Pennsylvania is known for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Amish Country, Hershey chocolate, steel, coal, and major events in American history. It is home to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Gettysburg, the Pocono Mountains, and foods such as cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, pierogies, and Pennsylvania Dutch baked goods.
The state is far more varied than those familiar images suggest. Philadelphia feels tied to the East Coast, while Pittsburgh has stronger links with Appalachia and the Midwest. Between them are farmland, former mining towns, university communities, forested mountains, and small industrial cities.
Pennsylvania is also large enough that its main destinations do not fit easily into one short trip. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are more than 300 miles apart, while Lancaster, Gettysburg, Hershey, the Poconos, and the Pennsylvania Wilds each belong to different routes.
These 20 places, foods, traditions, and industries explain what Pennsylvania is known for and how they connect with an actual visit.
1. Philadelphia and the Birth of the United States
Philadelphia played a central role in the founding of the United States.
Delegates met at the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, to debate and approve the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The U.S. Constitution was written and signed in the same building in 1787.
The nearby Liberty Bell became one of the country’s best-known symbols of freedom. Its famous crack and the words about proclaiming liberty helped later generations connect it with abolition, civil rights, and political protest.
These landmarks sit within Independence National Historical Park in central Philadelphia. The area also contains Congress Hall, the President’s House site, historic streets, and museums.
The founding story is important, but it should not be presented as a simple celebration. Philadelphia was home to both free and enslaved Black residents, and several national leaders who spoke about liberty continued to enslave people.
The city offers enough history to fill several days, but it is not only an outdoor museum. Neighborhoods, markets, restaurants, universities, art, sports, and modern city life matter just as much.
The wider guide to what Philadelphia is known for covers the city’s food, culture, neighborhoods, and major attractions.
2. The Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is one of Pennsylvania’s most recognized landmarks.
It was originally made for the Pennsylvania State House during the 18th century. The bell was used for public announcements and later became closely linked with the story of American independence.
Its famous crack developed over time rather than during one dramatic historic event. Attempts to repair it created the wide split visible today.
The bell’s inscription reads, “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.”
Abolitionists adopted the bell as a symbol during the 19th century, helping establish the name Liberty Bell. It later appeared in campaigns connected with women’s voting rights, civil rights, and other movements.
The bell is displayed in a visitor center across from Independence Hall. Entry is normally free, although security lines can grow during busy periods.
It is easy to see the bell quickly. Spending time with the surrounding exhibits gives the visit more meaning than simply taking a photograph beside it.
3. Pittsburgh and Its Steel History
Pittsburgh is Pennsylvania’s second-largest city and one of the places most closely linked with American industry.
The city developed where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River. Its waterways, nearby coal supplies, rail connections, and growing factories helped turn it into a major center for iron, glass, and steel.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Pittsburgh’s mills produced steel used in railways, bridges, buildings, machinery, and military equipment.
The industry created enormous wealth, but it also brought dangerous work, heavy pollution, labor conflict, and sharp differences between owners and workers.
Steel production later declined, and many mills closed. Modern Pittsburgh has rebuilt much of its economy around healthcare, universities, technology, finance, and research.
The industrial past remains visible in old mill sites, bridges, museums, working-class neighborhoods, and the city’s identity.
Pittsburgh’s rivers and hills also shape the visitor experience. Inclines climb Mount Washington, bridges connect neighborhoods, and viewpoints reveal a city built around difficult terrain.
The full guide to what Pittsburgh is known for explores its food, sports, museums, neighborhoods, and industrial history in more detail.
4. The Keystone State
Pennsylvania is known as the Keystone State.
A keystone is the central stone at the top of an arch. It holds the other pieces together and helps support the structure.
The nickname reflects Pennsylvania’s central position among the original colonies and its importance during the founding of the United States.
The state sat between northern and southern colonies and linked the Atlantic coast with lands farther west. Philadelphia also served as a major political, commercial, and cultural center.
Pennsylvania later became important in transport, mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and national politics.
