Zimmerman and Sons: The Store That Lit Up Town

Along Old Philadelphia Pike stands a store that has watched over Intercourse for well over a century. Zimmerman and Sons has operated here continuously longer than any other business in town, spanning five generations of one family. A general store has stood on this ground since the nineteenth century.

Then came disaster. A fire once swept through Intercourse and destroyed many of the town's old wooden buildings, including the grocery, but it was rebuilt. Willis Zimmerman took over as proprietor early in the twentieth century, and the store still carries his name.

Local lore credits the store with several firsts, including, the story goes, the first radio set in town, a marvel that drew neighbors in to listen. Today the store still sells hardware, groceries, and the everyday goods a farming community needs, a working reminder that Intercourse was a market crossroads long before it was a tourist stop. If the storefront looks familiar, there is a reason, and it involves Hollywood, but that is a story for another stop.