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Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Henry Chapman Mercer, Doylestown, Bucks County

Back in June, on a much finer day than what my area is experiencing currently, my best friend Andrea and I took a ride down to visit Doylestown, in Bucks County. I can't tell you why I'd never been there, although I'd driven through it a number of times - usually on the way to Peddler's Village. Anyway, as it turns out, Doylestown is adorable and very... I think the word I want to use is quaint. We had a really delicious meal at La Dolce Vita da Franco, where we sat outside in a little walled dining area; highly recommend, would eat there again. But our primary objective was to acquaint ourselves with a length of Doylestown colloquially known as the Mercer Mile.

The Mercer Mile gets its name from a man who designed three very distinct buildings. I think I would have liked this guy, because we seem to have a lot in common. This includes, but is by no means limited to, a love of dogs (my "little brother" is sitting beside me as I write, because I'm dogsitting for my parents) and a love of castles (I don't have one of those, but he did).

The marker is on Swamp Road (PA 313), at the entrance
to The TileWorks
Henry Chapman Mercer was born in Doylestown on June 24, 1856, the elder of William and Mary (Chapman) Mercer's two sons. I haven't found a lot about his youth; most of the resources I've encountered focus on his life post-university, and to be fair that does seem to be when the interesting stuff began. He graduated from Harvard University in 1879, but although he studied law, he never actually practiced it. His passion was history, and not long after graduating he became one of the founding members of the Bucks County Historical Society. I told you I would have liked this guy.

Mercer applied himself to a career in archaeology, and had a particular interest in the prehistoric. He participated in digs in various digs and excavations across North America, including Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as in the valleys of the Ohio, Delaware, and Tennessee Rivers. From 1894 to 1897, Philadelphia's University of Pennsylvania Museum made him their Curator of American and Pre-Historic Archaeology. But by the time he left, Mercer's interest had shifted away from the prehistoric and more to the pre-industrial era, and he began collecting "above ground" relics of such. He also, over the next two years, became a collector of old Pennsylvania German pottery and grew deeply interested in the process of making it. By the turn of the century, Mercer had himself become a maker of architectural tile.

It was in 1898 that Mercer began the construction of his three concrete buildings on the Mercer Mile. He designed them all himself, inspired by various places he had seen during his travels. The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works (seen at left, and known today simply as The TileWorks of Bucks County) became the home of his tile manufacturing. Mercer's tiles were, and are, known for their interesting and distinctive designs; some of these even adorn the Rotunda in the Pennsylvania Capitol building. The TileWorks is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is the only county-owned tileworks in the United States. Visitors can watch the process of turning "wild Bucks County clay" into art, view the long halls decorated with many different tiles, and purchase tiles in the gift shop. With the guided tour, you can even try your hand at making a tile yourself. We didn't get to visit The Tileworks, but I plan to return sometime and take the tour.

Fonthill Castle, seen at right, is exactly what the name implies - a castle. It was the home of Mercer (and his beloved dog Rollo) for the rest of his life. It's still filled with many of his pottery tiles, his extensive collection of artwork, and his personal library of more than 6,000 books. It's described as being a mix of Gothic, Medieval, and Byzantine architecture styles, and is something of a maze - there are more than 44 rooms connected by 32 stairwells. A guided tour takes an hour. Widely considered one of the most beautiful and unusual homes in the state, if not the nation, it's operated as a museum and is a popular choice for hosting weddings and other special events.

The Mercer Museum houses the incredible and indescribable collection he amassed of... well, having toured the museum, I'm compelled to say everything. It has to be seen to be believed. In his own words, "I collected everything I could lay my hands on." Many of the exhibits are in special glass-fronted rooms, though other items are on more open display. Visitors can see a recreation of an old-fashioned store, antique apothecary equipment, Conestoga wagons, old cigar store figures, musical instruments, and farming, woodworking, and blacksmithing tools. That's just for starters. The various levels wrap around a central chamber, which is what you see in the picture at left, but the picture doesn't really do it justice.

You can even find Rollo's footprints in one of the stairwells, where he stepped in some wet concrete; I won't tell you where, though, you should go and find it for yourself.

Mercer died in his beloved home at Fonthill in 1930. Today, his buildings on the Mercer Mile are all open as public museums, which is probably exactly what he would have wanted. Fonthill Castle and the Mercer Mile are jointly operated by a board of trustees, while the TileWorks is run by Bucks County itself. Give yourself an entire day to visit them all - or better yet, two - but definitely take the time to explore Mercer's unique and maybe slightly eccentric vision. While you're in the Mercer Museum, you can even stop and get your picture taken with the man himself. Well, with a creditable likeness, anyway.




Sources and Further Reading:



Freudenthal, Nancy. "Henry Chapman Mercer: Brief life of an innovative ceramicist." Harvard Magazine, January-February 2018.





Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.

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