Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

Kennett Square ~ Mushroom Capital of the World:  If you happened to stumble upon the Quaker Meeting House in Kennett Square, you would have a clue about the origin of the region's mushroom industry. The followers of George Fox were the original entrepreneurs. But, mushrooms have always required lots of labor for harvesting. The first wave of immigrants to work for the entrepreneurs were Italians, immigrants who came to the U.S. as stone cutters. They eventually made the mushroom economy their own, as you can tell by the name on this headstone and others. Guess what immigrant wave now provides the hand labor needed to keep the industry afloat. St. Patrick's Cemetery. [2014]