What a cool hidden gem in Valley Forge National Park! I took a tour of this museum in November…read more2025. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and intriguing as he guided us around the property and inside the home/studio. Esherick was extremely talented and it was incredible to see his stunning creations. Tips: The tour is inside and outside so dress accordingly. There are steps inside the building. Booking ahead is required and tour group counts are limited.

Visiting the Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern had been on my to do list for a while, but the…read moretours sell out, and I've missed out on visiting a couple of times! Last week, I planned a last minute day trip to the Philadelphia area and noticed that they had exactly four tickets still open on tours for the rest of the month and they were for the upcoming Saturday at 11am. It was a sign, and I jumped on buying those tickets. How to explain the Wharton Esherick Museum?! Wharton Esherick was an American artist and designer (he's best known for his modernist wood furniture), and - while not a trained architect - he designed this house and studio compound (of four separate buildings) in Malvern to live and work in. By the time he was adding a workshop to the compound in 1955, building codes had made their way into law and Esherick got help from none other than Louis Kahn to help design that building. So what will you see if you visit? Just an incredible home and studio. Esherick was not into straight lines or right angles or wasting perfectly good wood, so the house and studio is an amazing sight: that staircase! the wood floor in the dining room! the concrete extension painted in colors that blend into the natural surroundings! the art and furniture pieces of Esherick's shown throughout the house! It's a hard place to describe, but our tour guide did a marvelous job of teaching us about Esherick and the buildings during our tour, while sharing some woodworking facts and passion, too! Reservations for the tours are required, and they do sell out. Regularly. There's an exhibit on Esherick at the Brandywine right now, and that might be generating more interest than usual in seeing his home and studio - or maybe tours of this amazing place are always this popular?! We did the Experiencing Esherick Tour, which takes you into the home and studio building and lasts about an hour. They offer some specialized tours of more limited days as well - I will definitely be visiting again for the architecture tour which takes you into at least one additional building you don't see on the general tour! The house? Fascinating. Our tour guide? Lovely. The grounds? Beautiful even in December. And a lovely little gift shop in Esherick's old garage where you can do some holiday shopping? Bonus. What's not to love about the Wharton Esherick Museum? I know I'll be returning to bring friends and family to this wonderful place in the future.

Wow. What a unique, random gem and historic property. What is Fonthill and why is there a castle in…read moreDoylestown, Pennsylvania? Fonthill Castle was the home of archeologist and tile maker Henry Chapman Mercer. (Also in Doylestown are two more Mercer buildings you can tour - the Mercer Museum and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works building, the business Mercer ran and where most of the tiles in the castle were produced.) Henry Mercer seems like he was an interesting guy, and you can see that in his home - 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, 200 windows, who knows how many staircases...! And designed and decorated in a way I've never seen anywhere else. The castle is an early example of poured-in-place concrete building and is a mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles. And there are, of course, Moravia tiles (and some historic and international tiles that he collected during his life) throughout the house - almost more than you could imagine. We visited last Saturday to experience their "Fonthill Castle Holiday Lights Meander Experience," which allows you to visit the castle through a self-guided experience (there were staff in various rooms who were happy to answer questions) and enjoy a series of Christmas trees on display throughout the home. I definitely enjoyed the experience but am definitely planning a return visit to see the castle in better light (not at night in the dark - which was perfect for the Christmas tree experience) - they offer 60-minute guided tours though the house for most of the year! The castle is pretty wild, and I look forward to visiting it again and experiencing it in a new way. If you are interested in architecture, art, crafts, the Arts and Crafts design movement, or just quirky, unusual places, definitely add Fonthill to your list and check it out!

Amazing property, it is a hidden gem. Went with my family for the tour and everyone enjoyed it!read more

A surprisingly TODDLER friendly museum with many hands on exhibits !…read moreLoved how friendly the staff is and how many space related exhibits there were!

We were visiting from out of town and decided to stop here for a fun activity to do with my kids (9…read more& 6). They were loving all the exhibits and thought the snakes were so cool. We enjoyed the interactive activities. The kids enjoyed the nature nook where we stamped with mushrooms for an art activity. However we were told the sandbox experience started at 2:30 and when we got there at 2:28 the guy wasn't exactly kind about it or understanding. The kids were sad they didn't get the full experience. It was much smaller than expected though for the price you pay. Probably wouldn't go back but we did have a good time.

