6 Best Sights in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

You almost expect to see a dragon puffing smoke outside Fonthill, Henry Mercer's storybook home. Don't be at all surprised if you see one inside. Modeling the house after a 13th-century castle, Mercer began building in 1908. Outside, it bristles with turrets and balconies. Inside, the multilevel structure is truly mazelike. The concrete castle is built from the inside out—without using blueprints—resulting in a jumble of differently shaped rooms (44 in all) and stairways (following close behind with 32). Gothic doorways and inglenooks add to the fairy-tale effect. Ancient tiles that Mercer found around the world as well as Arts and Crafts tiles from his own kilns (depicting scenes from the Bible to Bluebeard) seem to cover every surface—floors, walls, columns, and ceilings. To see this amazing incrustation, however, you must take an hour-long tour (reservations suggested). If you come the first Saturday of the month, opt for the Tower Tour.

Named for the late best-selling novelist and Doylestown native, this museum, across the street from the Mercer Museum, has a permanent collection and changing exhibitions that focus on 19th- and 20th-century American art, especially those by Bucks County artists. It's known for its collection of early-20th-century Pennsylvania impressionists, representing such artists as Edward Redfield and Daniel Garber. The museum occupies the buildings and grounds of the former Bucks County jail, which dates from 1884. A 23-foot-high fieldstone wall surrounds seven galleries, an outdoor sculpture garden, and a Gothic-style warden's house. There's also a re-creation of Michener's Doylestown study. A relatively new gallery accommodates larger traveling exhibits, included in the price of admission.

In the center of town, the Mercer Museum, opened in 1916, displays Mercer's collection of tools, including more than 50,000 objects from before the steam age. An archaeologist, Mercer worried that the rapid advance of industrialization would wipe out evidence of preindustrial America. Consequently, from 1895 to 1915 he scoured the back roads of eastern Pennsylvania, buying folk art, tools, and articles of everyday life to display in another of his concrete castles. In what amounts to a six-story attic, log sleds, cheese presses, fire engines, boats, and bean hullers are suspended from walls and ceilings and crammed into rooms organized by trade or purpose. Interactive activities, like downloadable scavenger hunts , and a special audio-guide channel keep children amused. A new wing includes a climate-controlled gallery that allows for changing exhibits, including traveling shows and items from the collection that couldn't otherwise be displayed, such as a lock of George Washington's hair. Scholars can take advantage of the library and reading room, open to the public Tuesday through Saturday.

On the grounds of the Fonthill estate, the tile works still produces Arts and Crafts–style tiles from Mercer's designs. These tiles adorn such well-known structures as Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, as well as many of the homes and sidewalks of Doylestown. The late author and Bucks County resident James Michener described them as follows: "Using scenes from the Bible, mythology, and history, Henry Chapman Mercer produced wonderfully archaic tiles about 12 or 14 inches square in powerful earth colors that glowed with intensity and unforgettable imagery." You can watch a 17-minute video and take a partially guided tour (every half-hour) past artisans at work in the 1912 factory, which resembles a Spanish mission. You can also purchase tiles at the works.

Driving up to the shrine, you can't help but realize that you're not in Kansas anymore. This enormous Polish spiritual center has drawn millions of pilgrims, including the late Pope John Paul II, since its opening in 1966. The complex includes a modern church with huge stained-glass panels depicting the history of Christianity in Poland and the United States. The gift shop and bookstore sell religious gifts, many imported from Poland, and the cafeteria serves hot Polish and American food on Sunday from 10 to 3:30.

Writer Pearl S. Buck, best known for her novel The Good Earth, lived at Green Hills Farm, a country house not too far from Doylestown. Here she wrote nearly 1,000 novels, children's books, and works of nonfiction while raising seven adopted children and caring for many others. The house, now a National Historic Landmark, still bears the imprint of the girl who grew up in China and became the first American woman to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. The house also contains the writer's collection of Asian and American antiques and personal belongings.