Enjoy Exceptional Experiences at The Inn at Leola Village
Discover the most distinctive lodging, dining, and hospitality experience in Lancaster. Step back in time when you stay with us at The Inn at Leola Village.
The Inn at Leola Village has been named to these Historic Hotels of America Top 25 Lists
The 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Best of Adaptive Reuse List
The 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Most Romantic Hotels
The 2022 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Most Unique Culinary Heritage and Culinary Traditions
The 2022 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America for a Romantic Proposal
The Beauty of Lancaster County
Let us show you the vibrant atmosphere of Lancaster County and meet our Amish neighbors, their local shops featuring handmade quilts and crafts, dozens of roadside stands with fresh produce, goat cheese, and baked Pennsylvania Dutch treats.
Our Hospitality
Our restored property boasts historic architecture, fine lodging, and an authentic sampling of true Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. Our Inn is recognized as one of the best Historic Hotels in Lancaster, PA, and the only boutique hotel to receive the prestigious AAA's 4 Diamond Award for Hospitality and Excellence.
Over The Years
1867: The first farmhouse that would eventually become The Inn at Leola Village, Est. 1867, would open for the first time, with a massive barn debuting shortly thereafter. Despite the desire of the Amish to keep among themselves, they often used their farms to sell goods to their non-Amish neighbors. This farm specialized in growing tobacco.
1890: Another beautiful farmhouse debuted on-site, helping the Amish family who lived there produce ever greater quantities of tobacco. The local tobacco industry had grown quite large by this point, with nearby Lancaster City serving as the home for several successful cigar factories and warehouses.
1999: Having operated as an Amish farm for generations, the homestead ad become abandoned and dilapidated. Real estate developers then intended to demolish the structure to make way for a convenience store and an automotive servicing franchise. Fortunately, the farmhouses and barn were saved a year later, by Deborah Shirk, a local hotelier and transformed the property into a brilliant boutique hotel known as “The Inn at Leola Village, Est. 1867.”
2001: The Inn at Leola Village, Est. 1867, was inducted into Historic Hotels of America. The official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the organization celebrates and recognizes the finest historic hotels, inns, and resorts across the United States.
Our History
The Amish in Pennsylvania
In the aftermath of the American Revolution, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is defined by its dozens of quaint country villages and verdant homesteads. It also ranked as one of the most culturally diverse places to live in the whole country, filled with families hailing from places all across northwestern Europe.
Among the most noticeable demographics in the county at the time were Swiss and German Mennonites of the Anabaptist tradition, who are known today as the “Amish.” The Amish were persecuted throughout Europe for their conservative interpretations of the New Testament and spent years hiding out within the mountains of the Alps.
Farmers for Generations
But the Amish eventually immigrated in masse to the “New World” upon learning of William Penn’s Pennsylvania and its promise of religious tolerance. Lancaster County became a hotbed for the Amish in America as such, who established several rural churches during the 1720s and 1730s. Over time, these small congregations grew into prosperous bucolic communities.
Many Amish families abjured interacting frequently with the outside world, instead developed prosperous farms that endured for generations. They subsequently grew many unique agricultural products, ranging from vegetables to tobacco plants.
Into The Modern Age
The buildings that would eventually become this incredible, Leola Village hotel, were a group of 19th-century farmhouses that cultivated tobacco for use in the cigar factories of nearby Lancaster City.
The farm continued to produce tobacco for decades thereafter, until it became abandoned in the late 20th century. Real estate developers had begun to petition for its demolition when the buildings were finally saved in 2000.
A local hotelier, Deborah Shirk began to thoroughly renovate the site, taking great pains to transform it into a wonderful boutique hotel called “The Inn at Leola Village, Est. 1867.”
The work had nonetheless preserved original wood beams and corncob joints present inside each structure. The owners even endeavored to conserve as much of the inn’s Amish heritage by installing period furniture and handmade items throughout The Inn.
A Historic Gem in the Heart of Lancaster County
Today, The Inn at Leola Village, Est. 1867, has since emerged as one of the best Historic Hotels in America, and is the only boutique hotel in Pennsylvania to receive the prestigious AAA's 4 Diamond Award for Hospitality and Excellence and Forbes Travel’s Four-Star Award.
The Inn at Leola Village offers a refined hospitality experience filled with luxury services and luxury suites graced with soothing electric fireplaces, preserved original woodwork, and whirlpool baths in select rooms.
A member of Historic Hotels of America since 2001, this spectacular historic inn truly offers a memorable cultural heritage experience in the heart of Amish country, PA.