Arts, History + Culture
Bucks County has always drawn artists. The Michener, the Mercer Mile, Washington's Crossing, the Playhouse in New Hope — the history is baked into the landscape.
Artists have been coming here for centuries.
The Delaware River corridor, the rolling farmland, the stone villages — Bucks County has a visual quality that pulls painters, writers, and performers in and doesn't let them go. Pearl S. Buck wrote here. The Pennsylvania Impressionists painted here. James Michener grew up here.
The Mercer Mile in Doylestown alone — the Fonthill Castle, the Mercer Museum, and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works — is unlike anything else in Pennsylvania. Three concrete structures built by one extraordinary eccentric in the early 20th century, each one a world unto itself.
And along the river, in New Hope and the towns nearby, the creative tradition continues. Galleries, theaters, studios, and the particular energy of a place that takes art seriously without taking itself too seriously.
Three National Historic Landmarks within walking distance of each other in Doylestown — all built by Henry Chapman Mercer between 1908 and 1916. An architectural and cultural achievement with no equal in the state.
The New Hope art colony drew painters beginning in the 1890s. Their work — fields, rivers, light — hangs at the Michener and influenced American art for decades.
The essential arts + history map.
Find your town. Find your people.
Every municipality in Bucks County has its own guide. Start with the town that feels right.