Bucks County's Peddler's Village celebrates 50 years in 2012

TIME-TRAVEL back 50 years, and locals passing by the intersection of what is now Route 263 and Street Road in Bucks County wouldn't have had much reason to pull over. Tucked into the rolling hillside just a few miles outside of New Hope was a six-acre plot that held a ramshackle assemblage of chicken coops, a barn and a dusty antique shop that had clearly seen better days.

It took the vision of one man, Earl Jamison, to imagine something else - a destination for tourists, a place to shop, eat and recreate. Jamison bought the four acres and turned it into Peddler's Village, now 42 acres of entertainment and shopping that has hosted more than 25 million guests in the past five decades. There's a family entertainment center, a full-service day spa and even a hotel.

As Donna Jamison remembers it, her father's unfaltering commitment was the underpinning of her childhood, a focus of hard work and dedication that affected, in all kinds of ways, his family of five children. Earl and his wife, Sheila, were young entrepreneurs, founders of Bountiful Acres farm and garden market as newly marrieds at the tender age of 19. When some real estate became available up the road, Earl jumped at it.

"When I think of them starting the village when they were 27 years old with five kids, I just can't imagine it," Jamison recalled. Although her parents divorced in the 1970s, her father's love affair with Peddler's Village was unwavering - and something he passed on to his children. Jamison, who like her siblings worked in Peddler's Village every summer and holidays growing up, was chief operating officer of the attraction until 1997, when she retired to have her own family.

"I think my dad was ahead of his time is so many ways," said Jamison. "From his commitment to environmental stewardship to the many festivals that take place throughout the year. Now it seems like the norm, but back then, it was something really unique."

As it looks toward another decade - and as we look toward the holiday shopping and celebrating season, here are:

1. Jump-start the holiday spirit.