Mercer Mile

Last Christmas, I gave Tim a coupon for a free trip to the destination of his choice (within reason). He decided we should go check out a couple of museums in Doylestown his grandpa had told him about. So we booked one night at a hotel and hit the road Friday morning:) We went to the Moravian Tile Works on Friday, then Fonthill (a house made of poured concrete), and the Mercer museum on Saturday. It was built by Henry Chapman Mercer in the 1900's. This guy almost burned down a barn as a child, then went on to become an archaeologist and collector, so he was seriously afraid of his buildings catching on fire and his collections being lost. His answer was to build them ALL solely from poured cement (mostly because poured cement made it easier to incorporate his own tiles in his designs). The first building he made this way was totally by trial and error. His house was first--and he actually lived in this tile-and-concrete monster, which looks like a cross between a castle and a Spanish mansion. The tourguide told us that they keep it fairly bare compared to the way Mercer would have kept it. There were no carpets, rugs, tapestries, and furniture was sparse. The concrete walls would have been painted to show off the tiles to visitors, but the paint was never restored in the main house.

The next thing he build was a Terrace building for the meeting and planning of a large park he'd be leaving to the city. He intended for it to be kept as an arboretum and bird sanctuary. He was apparently a little eccentric. At one point, an edict was issued in Doylestown saying that any dog found without a license would be sent to the pound and destroyed if no one claimed him. So Mercer rounded up all the stray dogs, licensed them, and then let them go again.

The third building he build was the Tileworks, which was modeled after spanish architecture. It's also made entirely of poured concrete. It's still functioning, and you can go and buy Moravian tiles and fireplace surrounds there.

The fourth building was a museum to house his collected tools and artifacts at the Historical Society. He built the building specifically for the collection it holds. Again out of poured concrete. His method of displaying things was to hang them, suspended from walls or a ceiling, or in a room (where you had to peer through a window or door to see them) to force visitors to look at things from a different angle, as well as to convince visitors that things that were common at the time (like buggies and canoes carved out of trees) were important.

Cradles and chairs hanging from the ceiling. This creeped me out just a little.

A room full of tools used for making yarn and other fiber materials.

Each room you looked into had tools from a different trade--this one was shoe-making. There were also ones for butter making, baking, sewing, fishing, whaling, tanning, and anything else you could think of.

The main gallery.

And, of course, we took advantage of the indoor heated pool and free cable TV while we were at the hotel:) Here's a collage with some of our other pictures:

Click to view larger!

On the way home, we stopped at Ikea and got Tim a couple of tables to use for his work computers in our office, as well as a couple of new storage containers and curtains for the dining room, which I will have to hem because they are way too long.
We also stopped at Bob Evans. I highly recommend the Pumpkin Pie Supreme. It was delicious:) Pumpkin pie topped with cream cheese, then a layer of pumpkin cheesecake, and (of course) whipped cream:)

Mom came up today with Max and we walked around Chickie's Rock Park, which had some nice views of the river. Unfortunately, the trails were all steep and rocky, so we didn't get a whole lot of walking in:-/
But we did get to come back and make s'mores over an open fire:)

I feel so...pudgy.

We also got the cat door installed in the shed (finally) so Jack can now come and go as he pleases once he figures out how to walk through the door. That was a job and a half. Tim broke a saws-all blade cutting the hole and the pieces didn't fit together like they were supposed to...but it's in, it works, and it's not going anywhere. Can cross it off the list:P

This week is our last monthly OB appointment! I'm graduating to every-other-week appointments now, which means I'm going to learn to greet the receptionist by name (even though she doesn't have a name tag and sits in a different cubby every time I go in). Our first class is next Tuesday--Infant Care and Safety. I hope someone teaches me how to give babies baths, because I think it's the only infant care thing I have never done:-x I will also be spending some time meditating on bloat and water retention so I don't instinctively hide every time someone points a camera in my general direction during Elizabeth's wedding on Saturday:P

And of course, I will be spending some time cleaning, working on blankies, and resisting the urge to ask Tim to re-arrange any furniture or rent a carpet shampooer :)