The nickname appears on signs, state symbols, businesses, organizations, and tourism material. It is also the reason many Pennsylvania companies and institutions use the word “Keystone” in their names.
The term is not tied to one official moment or event. It developed as a broad description of Pennsylvania’s geographic and political importance.
5. Gettysburg and the Civil War
Gettysburg is connected with one of the most important battles of the American Civil War.
Union and Confederate armies fought around the town from July 1 to July 3, 1863. The battle caused tens of thousands of casualties and ended Robert E. Lee’s second invasion of the North.
The Union victory became a major turning point, although the war continued for nearly two more years.
Several months later, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address during the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. His brief speech connected the war with equality, democracy, and the unfinished promises of the country’s founding.
Gettysburg National Military Park preserves a large landscape of fields, hills, roads, farms, monuments, and military positions.
The battlefield is too large to understand through one monument or viewpoint. A guided tour, driving route, or several focused walks provide a clearer picture of how the battle moved.
Gettysburg also has a historic town center and the nearby Eisenhower National Historic Site.
The town is roughly two hours from Philadelphia and about 90 minutes from Baltimore. It works better as an overnight stop than a rushed addition to a packed city trip.
6. Amish Country and Lancaster County
Lancaster County is widely known for its Amish communities, farmland, horse-drawn buggies, covered bridges, markets, and Pennsylvania Dutch food.
The Amish are part of a Christian tradition that values community, humility, simple living, and separation from many parts of modern society.
Their practices vary between communities. Rules around clothing, technology, transport, education, and business are not identical everywhere.
It is also important not to treat the Amish as people performing an old-fashioned lifestyle for visitors. Lancaster County is a working region where families farm, run businesses, attend church, raise children, and manage daily life.
Photography should be handled carefully. Many Amish people avoid posed photographs and do not want to be treated as attractions.
Visitors can learn more through museums, farm tours, markets, local guides, and drives through the countryside. Buying food or crafts directly from family businesses can be more meaningful than visiting a large themed attraction.
Lancaster itself is a growing small city with restaurants, galleries, markets, and communities that extend far beyond Amish tourism.
7. The Pennsylvania Dutch
The term Pennsylvania Dutch does not refer only to the Amish.
It describes communities descended mainly from German-speaking immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th and 18th centuries. The word “Dutch” developed from the word Deutsch, meaning German.
These settlers included Amish, Mennonites, Lutherans, Reformed Christians, Moravians, and other groups.
Pennsylvania Dutch culture shaped farming, architecture, language, crafts, religion, and food across southeastern and central Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Dutch language is a form of German influenced by English and other regional languages. It remains in use within some Amish and Mennonite communities.
Hex signs, barns, covered bridges, quilts, markets, and foods such as scrapple, shoofly pie, chicken pot pie, and whoopie pies are often linked with Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
However, not every item sold as “Amish” or “Pennsylvania Dutch” has a direct community connection. Tourism branding sometimes combines several traditions into a simplified rural image.
Lancaster, Reading, Bethlehem, York, and nearby countryside all offer different ways to explore this history.
8. Hershey and Chocolate
Hershey is one of Pennsylvania’s best-known company towns.
Milton Hershey established his chocolate business in the area during the early 20th century. He built a factory, homes, schools, transport links, parks, and community facilities around the growing company.
Hershey’s milk chocolate became widely available at a time when chocolate had often been treated as a more expensive product.
The town is now closely tied to the brand. Streetlights shaped like Hershey’s Kisses, chocolate-themed attractions, company signs, and the smell from production facilities reinforce the connection.
Hershey’s Chocolate World offers exhibitions, shops, food, and a free ride explaining the basic chocolate-making process. It is a visitor attraction rather than a tour through the working factory.
Hersheypark began as a recreation area for company workers and developed into a large amusement park.
The town also contains the Hershey Story museum, gardens, sports venues, and institutions supported by the Hershey legacy.
Hershey is close to Harrisburg and can be combined with Lancaster or Gettysburg, though trying to cover all three in one day creates a rushed trip.
9. Cheesesteaks
The cheesesteak is Philadelphia’s best-known food.
