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June 2002

Philadelphia

David Aaronson
2005-09-26 16:11:01

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old stone farmhouses. By accident we came across this. It is the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works factory, which opened in 1898 (7). They still hand-make tile here today, but mostly as a demonstration for tourists.

It was run by Henry Mercer who built his home nearby using the same rather unusual concrete building method. He named this home Fonthill. It is the same color as the tile works above, the setting sun lent the rather unusual tinting that you see in this picture (8). The castle is asymmetrical (as you can see), the rooms inside are likewise and are supposedly heavily decorated with... you guessed it, tiles.

Back in Philadelphia we spent a sunny Sunday morning in Fairmount Park. Fairmount Park runs for miles along both sides of the Schuylkill River. It has several historic homes, and features nearly every type of recreation imaginable. This little section is called Boathouse Row (9). Nearby universities and sculling clubs own these homes which mainly provide storage for the boats and accessories.

The enormous Philadelphia Museum of Art is also located in the park, as is the Philadelphia Zoo. We thought the park could maybe use some better signs, or maybe any map at all would be useful. Finding a specific thing can be rather difficult. Roaming around randomly can be rewarding if you have the time.

The building in the center of this photo is the City Hall (10). On top, and not particularly clear in this picture is a statue of William Penn. Before leaving Philadelphia we spent some time driving around the area immediately to its west, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch Country. There aren't really any definite attractions per se in the area, although several have made an attempt at making quilts, cheese, and carriage rides into a tourist venue. Mostly it's just another interesting place to wander, there are so many Amish homes in the area that horse-drawn buggies on the road will become commonplace in a matter of minutes. The Amish generally object to having their picture taken so we have no well-manicured farm scenes to offer here.