2024149 Fonthill Castle & Mercer Museum W/ Lunch

09/24/2024 Tuesday                              Trip# 2024149

Fonthill Castle & Mercer Museum W/ Lunch at the Beautiful Plumsteadville Inn

Today you will start your morning in Doylestown,PA touring the historic Fronthill Castle. "Built between 1908-1912, Fonthill Castle was the home of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930). Archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist, scholar and antiquarian, Mercer built Fonthill Castle both as his home and as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints. The first of three Mercer buildings in Doylestown, Fonthill Castle served as a showplace for Mercer’s famed Moravian tiles that were produced during the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Designed by Mercer, the building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant as an early example of poured reinforced concrete." After your tour of the Fonthill Castle you will travel down the street to explore the Mercer Museum. The Mercer Museum is a six-story reinforced concrete castle designed by Henry Mercer (1856-1930) and completed in 1916.  Today, it is one of Bucks County’s premier cultural attractions and a Smithsonian affiliate.

The museum complex features local and national traveling exhibits, as well as a core museum collection of over 17,000 pre-Industrial tools. This permanent collection offers visitors a unique window into pre-Industrial America through sixty different crafts and trades, and is one of the world’s most comprehensive portraits of pre-Industrial American material culture. Lunch enjoyed after museum tour.

*Itinerary is subject to change or be modified