Great Places to Shop in Lancaster County (First in a Series)

Do You Yearn For An Urn?

The time had come to do something about our front yard. Years ago, Main Street in Terre Hill had been lined with huge oak trees. Their branches reached for each other across the street and met in the middle, creating a canopy that shaded sidewalks and cooled front porches. But when the electric and phone companies started trimming them, the trees began dying off. All that remained of the two that were in front of the inn was a tangle of roots and rotting stumps. Our ivy did a fair job of covering up the uneven ground.

So we replaced the sidewalk and had the rest of the old stumps ground out. But it looked so empty. That’s when I remembered Hoover’s Farm Market.

Located on Route 23 between Goodville and Churchtown (a mere five miles from the inn), they make concrete statues and urns.

It's where I purchased my beloved three-foot bunny for the back gardens of The Artist's Inn. He has survived several years – in fact this winter’s snow covered almost all of him.
My mom and I stopped at Hoover’s and I quickly found what I wanted-two beautiful large urns to replace the trees. She insisted that I get them. In fact, she paid for them too. Now you know where I learned my shopping philosophy: “If you see something and fall in love with it, you just need to buy it.”

There’s a wide selection of urns from which to choose – along with nursery plants, fresh vegetables and home-baked goods –

even "outhouses" - so it’s worth a stop whether you need statuary or not.

There is one drawback.....Hoover’s offers no delivery on urns.

Time to call some good friends for help. Good friends like Bob and Lynne. They own an inn, the Australian Walkabout. They also own a pick-up truck. And so we invited them to dinner.....

Getting the urns in the truck was easy - Hoover's had a contraption - sort of a cross between a backhoe and a forklift. Now came the moment of truth - unloading the urns without breaking them - or any other body part.

And so Bob and Bruce wrestled with the urns. (Funny, but neighbors seem to disappear from their front porches when a project like this gets underway.)

No job would be complete without a cheerleader, though I suspect that Taylor was more excited about the ice cream at dinner than the urns.

Lynne stood by with refreshments for moral support.

I was busy taking pictures.

The flowers are planted and now we just wait for the ivy to fill in. So if this gets you yearning for an urn, you’ll know to head to Hoover’s.

One of Lancaster County’s best secrets: great little shops that offer so much – they aren’t found on any tourist map and rarely do advertising. But the locals know about these jewels throughout Lancaster County. I’ll introduce you to some of my absolute favorites in this blog.....so stay tuned – after all, there’s always some shopping to do!