It is made with thinly sliced beef cooked on a griddle and served inside a long roll. Common cheese choices include provolone, American cheese, and processed cheese sauce.
Fried onions are optional, despite the strong opinions surrounding how a sandwich should be ordered.
Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks are the most famous rival shops, but many local residents prefer smaller neighborhood businesses.
The quality depends on the bread, meat, cheese, and balance between them. A famous sign and long line do not guarantee the best sandwich.
Philadelphia’s Italian American bakeries and sandwich culture helped shape the cheesesteak. The roll is as important as the filling because it must remain firm without becoming too hard.
The sandwich is heavy and often large enough to share, especially if combined with fries or another local snack.
Cheesesteaks are only one part of the city’s food culture. This guide to famous foods in Philadelphia also covers roast pork sandwiches, soft pretzels, water ice, scrapple, and other local dishes.
10. Soft Pretzels and Snack Foods
Pennsylvania is one of the main centers of American pretzel and snack-food production.
German-speaking immigrants brought pretzel traditions to the region. Soft pretzels later became closely linked with Philadelphia, while central and southeastern Pennsylvania developed a large commercial baking industry.
A Philadelphia-style soft pretzel is usually long, narrow, and joined into a stretched shape. It has a chewy center, browned surface, and coarse salt.
They are commonly eaten with mustard and sold by bakeries, street vendors, markets, and convenience shops.
Pennsylvania is also strongly connected with hard pretzels, potato chips, cheese curls, and other packaged snacks.
Companies such as Snyder’s of Hanover, Utz, Herr’s, Martin’s, and Middleswarth have roots in the state.
Many factories developed close to farming areas that supplied potatoes, grain, dairy, and other ingredients.
Several snack companies offer tours or visitor centers, though access and schedules change. Factory experiences are more interesting for families or food-production enthusiasts than for anyone expecting a major culinary attraction.
11. Pierogies and Eastern European Food
Pierogies are especially popular in western Pennsylvania.
These filled dumplings are associated with Polish, Ukrainian, Slovak, and other Central and Eastern European food traditions.
Common fillings include potato and cheese, sauerkraut, mushrooms, or meat. The dumplings are boiled and may then be fried with butter and onions.
Immigrants who came to work in Pennsylvania’s coal mines, steel mills, factories, and railways brought their cooking traditions with them.
Pittsburgh and nearby industrial towns developed strong Eastern European communities, making pierogies part of everyday regional food.
They appear in churches, community fundraisers, restaurants, markets, festivals, and frozen supermarket sections.
The Pittsburgh Pirates even have costumed pierogies that race during baseball games.
Pierogies should not be presented as an invention from Pennsylvania. Their importance comes from migration and the way immigrant food became part of the state’s local identity.
12. Pennsylvania Dutch Food
Pennsylvania Dutch cooking is known for practical, filling dishes made from farm ingredients.
Common foods include roast meats, noodles, potatoes, pickled vegetables, pies, dumplings, and preserved products.
Chicken pot pie in this tradition may refer to chicken and thick square noodles cooked in broth rather than a baked pie with a pastry crust.
Scrapple is made by combining pork trimmings with cornmeal, flour, and seasoning. It is cooled into a loaf, sliced, and fried until crisp outside.
Shoofly pie uses molasses and a crumb topping. Versions range from soft and sticky to firmer and more cake-like.
Whoopie pies consist of two small cakes with a sweet filling between them. Their precise origin is debated, with both Pennsylvania and Maine strongly linked to the dessert.
Market restaurants and traditional family-style dining rooms are common places to try these foods.
The broader guide to famous Pennsylvania foods explains more dishes from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Amish Country, and the state’s industrial towns.
13. Pittsburgh Sandwiches and Fries on Salad
Pittsburgh has its own highly recognizable food habits.
Primanti Brothers became famous for sandwiches filled with meat, cheese, coleslaw, tomato, and French fries. The full meal is built into the bread rather than served as separate sides.
