Jersey girls

 

But before we could start belting out the tunes we had a couple of stops in Pennsylvania.  After driving through the very scenic Delaware Water Gap we arrived at the Columcille Megalith Park in Bangor.  The wha-wha-what park I hear you say.  Columc … never mind.  It’s a sort of Stonehenge in the forest where you wander through the woods arriving at massive stones and meditate on your life’s journey.  We did the wander, we arrived at some massive stones but were too busy taking photographs to meditate.  Maybe another day.

Sue taking a break from all that meditation

From Bangor we headed to Doylestown where we just made the last tour

of Fonthill Castle.  It’s an amazing place fully made of concrete by Henry Mercer starting in 1908 and finished in 1912.  The concrete exterior may not endear a person to a structure but the design more than makes up for it.  The interior has nooks and crannies galore with rooms going off in all directions and is full to the brim with hand-made tiles from the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, old archaeological pieces and his 6,000 books.  It just begs to be photographed and shared but no photos allowed. 

Next morning we visited the Mercer Museum established by the same man. 

 

Back in 1907 Henry could see how industry and mechanisation was going to change the world so he began to amass tools of the trade, both domestic and industrial, before they disappeared forever.  The way it was all presented was pretty unique too.

Mercer Museum - also made out of concrete

Not content to have room after room of displays, Mercer also
hung items from balconies and even affixed items to the ceiling - 7 storeys up

 

After a quick lunch we headed to the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works.  This was also established by Henry Mercer who rued the lack of originality in design and again, was built fully out of concrete.  His original wooden pottery did burn down which was behind his reasoning for building these structures out of concrete.  He liked his tiles to tell stories and based them on old medieval tales.  Today the county runs the Pottery and they still hand make the tiles using the original equipment.  The only difference is that the kiln is run by gas and electricity these days instead of coal.  Plus you can take photos.  Needless to say, Doylestown goes down as one of our favourite destinations.

Funky looking Pottery & Tile Works - still in use today
 

Tiles in the museum made at the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works

Our first destination in New Jersey was a tavern.  Not used as a liquor outlet anymore (shame) but as a historical building.  It was built in 1756 and during the Revolution the upper storey was used as a hospital.  On our way to Atlantic City we saw this dinky looking Victorian house.  Legend has it that there used to be a chair on top (we’ve seen photos) and that a sea Captains wife used it as a widow’s walk and would sit on the chair to watch for her husband.  I think the person who made up that story used to visit the aforesaid tavern a bit back when they sold alcohol but, who really knows.  It’s a cute story.

Room enough at the top for exactly one chair

Next destination was the tourist mecca of Atlantic City.  The boardwalk seemed to run for miles – we walked most of them.  Casinos, food outlets, souvenir stores, sideshow rides and hawkers abound.  We were able to resist everything but the food.  Plus the rides are closed now for the season. 

Boardwalk at Atlantic City, New Jersey

Harry's & Ballys along the boardwalk

From Atlantic City we followed the coast down to Cape May.  Stopped in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest to see signs of Doo Wop Architecture.  We did find some of the signs but it was getting dark.  Now that Daylight Savings has ended the sun is going down around 5pm.  That should be an indication to us to change how we plan our days but, no doubt, we’ll still have 2 hour lunch hours as often as we feel like it.  Back to the Doo Wop – it’s buildings, predominantly motels, and signage from the 1950’s and 1960’s.  A lot of it is disappearing fast as developers tear them down and put up high rises.  It's the nature of the world now but that doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it.

At Cape May we were hoping to attend a haunted dinner show.  Unfortunately for us the dinner theatre wasn’t showing that night … but there was a band … playing country music …  Apologies to country aficionados but we’re not so we didn’t stay.  We did enjoy a beer and a chat with the bartender though.

Interactive Halloween decorations outside Elaine's almost made up
for not having the haunted dinner theatre

Did a day trip into Philadelphia.  Found a unique museum at the Philadelphia College of Physicians called Mutter Museum.  It’s only a small museum but jam packed full of medical curiosities and oddities. We were well entertained viewing exhibits of body parts, malformed foetuses, skeletons, a section of Einstein’s brain, limbs affected by gangrene and the like … then we stopped for lunch.  A very interesting place and probably lucky for you that they didn’t allow photographs as only the grossest would have been posted.

Jean at the Liberty Bell

Found the streets of Philadelphia a bit too frenetic for our liking, some too narrow, parking too sparse or too expensive so, after checking out the

Liberty Bell, headed out of town in the direction of Princeton Junction and Grover’s Mill.  Any fans of the original radio broadcast of War of Worlds will recognise that name and its significance.  Youngsters such as ourselves who only know Jeff Wayne’s Musical version or the movie in recent times needed to be educated.  In the radio drama, Grover’s Mill was wiped out by the Martians.  In reality, of course, it was business as usual in Grover’s Mill but some panicked person took potshots at the water tower beside the mill of Grover’s Mill thinking it was a real Martian.  So have to get a copy of the radio broadcast and listen to it late at night with the lights off.

Admit it.  If you were in Grover's Mill listening to the radio
broadcast you would have shot at this too

Cool mural at the Grover's Mill Coffee House - it even features the water
tower that got shot at (great coffee too)

Spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the towns of Lambertville and New Hope before heading back to our favourite town in Pennsylvania, Hershey, to gatecrash a birthday party.  Once again, Sue & Jim, thank you so much for your hospitality and so lovely to meet your family Sue.

Because there are never enough photos with us having drinks
(and because neither of us got our cameras out in Hershey)