Willow Street

A quiet suburban neighborhood about 2 miles south of Lancaster City, Lyndon charms residents with its historic houses, Amish traditionalism and proximity to downtown. While it’s common to see produce stands and horse-and-buggies along the roads, especially on the east side closer to Amish Village, the New York Post described Lancaster as “the new Brooklyn” in 2016. “We have a whole melting pot of culture here in Lancaster City,” says Megan Schmidt with the Lancaster City Welcome Center. “The town itself is very historic, dating back to the 1700s, but the city is more progressive thinking.” With hip amenities, ranging from art galleries and vintage boutiques to gourmet restaurants and cocktail bars, Lancaster is attracting people from larger cities. “A lot of people are coming from Philadelphia, Washington and New York, and they want a smaller city feel,” says lifelong Lyndon resident and Realtor, Christine Nolt with Kingsway Realty. “And there’s a large retirement community just to the south.” Many residents move to the area to be close to their aging family members without compromising the city lifestyle. And with Lyndon’s high-ranking schools and abundance of parks, the community appeals to families looking for a touch of art and culture amid the vast farmlands of Amish Country. Most houses in Lyndon feature manicured lawns and backyard space, situated on cozy, wooded lots on uncurbed roads that branch off from U.S. Route 222. Mill Creek, which feeds into the Conestoga River, weaves through the community and provides several properties with peaceful backyard creek access. According to CAP Index, Lyndon has a crime score of 2 out of a possible 10, lower than the national average of 4. Common home styles include American traditional with decorative stone accents, split-level, raised ranch and custom contemporary builds. These two- to four-bedroom single-family dwellings, which typically come with driveways and garages, range from 1,500 to 3,500 square feet in size and between $300,000 and about $500,000 in price. Outliers in the area are historic estates with colonial influences that sit on multiple acres of land, generally costing between $800,000 and around $2 million. A newer townhome community on the west side of the highway offers 2,000-square-foot Traditional-style townhomes that were built within the last decade, with price tags from $350,000 to $400,000. On the other side of Route 222 is the Willow Valley Community, named the No. 3 continuing care retirement community for adults ages 55 and older in the country. With Lyndon being so close to Downtown Lancaster and Lancaster Square, there’s always plenty to do. The city is known for its rich arts and culture scene, hosting events throughout the year that bring the town together and provide Lyndon residents with the opportunity to get to know the broader Lancaster community. “During First Fridays, the first Friday of every month, local stores are open later and local markets set up,” Schmidt says. Residents can walk around Ewell Plaza and explore the art galleries and makers marketplace. “The third Friday of each month from May through September is Music Friday, where you can sign up to perform on any street corner here within the city,” Schmidt adds. “And Celebrate Lancaster is held annually, which celebrates the cultural diversity here in the city. It’s a big event with live music and food trucks; it’s a great way to connect with people in the city.” Lancaster also hosts Indie Retail Week in July, where residents get discounts at small businesses, and Restaurant Week in September, which showcases the best local eateries in Lancaster. There's also the Red Rose Run, a 5-mile race held in the summer, and the Red Rose Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve. One of the reasons residents choose Lyndon is the public school system. “Lyndon has great schools,” says Nolt. “It’s part of Lampeter-Strasburg School District, which is really desirable.” Students attend kindergarten through second grade at Lampeter Elementary, graded an A-minus by Niche, and third through fifth grade at Hans Herr Elementary, which receives an A grade. Students then advance to Martin Meylin Middle, which Niche gives an A, before progressing to Lampeter-Strasburg Senior High, graded an A-minus. The high school offers more than 35 clubs, including esports and an active Future Farmers of America. Their FFA chapter is award-winning, competing in the National FFA Convention each year. On the north side of Lyndon is D.F. Buchmiller County Park, a 79-acre space with tennis and volleyball courts, a disc golf course and a playground. “People are always out there playing pickleball,” says Holt. Also bordering the northern end of the neighborhood is Lancaster County Central Park, the largest and most visited park in the entire county. Contouring the Conestoga River and spanning almost 550 acres, the park features hiking and biking trails, an environmental education center, a playground, a skate park and an outdoor pool. Near the pool is the Garden of the Five