4 Best Sights in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

You almost expect to see a dragon puffing smoke outside Fonthill, Henry Mercer's storybook home. Don't be at all surprised if you see one inside. Modeling the house after a 13th-century castle, Mercer began building in 1908. Outside, it bristles with turrets and balconies. Inside, the multilevel structure is truly mazelike. The concrete castle is built from the inside out—without using blueprints—resulting in a jumble of differently shaped rooms (44 in all) and stairways (following close behind with 32). Gothic doorways and inglenooks add to the fairy-tale effect. Ancient tiles that Mercer found around the world as well as Arts and Crafts tiles from his own kilns (depicting scenes from the Bible to Bluebeard) seem to cover every surface—floors, walls, columns, and ceilings. To see this amazing incrustation, however, you must take an hour-long tour (reservations suggested). If you come the first Saturday of the month, opt for the Tower Tour.

Built in 1784, and home of the New Hope Historical Society, this stone house is fascinating because the furnishings reflect decorative changes from 1775 (Colonial) to 1900 (Victorian)—including candles, whitewashed walls, oil lamps, and wallpaper. Wealthy Quaker lumber- and flour-mill owner and businessman Benjamin Parry, often called the "father of New Hope," built the house, which was occupied by five generations of his family. Guided tours, including a brief film, give you a good sense of New Hope history.

Writer Pearl S. Buck, best known for her novel The Good Earth, lived at Green Hills Farm, a country house not too far from Doylestown. Here she wrote nearly 1,000 novels, children's books, and works of nonfiction while raising seven adopted children and caring for many others. The house, now a National Historic Landmark, still bears the imprint of the girl who grew up in China and became the first American woman to win both the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes. The house also contains the writer's collection of Asian and American antiques and personal belongings.

On a gentle rise 150 yards from the Delaware River, Pennsbury Manor is a 1939 reconstruction of the Georgian-style mansion William Penn built in the 1680s. Living-history demonstrations on 43 of the estate's original 8,400 acres provide a glimpse of everyday life in 17th-century America. The property, including formal gardens, an icehouse, a smokehouse, and a bake-and-brew house, helps paint a picture of the life of an English gentleman 300 years ago. The plantation also shows that although history portrays Penn as a dour Quaker, as governor of the colony he enjoyed the good life by importing the finest provisions and keeping a vast retinue of servants. These extravagances led to financial difficulties that resulted in Penn's spending nine months in a debtor's prison. Though you can wander about the grounds on your own, the house can be seen only on a tour. On Sundays from April to October there are special programs, including those devoted to historic trades, living history theater and open-hearth cooking, to name a few. To get here, follow the blue-and-yellow historical markers.