Loganville's Alan Nelson raises a question that I've often wondered about, too.
Why do some German farmhouses often have two doors?
He's heard a variety of theories: religious reasons, an entrance for extended family and better ventilation.
Lila Fourhman-Shaull, York County Heritage Trust archivist, found a slightly different explanation... .
She pointed to Henry J. Kauffman's "Pennsylvania Folklife" article, "The Riddle of Two Front Doors," which contends:
Eighteenth-century homes had a center hall dividing each floor into two rooms. But builders became more frugal in the 19th century. They eliminated the center hallway, which was absorbed into the two front rooms. These two rooms became the living room and the parlor, the latter used for company, funerals, weddings and other special events. Each room had a separate entrance.
Kauffman's article was written in 1954, and lots of scholarship has taken place since. If you have additional thoughts, feel free to comment.
The house I grew up in (built about 1810-ish) had two "front" doors, side-by-side, into what we used as an office/bedroom and into the adjoining family living room. We were told it was because they used to hold a religious meeting in what we used as the office, so they built an entrance directly into there. Don't know if that's true or not but it's neat to read what other people think about them...