00:07hello and welcome back to another exciting episode today we are back at font hill castle
00:14in doylestown pennsylvania to check out their historic park walk this does not only include
00:22a lot of beauty but also a large amount of history so stay tuned i'll tell you all about
00:29it as you saw in the font hill castle video henry mercer constructed his reinforced concrete castle
00:38home and estate on approximately 70 acres of land what i didn't tell you before is that the font hill
00:45grounds were made up of several small parcels that mercer acquired in 1907 now they were primarily
00:54farmland when mercer acquired it and the appearance of the grounds were greatly altered
00:59when he added additional trees other plants and he remodeled several historical buildings and
01:07landmarks that stood on the property now this video is going to help you explore font hills extensive
01:14grounds and discover some of its hidden features in history along the walk you will see a lot of gates
01:24that bordered the 70 acres of property mercer visited the yucatan peninsula and mercer supposedly sketched
01:35these gate-like figures while visiting the area for an archaeological expedition in about 1895 now these
01:44generally mark the paths that enter font hills grounds and restoration of the gates are in process
01:51but for now as you see they are kind of in semi-ruins when it comes to the spring house
01:58as you see here
01:59there was actually an earlier structure that stood on this spot now mercer rebuilt the previous spring
02:07house to give it a more ornate appearance and of course to use some of his tiles of course the
02:14tiles
02:15that decorate the spring house contain a riddle from earth to sea clouds carry me to see from earth
02:23i turn at birth can you figure out the riddle if so tell me in the comments below this bridge
02:31was
02:32probably built around 1917 ish when the little house in the woods which i'll talk about a little bit
02:39later was remodeled it contains two mosaics the mosaic on the north wall shows that the ship on which
02:49mercer's ancestors the chapmans immigrated to pennsylvania from england in 1684 the mosaic on the south wall
03:00depicts the twin chapman sons which the negative american who rescued them and led them home after they
03:09became lost in the woods this neat old building is called the little house in the woods this house
03:16came with the property when mercer purchased it and probably served as a tenant house though there is no
03:23real evidence of anyone actually occupying the house when mercer assumed ownership a barn which has since
03:31disappeared once stood nearby now mercer dated the farmhouse to sometime between 1765 and 1775 he added a
03:42concrete roof tile inscription and the tile mosaic in 1974 before offering it to the doyle's town nature club
03:53for their use the tile inscription below the roof reads who learns will love and not destroy the creature's life
04:03and flowers joy there's also an inscription that says silver vacat which appears at the mosaics and it
04:13loosely translate to the forest calls now during mercer's life the surrounding trees were very much
04:23smaller in recent years the house has unfortunately falling into disrepair this cutout area in the hill was
04:32actually the quarry and the field stone that they pulled out of there was used to construct the little
04:38house in the woods the font hill farmhouse and the foundations for the spring house there's really so much
04:48to see here and it's a really beautiful walk so if you ever have a chance i highly suggest you
04:55take a few
04:55hours or the whole day bring a lunch and just simply decompress and with that said i thank you for
05:04coming
05:05please hit all the appropriate buttons below and as always have a great day
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