Nestled in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country sits a village that forces every GPS to do a double-take: Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Population 1,494. Annual tourist visitors? Over half a million. They're not all coming for the quilts.

The name is completely legitimate. This unincorporated community in Lancaster County has been called Intercourse since 1814, and before you ask—no, it's not a modern publicity stunt. The town predates pretty much every dirty joke ever made about it.

How Does a Town End Up Named Intercourse?

Nobody knows for certain, which only makes it better. Three main theories compete for bragging rights:

The town sits at the intersection of two major roads (Old King's Highway and Newport Road). "Intercourse" as in crossing paths.
There was a famous racecourse called "Entercourse" in the area. Names got sloppy.
"Intercourse" used to mean fellowship and social interaction in the 1800s—think discourse, not... the other thing.

Whatever the origin, the residents committed to it. Unlike similarly awkward neighbors Blue Ball and Bird-in-Hand, nobody in Intercourse has ever seriously pushed to change the name.

Living in Intercourse

The joke gets old fast when you're a local, but the tourism dollars don't. The town leans hard into its Amish heritage—horse-drawn buggy rides, handmade quilts, fresh-baked goods, farmland for days. Most visitors come for the authentic Pennsylvania Dutch experience. They stay for the photo op with the town sign.

Local businesses have gotten creative. You can buy "I ❤️ Intercourse" merchandise at basically every shop. The town's official website? VillageOfIntercourse.com. They know what they're doing.

Despite the name recognition, Intercourse is genuinely quiet. It's an agricultural community where Amish families still farm the surrounding land. Lancaster County produces more eggs than any other county in America, and Intercourse is right in the middle of it.

The Pennsylvania Weird-Name Belt

Intercourse isn't alone in Pennsylvania's commitment to baffling town names. Within a 20-mile radius you'll also find:

Blue Ball (11 miles west)
Paradise (6 miles south)
Bird-in-Hand (4 miles west)
Fertility (just up the road)

Road trip itineraries write themselves. "We drove through Intercourse, stopped in Blue Ball, and spent the night in Paradise" is a sentence that has launched a thousand postcards.

The name has stuck for over 210 years, survived countless giggles, and built an entire tourist economy. Not bad for a tiny farming village that just wanted to mark the spot where two roads crossed.

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