Terre Hill offers scenic, small-town living in northeastern Lancaster
Terre Hill is a tiny borough that dips along hills and dales in the Conestoga Valley near the northeast edge of Lancaster County. Even relatively far from the county seat and its major highways, Terre Hill hasn’t been untouched by Lancaster’s historic decline in industry and modern boom in new construction homes. Overall, though, Terre Hill has remained what it's been for generations: a little country town folded into Lancaster County’s pastoral countryside. “Terre Hill’s a little farther out there from all of the super desirable tourist spots, but it’s still such a beautiful area,” says Amy Beachy, a sales associate with Coldwell Banker Realty who specializes in and lives in Lancaster County. “All around this little town, there are just tons of farms with laundry hanging on the clotheslines, animals out in the field and kids helping their families tend the fields.”
A small town of single-family homes in rural Lancaster County
During the mid-1800s through early 1900s, farmhouses, National and Victorian homes were built close together near Terre Hill’s flourishing cigar manufacturing centers. Sidewalks line these older pockets but fall away in parts of the borough where ranch-style, split-level and colonial homes were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 2010s, townhouses and New Traditional single-family homes have been built in a few cul-de-sac subdivisions. Single-family home prices range from around $260,000 to $520,000. Gently rolling hills give many residents views of the vast expanses of farmland that blanket the borough's outskirts.
Attending Eastern Lancaster County School District
Terre Hill is served by the Eastern Lancaster County School District. Both Blue Ball Elementary School and Brecknock Elementary School score a B-minus from Niche. Garden Spot Middle School earns a C-plus. B-rated Garden Spot High School offers many agricultural courses, helping students gain skills through career education and membership in the Grasslands Future Farmers of America chapter.
Getting outside at parks in Terre Hill and around Lancaster
From playing pick-up basketball and baseball to taking the kids to the castle-like Timbers Playground, there are many ways to pass the time at Terre Hill Community Memorial Park. Thanks to its expansive grassy fields, picnic pavilions and stage, the park is also a venue for many borough events throughout the year. The nearby Terre Hill Community Center offers a more weatherproof place for reunions and get-togethers. Terre Hill is less than 15 minutes from larger Lancaster County recreation areas, like the deeply forested hunting grounds of State Game Lands Number 52 and the hiking trails that connect Welsh Mountain Nature Preserve and Money Rocks County Park.
Terre Hill Days and other annual traditions
As summer comes around, residents look forward to the annual Terre Hill Days festival. For four days, Terre Hill Community Memorial Park fills with carnival rides, games, fair food and live music. Special events like the big tent craft market, car cruise and fireworks show draw visitors out on specific days. The Terre Hill Days Committee takes its name from the organization’s biggest event, but this group of local volunteers also plans other events like the string light-illuminated Christmas in the Park festivals and springtime Easter egg hunts. Proceeds from these fundraisers help maintain Terre Hill Community Memorial Park. “That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about Lancaster – people are pretty friendly,” Beachy says. “If you let them know something’s going on, they show up.”
Small businesses in Terre Hill and nearby grocery shopping
A few locally owned businesses draw regulars and weekend tourists in Terre Hill. Signs reading “Kumm Esse” greet diners at the Terre Hill Family Restaurant, inviting them to come eat the restaurant’s homestyle Pennsylvania Dutch and diner-style fare. Slice of Italy is the borough’s classic pizza parlor and takeout spot. Small houses of worship, including Trinity Church, poke steeples above Main Street. Lancaster is a county replete with farm stands and more permanent roadside markets; it’s easy to drive down Terre Hill’s back roads and find fresh produce or baked goods. For groceries beyond what's available from local stands or the Sunoco gas station, residents drive about 4 miles to Shady Maple Farm Market and Good’s Store in East Earl.
South-central and eastern PA commuting
Lancaster, the seat of its namesake county, is about 20 miles from Terre Hill. WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital is around 10 miles away. It’s a roughly 50-mile drive to Harrisburg International Airport and a 60-mile drive to Philadelphia. Near home, motorists can expect to share the road with the occasional tractor or horse-drawn buggy.
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Written By
Julia Szymanski
