Kitchen Kettle Village: Jam in a Garage
Near Intercourse, Pennsylvania
If Intercourse has a town square for visitors, it is Kitchen Kettle Village, and it began with a stack of kettles in a garage. In nineteen fifty-four, Pat Burnley and her husband Bob set up two gallon copper kettles and gas burners in their new two car garage and started cooking jams and jellies. Pat had grown up right here in Intercourse, spending her first eight years of school in a one room schoolhouse and learning to cook and can at her mother's side.
The couple meant to sell preserves, but something unexpected happened. Tourists driving through Amish Country began stopping just to watch the bubbling fruit, to taste a warm sample, and to sip a fresh cup of coffee. The jelly kitchen became the attraction.
Over seven decades it grew into a village of dozens of shops, eateries, and lodging rooms, still centered on that family kitchen where the jams are made. Pat Burnley became a beloved figure in the community, known for her generosity and hospitality, and she remained part of the business for many years, and her legacy continues in the village. Kitchen Kettle Village celebrated its seventieth anniversary in twenty twenty-four, still family run, still simmering fruit within sight of passing buggies.
