Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania.
Credit: iStock Photo
You know that moment when you pull into a place and it just feels like America? Not the one with subways and skyscrapers. But the one that lives in old VHS tapes, rock ‘n’ roll songs and Archie comics. The quintessential America of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The moment I landed at the Philadelphia airport, it felt like I was being ushered back in time. None of the “hurry up and move” immigration you brace for at other airports.
As we drove to the countryside, flashes of red-brick houses whizzed past me. Tom Jones blared ‘American Girl’ and I pulled down the window and let the crisp summer air in. I spotted fathers teaching their daughters to play baseball, with red, white and blue fluttering in the wind above.
Horses and whodunnits
I’ve often wished I could walk straight into an episode of ‘Stranger Things’, minus the Demogorgons, thank you very much. Chester County, Pennsylvania, was that portal for me.
My first stop was the Devon Horse Show & Country Fair. Started in 1896, it’s the oldest and largest outdoor multi-breed horse competition in the US. The riders rode like they’d stepped out of an old Marlboro ad.
Kids in denim jackets ran past me, clutching yellow lemon sticks - the county’s sweet summer tradition. I half expected them to hop on bikes and pedal off to investigate a mystery.
Chester County has been the backdrop of movies like ‘Marley & Me’ and ‘The Village’, thanks to its easy nostalgia.
Giant mushrooms
And then there was Kennett Square, known as the Mushroom Capital of the World. I rolled into town, wondering how a single vegetable could become its symbol.
Kennett Square was full of markets piled high with fresh portobellos and shiitakes. There were enoki with their snow-white caps, earthy cremini, and even exotic varieties like lion’s mane and maitake. Locals wander from stall to stall, swapping recipes for mushroom risotto or cream of mushroom soup. That’s when I saw a board that read ‘Come taste our mushroom ice cream’. Did I dare? Curiosity got the better of me. The scoop in my hand looked harmless enough, fluffy cream with tiny brown flakes.
The first bite was…unexpected. Earthy, fudge-like, with a subtle sweetness that grew on me the more I tasted. By the third spoonful, I was oddly hooked.
The thing about America is that it’s never afraid to take things too far! Kennett Square even hosts a “mushroom drop” on New Year’s Eve instead of a ball.
One of the crown jewels of Kennett Square is Longwood Gardens. In the year 1906, industrialist Pierre du Pont purchased a small farm here to save a collection of historic trees from being sold for lumber, a decision that blossomed into the 1,100-acre masterpiece we see today. It sprawls woodlands, meadows and its most celebrated feature – fountains. Longwood Gardens is home to more fountains than any other garden in the United States. On schedule, the fountains jumped to life, and I was lucky enough to see it sway its hips to Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’, much to the delight of hundreds of families gathered at sunset.
Before leaving, I wandered into the Brandywine River Museum of Art, housed in an old mill, on the banks of the Brandywine River. On display here are NC Wyeth’s bold illustrations, which once brought ‘Treasure Island’ and ‘Robin Hood’ to life for American kids in the early 1900s. As I left the County, I felt like I was carrying the charms of small town America home with me.