Doylestown Times photo
Photo Essay by Chris Whitney
There is no place like Doylestown. It’s a town with restaurants as good as any in large American cities, and there are museums, night clubs, at least one comedy cabaret, a farmer’s market, an old fashioned movie theatre, its own tile factory that is owned by the county and some of the most picturesque streets of anywhere on the East Coast. People do business in Doylestown. It is not just a place to visit. And that’s the charm. People work here; the county government and courts are here. It is a real town and it is a destination. People come here for their honeymoon and visit to see Fonthill, the home of the eccentric archeologist and tile maker, Henry Mercer. Or to visit the museum he built that looks like a castle or the tile factory that still makes his Moravian tiles.
There is a vibrant art community in Doylestown. There are art galleries and artists’ studios in the town and on its outskirts. And there is the James A. Michener Art Museum, named after the great American novelist from Bucks County. The museum, known for its Pennsylvania Impressionist collection is also the recipient of some of the most remarkable traveling exhibits, often being the first American museum to get them. Their curators are always busy creating their own exhibits like the current, “Out of This World: Works by Steve Tobin.” Doylestown is unique in that it has an urban feel, yet it is surrounded byrural Bucks County. The cross between town and country makes for some interesting cultural phenomena. There is, for example, the Doylestown Farmer’s Market, where local farms sell produce and local vendors sell foods that are made essentially from local produce or from organic products such as coffee that is fair trade and is ground locally. Restaurants in town often use locally grown vegetables and locally raised meat to support the local food movement, which is essentially urban in that it began in American cities and is associated with urban life. There are art galleries having openings with evening entertainment where you can find flyers for hayrides and pumpkin farms.
These photos taken by Doylestown photographer Chris Whitney capture the feel of Doylestown and give us an understanding of why this small county seat is so important to Bucks Countians and why there are times when no other town will do—Doylestown Times.