Explore six cultural attractions - Museums & Historic Sites in and aroundBucks County
2024 Summer Camp Guide
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Immerse Yourself in Our Cultural Heritage

Visit these 6 amazing cultural attractions!

We are lucky to live in an area that is rich in cultural history. These featured museums and historic sites are some of the finest cultural attractions that you definitely need to visit.

MICHENER ART MUSEUM
Michener Art Museum
Michener Art Museum was once a prison, now a world-class art museum. Housed on the site of what was once the Bucks County Jail, the Michener Art Museum is an American art institution dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting the art and cultural heritage of the Delaware Valley region and beyond. Welcoming 135,000 visitors each year, the Michener showcases a world-class collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings as well as many special and permanent exhibitions that include the work of historical and contemporary painters, sculptors, photographers, and furniture designers. Art transforms - we will show you how.
Michener Art Museum
138 S. Pine Street, Doylestown, PA 18901 (map it)
215-340-9800
www.michenerartmuseum.org
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY ART GALLERIES
Lehigh University Art Galleries
Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) is the Teaching Museum at Lehigh University. LUAG maintains and develops the university's world-class art collection of over 15,000 objects and presents exhibitions featuring regional and international artists. LUAG refers to itself as a "Museum Without Walls", extending throughout three campuses in the form of galleries, classrooms, 50+ outdoor sculptures, and an open-storage facility. LUAG's mission is to inspire, develop, and promote visual literacy and cultural understanding through cross-disciplinary educational opportunities to benefit the community-at-large. All LUAG exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
Lehigh University Art Galleries
420 E Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015 (map it)
610-758-3615
www.luag.org
KEMERER MUSEUM OF DECORATIVE ARTS
Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts
The Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts in historic Bethlehem, presents three centuries of style and design through period-interpretive rooms and galleries with changing exhibits. This distinctive museum was founded in 1954 through the bequest of Annie S. Kemerer, a renowned collector of decorative arts, and is the only museum dedicated to the Decorative Arts in Pennsylvania. The world-class Elizabeth Johnston Prime Dollhouse Collection, one of the largest antique dollhouse collections in the U.S., can be viewed on the Behind-the-Scenes Dollhouse Tour that takes visitors through the Collections Resource Center, an area not typically open to the public! Admission is free on Sundays from 1 to 4 pm. Families can enjoy a range of crafts and activities catered to many ages that introduce artistic skills used historically by the Moravians such as calligraphy, crossed letters, design your own hex sign, creating your own family tree or time capsule, and much more. Museum Storytime, featuring a book related to an artifact from the collection, will educate and captivate young listeners while the artifact scavenger hunt is a fun way to find and learn about historic pieces within the museum rooms.
MORAVIAN MUSEUM OF BETHLEHEM
Moravian Museum of Bethlehem
The Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, also known as the 1741 Gemeinhaus (or Community House), is a National Historic Landmark and believed to be the largest Colonial-period log structure in continuous use in the United States. It was the second building erected by the Moravian settlers, and is the oldest surviving building in Bethlehem. It is an excellent example of Colonial Germanic architecture that, for a few years, housed the entire Moravian community, approximately 80 people. During this time the structure provided home, church, classrooms, kitchens, workrooms and healthcare as the community was building their choir (residential) houses along Church Street. The Gemeinhaus remained the center gathering place for the Moravian settlers; the second story was the Saal, their earliest place of worship. Through the years following it was used as a residence for clergymen and their families and was the birthplace of Lewis David von Schweinitz, the Father of American Mycology (the study of fungi). At the Moravian museum, visitors can discover how the 18th century Moravian missionaries survived in the New World and grew their community. Come hear the remarkable stories behind Bethlehem's founders, including early Moravian medicinal practices, communal living, missionary work, and a progressive educational system.
MERCER MUSEUM
Mercer Museum
The Mercer Museum celebrates the legacy of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), American archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist and scholar. The Mercer Museum, one of Bucks County's premier tourist attractions, offers visitors a unique window into pre-Industrial America as seen through the implements used in everyday life. The Museum's collection includes more than 50,000 objects exhibiting the tools of more than 60 different crafts and trades, and provides one of the world's most comprehensive portraits of material culture in America. The Mercer Museum is located at 84 South Pine Street in Doylestown and is open 7 days a week. For schedule and admission information visit mercermuseum.org or call 215-345-0210.
Mercer Museum
84 South Pine Street, Doylestown, PA 18901 (map it)
215-345-0210
www.mercermuseum.org
FONTHILL CASTLE
Fonthill Castle
Fonthill Castle was the home and showplace of Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), American archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramicist and scholar. Mercer completed Fonthill Castle in 1912 in Doylestown. The castle serves as an early example of poured-in-place concrete and features 44 rooms, over 200 windows, 18 fireplaces, 10 bathrooms and one powder room. Fonthill Castle's maze-like interior features built-in furniture and a myriad of decorative tile embellishments that Mercer made at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement. Fonthill Castle is located at 525 East Court Street in Doylestown, PA and is open for tours 7 days a week by reservation only. For more information, call 215-348-9461 or visit mercermuseum.org.
Fonthill Castle
525 East Court Street, Doylestown, PA 18901 (map it)
215-348-9461
www.mercermuseum.org

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