Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum
215-345-6722
Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum is a working history museum where full-time ceramists and part-time apprentices create re-issues of the original designs from Henry C. Mercer's historical tile collection. The craftsmen demonstrate daily to visitors how they use the same techniques from the turn of the 20th Century arts and crafts movement in creating the tiles including pressing the clay into molds and painting the tiles by hand. All of the tiles are made from hand-mixed Bucks County clay and are available for sale as souvenirs or for home improvement projects such as fireplace surrounds, backsplashes or flooring. The museum also offers classes and workshops for the public and also caters to school groups and summer camps.
Tours of the facility start with a fifteen minute orientation video and then continues along a designated tour route marked with signs throughout the concrete fabricated building. Visitors can walk through at their own pace, but the tour generally takes about 40 minutes. There are several stairways along the way. Part of the tour includes being able to watch ceramists create the tile and visitors are encouraged to ask questions, which are cheerfully answered.
- Hours: Daily, 10am - 4:45pm
- Handicap Accessible: Only the tile shop and first floor of the museum are accessible.
- Ticket information: Adults $4.50, Seniors $3.50, Youth (age 7 -17) $2.50, Children ages 6 and under are free.
- Food/drink: No
- Alcohol served: No
- Coat/bag check: No
- Parking: Free lot
- What makes this community special?: Every May the Morivan Pottery & Tile Works Museum hosts the Tile Festival, a weekend event which includes over 40 venders from the United States and Canada who are tile makers, artists and dealers in historic tile.
- Payments accepted: American Express, Cash, MasterCard, Personal Check, Visa
- Products: Handmade ceramic tiles from the Henry C Mercer historical collection for use in backsplashes, flooring and fireplace surrounds.
- Services: Classes
- ATM: No
- Public restrooms: Yes
- What is an interesting historical or little known fact about this town?: Unlike the Mercer and Fonthill Museums which are overseen by the Bucks County Historical Society, the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum is administered by the Bucks County Parks & Recreation Department.
- Audio tours?: No
- Gift shop: Yes
- Gift shop hours: Daily, 10am - 4:45pm
- Cameras allowed?: Yes
- Membership levels: Corporate, Family, Individual