The sandwich is linked with the city’s working-class and industrial history. It was designed as a quick, filling meal that could be eaten without several plates or utensils.
Pittsburgh is also known for placing French fries on salads. A Pittsburgh salad may include greens, vegetables, cheese, grilled chicken or steak, and a large serving of hot fries.
The combination sounds excessive, but the fries soften slightly under the dressing and make the salad function as a complete meal.
Neither dish represents all food in modern Pittsburgh. The city now has international markets, chef-led restaurants, bakeries, breweries, and food traditions brought by many immigrant communities.
Still, fries inside the meal rather than beside it remain one of the easiest ways to identify a Pittsburgh-style plate.
14. Coal Mining
Coal shaped large parts of Pennsylvania’s economy, landscape, and population.
The state contains both anthracite and bituminous coal regions. Anthracite, a harder form with a high carbon content, is especially associated with northeastern Pennsylvania.
Mining attracted workers from Europe and other parts of the United States. It helped support railways, factories, home heating, steel production, and industrial growth.
The work was dangerous. Mine collapses, explosions, dust-related illness, low pay, and labor conflict affected generations of workers and their families.
Many mining communities later struggled as coal employment declined. Abandoned mines also left problems including polluted drainage, unstable ground, and damaged waterways.
Museums and mine tours around Scranton, Ashland, and other former mining towns explain both the industry and underground working conditions.
The coal story is essential to understanding Pennsylvania, but it should not be reduced to nostalgia. The industry created jobs and communities while also causing severe human and environmental costs.
15. Steel, Railways, and Industrial America
Pennsylvania’s location and natural resources made it central to American industrial growth.
Coal, iron ore, rivers, canals, and railways supported factories and mills across the state.
Pittsburgh became the main symbol of steel, but industrial production also shaped Bethlehem, Johnstown, Reading, Erie, Allentown, and many smaller cities.
Bethlehem Steel grew into one of the world’s largest steel producers. Its material was used in bridges, buildings, ships, railways, and military equipment.
The former plant in Bethlehem now contains cultural venues, preserved industrial structures, and the SteelStacks arts complex.
Pennsylvania was also important to railway history. The Pennsylvania Railroad became one of the country’s largest and most powerful companies.
Industrial decline left empty factories, job losses, and economic change. Some former sites have been demolished, while others have become museums, parks, offices, housing, or entertainment areas.
This reused industrial landscape is one of the most interesting contrasts in modern Pennsylvania.
16. The Pocono Mountains
The Pocono Mountains are a popular outdoor and resort region in northeastern Pennsylvania.
The area contains forest, lakes, waterfalls, ski slopes, small towns, golf courses, cabins, and family attractions.
Its location makes it accessible from New York City, Philadelphia, and northern New Jersey. This helped the Poconos develop as a weekend and honeymoon destination during the 20th century.
The region’s famous heart-shaped bathtubs and themed honeymoon resorts created a playful public image, though many of those older properties have closed or changed.
Modern trips focus more on hiking, skiing, waterparks, lakes, resorts, and cabin stays.
Bushkill Falls is one of the best-known waterfall attractions, while state parks such as Hickory Run and Promised Land offer a less commercial experience.
The Poconos cover a broad area rather than one central mountain town. A car is usually necessary, and choosing accommodation close to your main activities reduces driving.
Autumn weekends and winter holidays can become busy, especially around popular resorts.
17. The Appalachian Trail and Pennsylvania Wilds
The Appalachian Trail crosses a long section of Pennsylvania.
The state’s trail sections include forest, ridges, farmland, river crossings, and many rocky paths. Hikers often remember Pennsylvania for the amount of exposed rock underfoot rather than for extreme elevation.
The trail passes close to places such as Delaware Water Gap and the Cumberland Valley.
Pennsylvania’s wider outdoor landscape includes large forest areas in the north-central part of the state, commonly called the Pennsylvania Wilds.
This region contains state forests, parks, rivers, elk habitat, dark skies, and small former logging or mining towns.
Elk can often be seen around Benezette, though they are wild animals and should be viewed from a distance.
