Some of the tiles made at the tileworks, for sale at the tileworks gift shop.

In the early twentieth century Henry Chapman Mercer created one of the most intriguing sites we have come across in our travels, one that we wholeheartedly recommend as a top pick to visit. The unusual structures of the Moravian Pottery and Tileworks and Fonthill Estate occupy the same piece of property in Doylestown, Pa., so you can tour both in a single day.

Mercer was a wealthy man whose interest in archaeology led him to travel extensively, and he amassed a huge collection of artifacts from around the world. He recognized, however, that a complete understanding of history could not come from simply collecting the relics of the past. Mercer believed that the tools and construction methods of the past were just as important as the artifacts themselves, so he founded the Moravian Tileworks as a living tribute to classic design and artisanship.

Modern tilemaking was almost fully automated by the time Mercer started his tileworks, and Mercer believed that this automation was causing the destruction of an important part of human culture--the creation of pottery and tile by hand. But even though Mercer's tiles were crafted by hand, he employed various modern ideas, like the assembly line, and simple machines to aid in the creation of his tiles. His appreciation for ancient design coupled with his willingness to apply modern techniques without completely abandoning older construction methods made him one of the most successful proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the last century.

Does this indicate that he idealized a golden age where humans used simple machines and muscle to make things rather than allowing the machines to fully take over? Mercer first set out to establish a pottery, where artisans would make clay pots on throwing wheels. This process is inherently more dependant on the individual potter whose hands literally shape the finished product. It is interesting that Mercer abandoned pots in favor of tiles, because the process of tilemaking as it was practiced at the tileworks was more "industrialized" than a comparable pottery would have been.

Mercer may have started with a blanket rejection of industrialization, but rather than create a "living museum" where the methods of the past would be strictly adhered to, he chose to create a new reality by combining elements of the past with his own interpretation of the present. Maybe this balance is what makes Mercer and his collected works so fascinating.