Senses, where a walking path through flowers and a small waterfall appeals to visitors’ sensations. Lyndon is home to two golf courses: the private Meadia Heights Golf Club to the north and the Willow Valley Golf Course to the south. This public golf course doesn’t require tee times, and the 18-hole fairway includes elevation changes, a barn and a chapel on its 35 acres of green. While residents go to Downtown Lancaster for most of their shopping and dining needs, everyday essentials and local bites can be found within Lyndon along U.S. Route 222, also called Willow Street Pike. At Willow Valley Square, there’s a GIANT for groceries, and across the pike is Mick’s All American Pub, a spacious bar and grill with an outdoor patio that overlooks a scenic pond. A mile south is Kendig Square, where residents can grab groceries at Weis Markets, catch a movie at Kendig Square Movies, and run errands at the storefronts, pharmacy and medical clinics. Also in this shopping plaza is George’s, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and Wasabi, a Japanese and sushi restaurant. Across Willow Street Pike is Grace Community Church, an evangelical church that has more than 1,500 people in attendance each weekend. For a sweet treat, the family-owned Evans Candy has been making and selling homemade chocolates for more than 40 years inside a cottage that sits along Mill Creek. U.S. Route 222 cuts through the center of Lyndon, connecting residents to Lancaster Square about 2 miles north. The closest hospital to the neighborhood is Lancaster General Hospital, less than a mile north of The Square. And a few blocks from the hospital, Lancaster Station provides Amtrak routes directly into the surrounding cities. “It’s about an hour’s ride to Philly, so commuters can get rest or get work done while they ride,” Nolt says. The Red Rose Transit bus services Lyndon, with a few stops along Willow Street Pike. For further domestic travel, the Lancaster Airport is about 8 miles north, offering flights through Breeze and Southern Airways.

The quintessential one-stoplight town, New Danville and communities like it inhabit the minds of those who dream of living in pastoral bliss, surrounded by farms, temperate forests and rolling hills. <br> <br> “There’s only a few businesses, a tiny strip mall and a fire company,” says Jesse Hersh, a local Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services who grew up in neighboring Millersville. “It’s mostly rural farmland.” Though nestled deep in the Lancaster County countryside, New Danville’s residents can easily reach downtown Lancaster and neighboring localities with larger suburban shopping centers, making New Danville a beautiful and convenient place to live. <br> <br> Homes prices in the community generally range between $200,000 and $400,000. You won’t find a uniform home style here, as most properties are custom builds from various periods over the last century, reflecting farmhouse, ranch, split-level and twin duplex styles with the use of exterior features like red brick, wood shiplap and vinyl. <br> <br> The highly rated Penn Manor School district encompasses the neighborhood, so students generally attend Conestoga Elementary and Pequea Elementary, Marticville Middle School and Penn Manor High School. Niche ranks the school district as the fourth best in the Lancaster Area and gives it an A- with high marks for academic success, teacher quality, and student readiness for college.<br> <br> At the center of the community, the Turkey Hill Mini Mart provides a place for people to get snacks, drinks, grab-and-go meals and other essentials. On the shelves in Eagle Foods, you’ll find Hispanic Goya products alongside packages of Quaker Oats, demonstrating how new cultures meld with the area’s European and Pennsylvania Dutch roots. Throughout the week, patrons visit Eagle Foods to pick up groceries and order fresh meats after checking prices on a dry-erase whiteboard listing cuts and offers in Spanish and English.<br><br>The few other vendors in town specialize in fresh produce. Open seasonally from July to early December, The Corn Wagon is an outdoor farmers market on a small gravel lot with some of the freshest vegetables and fruits around. On the other side of town to the south, past the New Danville Fire Company, Cherry Hill Orchards lets visitors explore the grounds to pick baskets of cherries, blackberries, apples and peaches. The site also includes a market and garden center where you can buy flowers, jams, fruit pies, cheeses and farm-fresh eggs. While the picking season is only in the summer, you can return to the garden center around the holidays to bring home a Christmas tree. <br><br>Beyond New Danville’s loosely defined boundaries, residents can drive out to the movie theater in the Kendig Square shopping center about two miles away in the Willow Street community or dine at a local family-owned restaurant in the nearby college town of Millersville. <br><br>With its lovely landscapes and various home styles, you can find a place to live and adore in New Danville.