In the last half of the 19th century, Williamsport, Pennsylvania claimed more millionaires than any other American city. With a population of just under 30,000, there is no city of similar size within an hour drive. There’s one small airport, which only offers commercial flights to one city (Philadelphia). The Susquehanna River divides Williamsport and South Williamsport. Although most of the tourist attractions are located in the city of Williamsport, the most famous institution associated with the area is located in South Williamsport.

Many people will be approaching Williamsport from Interstate 80. Since I live east of Williamsport, I take I-80 to either I-180 West or Route 15 North whenever I visit. My first stop on my most recent visit was the World of Little League Museum. This is an ideal place to start for anyone coming from the south.

Every year, greater Williamsport gets flooded with baseball fans attending the annual Little League World Series. Williamsport claims to be the birthplace of Little League Baseball. The museum has ample parking right on Route 15 North. General admission is $5, but there is no charge to view the grounds behind the museum.

I started by driving around the grounds behind the museum, which include the 40,000-seat Howard J. Lamade Stadium as well as Little League Volunteer Stadium. Every year, Lamade Stadium hosts the Little League World Series. If you visit any other time, it’s hard to imagine the madness that surrounds the event every year as more people attend than live in the city of Williamsport.

After touring the grounds and taking some pictures, I visited the World of Little League Museum. Your tour will start with a brief orientation video. Once inside the actual museum, highlights include a timeline about Little League and the World Series as well as uniforms spanning the past 75 years. I spent around 30 minutes looking around before crossing the river and heading into Williamsport.

For lunch, I headed to Pine Square and ate at The Stonehouse Wood Fired Pizza & Pasteria. I had a classic margarita pizza as well as the grilled calamari. On the next block of Pine Street is Le Chocolat, which has excellent truffles. Owned by Bernie and Bonnie Katz for more than 20 years, I consider this to be a must-visit place for chocolate lovers visiting Williamsport.

After getting a box of chocolates to take home, I drove west on 4th Street. I first stopped to take pictures of the murals across from the historic Genetti Hotel, then drove through Millionaire’s Row (4th Street), then on to the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum. Inside, there’s a slide show on the history of transportation in Lycoming County (Pennsylvania’s largest) as well as information on the area’s role in the underground railroad. Out back there’s a Pullman Parlor rail car, which the museum claims to be one of only two remaining in the United States. Visitors can go inside.

Just steps away is the Thomas T. Taber Museum of the Lycoming County Historical Society. This was my next destination. The Taber museum has exhibits on Lycoming County’s Native Americans, lumber industry and contribution to the armed forces. There are also period rooms which take the visitor back to the times of British colonialism and up to the present. Downstairs, there’s a toy train exhibition, which contains over 300 toy trains as well as two working layouts. The other basement room is dedicated to farming crafts and industry.

Many visitors to Williamsport take a Hiawatha Riverboat Cruise. They run May to October and cost $8.50. Although it’s by far the most touristy thing I’ve ever done in Williamsport, I’m glad I experienced it. I found Susquehanna State Park (where the boat docks) to be more exciting as it provided for some excellent photo ops. The cruise itself is narrated and I’m pretty sure I was one of three people under 60 years old on the boat.

After visiting three museums, I decided to visit the birthplace of Little League Baseball, which is located across from historic Bowman Field (now BB&T Bank Park). Besides looking at plaques and watching some people play baseball, there’s not much else to do at the site, besides take some pictures and say “I was there.” Bowman Field is home to the Williamsport Crosscutters, which are one of the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league teams. It’s also the second oldest minor league ballpark in the United States.

After a full day of sightseeing, I was hungry for my favorite type of Asian food. From the park, I drove downtown to the only Thai restaurant in Williamsport. Joy Thai is located at 17 West 4th Street. For such a small city, parking can be a real challenge in the downtown area. There is street parking as well as municipal lots, both of which fill up fast. I know how big Pad Thai dishes can be, so I resisted the temptation to try appetizers and ordered the Seafood Pad Thai.

After dinner, I was in the mood to do some walking, so I headed to Pine Square and got some ice cream at Sprinkled Sweet. From there, as the sun set, I headed east to Market Street and walked across the Carl E. Stotz Memorial Little League Bridge (Route 15) bridge to South Williamsport and then back to my car near old City Hall. It was a great day exploring the city that gave us the organization which kept me occupied from age 9 to 12.

Pinterest Exploring the City that Gave the World Little League Baseball

Compare hotel prices, read reviews and book your Williamsport hotel at TripAdvisor!

<a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8119533-11986709-1461262625000" target="_blank"> <img src="https://www.tqlkg.com/image-8119533-11986709-1461262625000" width="640" height="220" alt="" border="0"/></a>
<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=imaro-20&marketplace=amazon®ion=US&placement=B010NU5AX8&asins=B010NU5AX8&linkId=bb7ffd1dddf9283d99d6483faa0795bf&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff"> </iframe>

Thomas T. Taber Museum

Peter Herdic Transportation Museum

Peter J McGovern Little League Museum

Susquehanna State Park

BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field

Joy Thai

Sprinkled Sweet

Stonehouse

Le Chocolat

Historic Genetti Hotel