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to complete the job. Now, it’s become such an icon for the town that it appears as a line drawing on the town’s street signs and houses Bucks County’s historical society. But no matter how odd the outside of this building is, nothing compares to the puzzling contents of the museum it houses, which was also a brainchild of the prodigious Henry Mercer. At the turn of the 20th century, Mercer noticed that industrialization was wiping out trades that had once been part of every town or village. Small looms used to make rough cloth for everyday use. Local wood workers and blacksmiths would create tools for everyday use in their towns. The everyday tools of fishermen, farmers, butchers, and other tradesmen were no longer to be seen every day. Except for the Amish models, horse-drawn coaches were thinning out too. Even the wooden statues outside cigar stores were vanishing. Part of America’s past was slipping away, and to Mercer this meant two things: It would be relatively easy and cheap to buy up these artifacts, and essential to preserve them. And in the concrete castle, that’s exactly what he did. Walking into the Mercer Museum is an odd experience. Around a huge hall six stories high run galleries with sealed rooms crammed with tools of various trades. Hanging from the rafters (actually, there are no rafters...it’s more like hanging from the concrete) are boats, carriages, bicycles, saws, grist mills, and baskets of all shapes and sizes. Grotesque cigar store statues leer at you around corners. Down the winding corridors off the main hall are exhibit rooms that contain huge quantities of decorative tile and iron fireguards. There’s even an outdoor balcony on the sixth floor. |
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So if you’re looking to kill some time before going hunting for albino cannibals, ringing rock gardens, or Rosicrucian temples in Bucks County, you can’t go far wrong with a trip to South Pine Street in Doylestown. The Mercer Museum ranks high in the charts of weird places that have been assimilated into the community. But even though the town does embrace Mercer’s concrete castle, there’s no denying it’s a strange and inspiring place. You can read about all of Pennsylvania’s Roadside Oddities and other curious attractions if Weird Pennsylvania. |
