DOYLESTOWN, Pennsylvania — Pennsylvania is full of quirky, fascinating destinations, from a house made to look like a shoe to a coffee shop that looks like a coffee pot to the wild, wonderful, weird world of anthropologist Henry Mercer.
In the early 1900s, Mercer changed the area of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, forever with his Fonthill Castle.
The castle is a huge building from at least three different architectural styles and is a rare example of a poured in concrete structure. It has 44 rooms, over 200 windows, and – rare for that era – 10 bathrooms. The furniture here is built into the floors and walls are accented by tiles created by Mercer’s tile plant.
Looking for eccentric collections? This is the place, with tiles from around the world and tablets from Mesopotamia that are said to have been created before Christ walked the Earth. The home also contains around 1,000 prints from Mercer's extensive collection, as well as over 6,000 books, almost all of which were annotated by Mercer himself.
Thomas Schmitz as spokesperson for the castle and the nearby Mercer Museum.
"He had a dedicated crew that helped build it," Schmitz said. "He commemorates it in a lot of areas of the home. He has a weathervane for the horse, Lucy. He has a tile dedication display on one of his ceilings for all the workers that helped construct the home. But this is a very autobiographical home."
"There are thousands of artifacts, books, historic furniture in here, but for a collection like this, we really can't place value on it," Schmitz said. "Imagine large rugs everywhere 100 years ago. Candles, lamps. Pretty cozy place to spend the night."
It sounds like hoarding, doesn't it?
It is not. Mercer kept many different items, but everything was catalogued, and carefully looking at things here gives a real insight into the man himself.
"He has saying on his staircases," Schmitz said. "As you're walking up that one on the stairs, it says ‘upwards my colors glow, downwards never.’ Basically, if you're walking up the stairs, you can read it. If you're walking down the stairs, you cannot read it. And then, he has a collection of roof tiles from Nanking, China, that he has displayed tucked away on this upper floor of his home."
After a while, he had too many things, and that paved the way for the construction of the Mercer Museum. Thirty-thousand people visit the museum each year, and stopping in here is a trip into the life of a man who tried his best to chronicle life before modern technology.
He achieved his goal.
Schmitz said there is nothing like this in the world. From appliances to help with everyday life to antique whaling boats, this is a chance to take a perspective of life that is not in a book, but right before you.
Chuck's Big Adventure in Pennsylvania: Mercer Museum & Fonthill Castle
"At a time where the industrial revolution is happening in the United States, think of the automobile mass production on a large scale," Schmitz said. "Henry Mercer wanted to preserve our pre-industrial past and handcrafted tools. He called it archeology above the ground. Where before it gets lost to history below, we can preserve it and have people visit in a castle museum."
My grandfather Lofton was born in 1900, and walking through the castle brought back a flood of memories, from implements and hammers to woodworking equipment to butter churns.
Schmitz said others feel the same way when they come here.
"That flood of memories is common for a lot of our guests at the museum here," Schmitz said. "We have a woodworking exhibit where carpenters really feel an emotional connection. We even have artifacts where fellow Bucks County visitors, their ancestors actually used those same items and donated them to the collection. So, a lot of emotional connection here at the Mercer Museum."
Schmitz said the objects really are telling human stories.
"For Henry Mercer, it was important to catalog everything, know where you got something, who it was from and what the story associated with a hammer first set, per se, was from."
The museum and foundation work very hard to keep the artifacts in pristine shape for their age. It is really important that everything here is catalogued. Because of that, most things have not only a presence here, but a story to go along with the object. That was important to Mercer, even though this whole idea was based off of one purchase.
"Believe it or not, this museum collection started because our founder, Henry Mercer, was looking for a pair of fireplace tongs for his home," Schmitz said. "And it's while he's there at an estate sale that he decides to buy a lot more things. And the collection has grown ever since. He is traveling across the country in Pennsylvania himself. He's sending assistants and other staff to various places such as North Carolina, Massachusetts and even further to collect some of these items."
There is more here than just the museum and castle. The modern-day annex has traveling exhibitions and a place where students can drill down more to life before the modern conveniences we enjoy now.
In Bucks County, thousands flock to enjoy the here and now of a fun, modern county, but the trip isn't really complete without a trip back 100 years to life in Pennsylvania when things were simpler.