Hershey, Past the Park

Everybody arrives knowing about Hersheypark. Nobody moves here for it, and after the first summer most residents go about twice a year.

What you actually live with is a small town that Milton Hershey built for his factory workers, which turns out to be a very good brief for a town.

The streetlights, and what they tell you

The streetlights along Chocolate Avenue are shaped like Hershey's Kisses. It is exactly as much as you would expect and it is genuinely charming for about a year, after which it becomes ordinary and you stop seeing it.

Mention it here because it is the clearest example of the thing about Hershey: it was designed on purpose, by someone with money and a point of view, and that shows up in the street grid, the parks, and the fact that the good stuff is walkable from the neighborhoods rather than out on a highway strip.

The places that stay open in February

Hershey Gardens covers about 23 acres. The part that matters in winter is the Butterfly Atrium inside the conservatory, which is tropical and warm and full of butterflies while it is eighteen degrees outside. Families with small children buy the membership and use it hard from January to March.

The Hershey Theatre is a genuine 1930s house, and the touring Broadway season is better than a town this size has any business getting.

ZooAmerica is small, a little over 200 animals from about 70 North American species, and it is open year round. It takes about an hour to walk, which is the right size for a Saturday morning.

The Hershey Story on Chocolate Avenue covers Milton Hershey himself, including the part where he and Catherine founded a school for orphaned boys in 1909 that still houses and educates children today. That school and the trust behind it are the reason the town is shaped the way it is, and it is worth an hour to understand before you buy a house here.

Eating

Downtown has more range than the population justifies, because of the visitors. Fenicci's has been there forever and is the standing answer. Devon Seafood and Steak is the one for an occasion. The Chocolate Avenue Grill is the neighborhood place.

The upside of a tourist town is the restaurants. The downside is the parking on a July Saturday.

What it costs

Hershey carries a premium over the towns around it. Some of that is the trail and the parks, and some is the plain fact that everyone has heard of it.

You get a town that works, and you pay for it. Hummelstown, Palmyra, and Middletown are the same commute and less money, and they are worth driving before you settle the question.