, too. Perhaps they can find a better place to store some of that stuff The Central Market has been freshened up since I was there, with significant improvement to the lighting. As I recall, it was lit with floursecent fixtures, and too few of them, at the time of my visit. Lancaster is as a dense, active core, and it's conveniently located near a lot of other historic attractions.
November 4, 201113 yr Ive never seen that side of Lancaster , its a very charming city , in a very nice region....its a shame its Train station is underutilized..
November 4, 201113 yr The Marriott hotel was built inside the shell of the old Watt & Shand department store. They tore down the store but saved the beautiful facade, which you can clearly see in picture #70. I stayed here last year for a conference which was actually at the Host Conference Center/Hotel across town. (and this hotel was cheaper!). What they did was actually pretty amazing. They somehow kept the old world charm of the store while making everything on the inside ultra-modern. It felt like a hotel in a much, much larger city. The Convention center looks pretty awesome, albeit a little small. Lancaster City itself is a true gem. Downtown is compact and vibrant with lots of things going on. It's hard to believe that just over 50K live in the city limits. One thing that is a sore spot is a botched attempt at Urban Renewal near the former Bulova offices/HotelBrunswick. It just smacks of the 70s. The rest of the city makes up for it though!
November 5, 201113 yr PA has so many great urban areas love that train station, sure beats the hell out of our amshack
November 5, 201113 yr Thanks for the great photo tour! I've considered moving east, and Lancaster is one of the towns I would consider. It has a great density for a small town, affordable housing, good train service to the East Coast, and lots of great Amish farmland surrounding it. In fact, I suspect that if we got into a serious problem with peak oil, Lancaster might be one of the cities least affected by it. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
November 6, 201113 yr Wow, thanks for all the replies fellas. They're greatly appreciated. I did enjoy my visit, and hope to get back to Lancaster some day to explore more residential neighborhoods.
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