The only way to understand painting is to go and look at it.
And if out of a million visitors there is even one to whom art means something, that is enough to justify museums.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

We’re at it again! Exploring Pennsylvania one place at a time. This weekend we decided to venture to Doylestown (near Philly) for a very different type of adventure than ones we’ve recently taken. This one was Will’s idea and whenever he says “hey we should go here” I’m always down. You don’t have to give me an excuse to travel. I’m already getting my stuff together and halfway out the door.

We actually have a Google doc of places we want to visit and things we want to try that we started when we moved to Lancaster. We lived in Virginia almost our entire lives and didn’t fully explore like we do when we go anywhere else we don’t live. We wanted our experience to be different here and we’ve had so much fun exploring locally and venturing out a little further when we can.

Mercer Museum

Holy moly were these two places amazing. We sort of knew what to expect and when we walked in our minds were blown away. We like museums, but we’re very much quirky museum people. We love our museum exploring to be something a little different and oh man did we get that.

The establishments that turned into these two museums began as an idea funded by a massive inheritance. Henry Mercer was an archaeologist, a collector, dog lover, philanthropist, extreme lover of knowledge, a traveler, tile maker, and so much more. He wanted to create something that expressed all of these things. So, naturally, he built his own museum in the shape of a castle 7 stories tall and packed every object possible inside. The building itself is entirely concrete which was a unique way to build in the 19th century.

The layout is also really fun and interesting. The first floor is the items that are most important to life. As you climb each floor the items are all less and less essential to life and represent more luxury/non-essential items. All of them are a window into the past and one of the most complete collections of human invention and ingenuity that I’ve seen in one place.

Some objects you can see by peering into windows and rooms. Others are hung on every possible surface and I mean every possible surface. Things hang from pillars, the ceiling, other objects, and along the walls. You wouldn’t think over 10,000 objects can fit in this space, but they do. What’s even cooler is that Henry Mercer intended for the building to be a museum from the start. He grouped different artifacts, machines, tools, etc into their categories and every single object (minus a few tourists wouldn’t stop touching) are left exactly where he left them in the early 1900s.

Some of my favorite items were an antique scuba helmet, a covered wagon, a candlestick holder shaped like a snake wearing a cowboy hat, and a vampire killing kit. Touring the museum took a little over an hour, but we had a 2-hour time slot. If you want to wander slowly or quickly, you can! We came the day after a snow storm, so we got to enjoy it almost completely by ourselves in the morning. It started to fill up later, and I’m sure it gets super busy in the warm months, but it was great lucking into what was basically a private viewing.

They have QR codes you can scan at the beginning to get more information on what you’re seeing, so make sure you don’t miss that. It’s right as you walk in to the main museum area. There’s also a guide posted on the first floor who gave us so much useful and fun information. I highly recommend talking to them!

Fonthill Castle

We also bought tickets to the Fonthill Castle which was where Henry Mercer lived, but it was anything but a normal home. You can only take guided tours there which last about an hour, and it takes you he sall over the house where you learn about the house itself, how it was built, the people living there, and so much more.

The second you enter the house you feel like you’re in a cave which is exactly what Henry Mercer was trying to go for. He built a tile company (which you can also tour) right down the road and used his home as a way to incorporate everything he loved into one place where he could live. There were no boring flat ceilings in sight but vaulted ceilings with every inch covered in tile depicting various scenes, designs, and homages to the people he cared about and who helped build his masterpiece.

We got to see everything from the entryway, to the waiting room where callers would rest before greeting their host, bathrooms, bedrooms, an office, the kitchen, and the passageways in between. There were plenty of space we didn’t get to see, but that probably would’ve taken hours. What we got to see and learn about was incredible.

As someone who appreciates history and is a very eclectic person, I wasn’t even expecting what we saw. I loved coming into the experience knowing nothing and having the opportunity to be surprised at every room. One of my favorite parts about the house was the tile everywhere. Some showed mythological scenes, others showed the seasons, countries, and so much more. As the house was built you could really see how he grew as a tile maker and artist by the quality and complexity of the designs as you moved through.

My other favorite thing were the artifacts. Columns in certain rooms had Cuneiform tablets behind glass, not to commemorate the rich or famous people, but to show that the common people deserved acknowledgement in history. There were dozens of pottery pieces hanging on the walls or behind chicken wire in his office that were over 5,000 years old and in perfect condition. Camel bracelets? Yep he had those. A human skull he was gifted before one of his travels as a token of good luck? Yeah that was just hanging out. His entire house was a collection of art and history that was shown in an entirely unique way that both preserved it and honored it.

As an archaeologist myself I never approve of looting, so this house was such a conundrum. It was a museum of eclectic goods dug up by an archaeologist and are technically in a museum designed to honor and shed light on the past. On the other hand, these items shouldn’t have gone into private hands in the first place. However, after visiting, it’s clear these objects were taken care of and are in a museum. A very, very cool and unique museum that was absolutely nothing like what I was expecting.

Do yourself a favor, make sure you visit tiny little Doylestown, PA and visit the Mercer Museum, Fonthill Castle, and the Tile Factory. We’ll eventually be back to visit that!