2 Best Sights in Doylestown, Bucks County

Archaeologist, collector, and noted Arts and Crafts tile maker Henry Mercer (1856–1930) designed his home, completed in 1912, creating what resembles a turreted 13th-century castle in fireproof, innovative reinforced concrete; it's stuffed with books, drawings, and, above all, tiles. The multilevel house was built without blueprints as a mazelike jumble of rooms (44 in all). Ancient tiles collected by Mercer and handcrafted Arts and Crafts tiles from his company's kilns (depicting scenes from the Bible, Dickens's Pickwick Papers, and more) cover floors, walls, columns, and ceilings. An hour-long tour—not for the claustrophobic—explains the amazing incrustations; reservations are suggested. Occasionally there are special, longer tours. Steps away, the TileWorks ( thetileworks.org) is Mercer's former tile factory; there are tours and a gift shop. 

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.