Cherry Springs State Park is known for dark night skies and stargazing. Clear conditions are never guaranteed, and visitors need to reduce lights and follow park rules.
These northern areas are far from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. They work best as a separate road trip rather than an easy city excursion.
18. Covered Bridges and Rural Landscapes
Pennsylvania is known for covered bridges, particularly in rural counties.
The wooden structures were covered to protect their main beams and roadway from rain, snow, and sun. The roof helped extend the life of the bridge.
Many surviving examples date from the 19th century, although some have been rebuilt after floods, fires, or traffic damage.
Lancaster, Bucks, Bedford, Columbia, and Washington counties are among the areas with notable collections.
Covered bridges look peaceful today, but they were practical pieces of rural transport rather than decorative structures.
Some remain open to vehicles, while others allow only pedestrians or have strict weight and height limits.
They are best included as part of a countryside drive rather than treated as separate destinations. Stopping safely matters because many stand beside narrow roads without large parking areas.
The surrounding farms, streams, and small towns often make the route more memorable than any single bridge.
19. Punxsutawney Phil and Groundhog Day
Pennsylvania is famous for the Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney.
Each February 2, a groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil is brought before a crowd at Gobbler’s Knob.
The tradition claims that seeing his shadow means six more weeks of winter, while no shadow predicts an early spring.
The event developed from European weather folklore connected with Candlemas and animals such as badgers or hedgehogs. German-speaking settlers adapted the custom to the North American groundhog.
The prediction has no scientific value, but the ceremony has become a major part of the town’s identity.
The 1993 film Groundhog Day made the event internationally famous, although most of the movie was filmed in Illinois rather than Punxsutawney.
The celebration draws large crowds despite taking place outdoors during a cold Pennsylvania winter morning. Accommodation and transport require advance planning.
Outside the event, Punxsutawney is a small town rather than a year-round theme park.
20. Sports Culture
Pennsylvania has one of the country’s strongest sports cultures.
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh both support major professional teams, and the rivalry between their fans reflects the wider differences between the two cities.
Philadelphia is home to the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, and Flyers. Pittsburgh has the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins.
The Steelers are closely tied to the city’s industrial image. Their fan base often uses the black-and-gold Terrible Towel, which appears throughout western Pennsylvania and far beyond it.
College football is also important. Penn State’s large stadium and game-day traditions draw enormous crowds to State College.
Baseball history runs deep in both major cities. Pittsburgh’s PNC Park is known for views of the skyline and river, while Philadelphia’s sports complex places several major venues in one area.
Attending a game can offer a stronger sense of local identity than visiting a sports museum. However, traffic, parking, and ticket prices rise sharply around major events.
Pennsylvania sports culture is passionate enough that wearing the wrong team’s colors may start a lively conversation, even when nobody takes the rivalry entirely seriously.
What Best Defines Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania is often described through two major cities and the countryside between them.
That picture is partly accurate, but the middle of the state is not empty space separating Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Lancaster County has farmland, markets, Amish communities, and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. Gettysburg is tied to the Civil War and Lincoln’s most famous speech. Hershey built an entire town around chocolate, while former coal and steel communities explain how Pennsylvania helped power American industry.
The landscape also changes from the Delaware River and southeastern cities to Appalachian ridges, the Poconos, Lake Erie, and the forests of northern Pennsylvania.
For a first trip, Philadelphia can be combined with Lancaster, Hershey, or Gettysburg. Pittsburgh works better with western industrial sites, Fallingwater, or the Laurel Highlands.
The Poconos and Pennsylvania Wilds need separate plans. They are too spread out to add casually to a short city itinerary.
Pennsylvania also connects naturally with nearby states. Gettysburg and the southern countryside lead toward Maryland, while the Appalachian landscapes continue into West Virginia and Virginia.
What defines Pennsylvania is the overlap between national history and ordinary working life. The same state contains the rooms where the United States was founded, farms that keep older traditions alive, cities built by immigrants and industry, and mountains that feel far removed from its crowded urban centers.
