The museum is a strange and astonishing place and absolutely worth a trip, just for the maze-like castle-like building alone. He would add rooms as he found new stuff, so sometimes you're walking along what was once the roof until he added a bunch of new rooms. Mercer's house, "Fonthill," is also kind of astonishing. The furniture, for example, is made of concrete with upholstery; the dressers are concrete with wooden drawers. He liked to work by natural light so he had work spaces that tracked the sun as it moved across the sky. I grew up near there as well (Lansdale), my dad grew up in Doylestown, and we went there pretty often to visit my grandparents.RLines wrote:Thanks for posting the photos. Interesting set. I grew up not far from the museum and have always intended to visit when home on family holidays but never have the time.
Mercer's letters are full of the greatest enthusiasm for "irish folk music." He really gushes about it. He talks about visiting the Taylor brothers in their shop--in several shops--and he tries to get their tools after they pass away, but they end up in the hands of a guy in delaware who "won't answer my letters," says Mercer. He clearly had a great deal of respect for the Taylors as craftsmen.