I visited Winterthur for the first time with my mom on Christmas Eve for their Yuletide exhibit…read more I'd been mildly curious about the mansion over the years, and it seemed like a fun thing to do on my day off from work. The mansion is ornate, truly massive, and opulent. It's a true peek into the lifestyles of the rich. The Yuletide theme this past year was centered around Christmas and children's books, like Alice and Wonderland, Twas the Night Before Christmas, etc. When we arrived, we were a bit confused on where to park, as my mom has a handicap sticker. We ended up parking right at the visitor's center where the tram retrieves guests. We didn't have a long wait. On the tram, the driver recommended starting at the house and then walking down to the galleries. She didn't mention the enchanted woods/garden, so I didn't even realize they were there until I got home later that night -- bummer. Some of the folks working the rooms were pleasant, others felt like security guards. One chided my mom for leaning her hand against a wall at one point. Some were knowledgeable, and others clearly didn't want to be there. I appreciated the girl in the garden entry room who snapped our photo with the decorated trees before we stepped into the house! I took many pictures while in the house, and then we traipsed over to the galleries. The gallery building had a doll house, a really well-done gingerbread train station, furniture and other exhibits on the ground floor, and a rotating, very interesting exhibit on African American history on the second floor. After the galleries, we stopped by the museum store, and while most everything was dramatically overpriced, I did find a few cool items in my price range. We were on the grounds for roughly 2-3 hours I'd say before having lunch nearby. Arriving early was a good choice. They do offer reciprocal garden access with other garden memberships (I have one at home in Richmond, VA), so perhaps one day I'll use that access to see the gardens that I missed!

This was not on our list of museums to hit but since the weather was so darn hot we changed what we…read morewere going to do after spending the morning at Longwood Gardens. It helped that we got free admission with our reciprocal museum membership. It was 2:30pm we when we arrived so we didn't have a lot of time. We were given good advice on what to do in our limited time from the folks at the ticket office. We took the garden tram tour which was educational and got off at the house where we did the self guided tour. You only see a small fraction of this giant mansion but that was enough for me. While most of the docents had interesting facts the actual contents of the collection were not that interesting to me. If you are really into this era of American decorative furnishing supposedly they have more in-depth guided tours. We still had time to see a bit more of the grounds around the house but with big thunderstorms rolling in we headed out. I am guessing for some this place is a must... I am glad we got free admission.

This is the best small museum in the area. I learned a lot, and was able to check out tools,…read morewagons, and other things related to ice. I did not take pictures, because I was interested in the tour.

This was a delightful museum, an amazing collection by the "Ice Man". a wonderful collection of all…read morethings ice, related natural ice and manmade ice. They have worked hard to create a sense of how ice and refrigeration evolved and how all of the tools of the trade have evolved over the last 200 plus years. This is a wonderful educational and historical experience not to miss if you are looking for something "Cool" to do for a couple hours. Something interesting to see for all ages. Definitely email soon to get a private tour. Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy. Beth Anne Keates, Train Lady of West Chester, author

The Brandywine Museum has a special place in my heart. Intimate and welcoming, it is set in a…read morebeautiful natural environment, a wall of windows overlooking the river and green foliage. The focus on nature is a fitting homage to the special place the Wyeth family holds for the museum. This family of painters made their home in the area, and Andrew Wyeth - in partnership with his wife Betsy - took the local landscape, architecture and people as his life's work. However, the family produced three generations of artists, and there is usually at least one, carefully curated, Wyeth exhibit on display at the museum at any given time. Each time I come I learn about a different aspect of their art, and fall in love a little bit more. You can also take a tour of the artists' home and studio, as well as the newly installed N.C. Wyeth mural in the Round Barn, constructed just for this purpose. These tours need a reservation and cost extra, but worth it if you are able to splurge.

The museum was free on the Sunday we went. I'm not sure exactly which days, but it was great to go…read morethere when it was free. The kitchen area was really clean. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water and on the second floor they had some cool exhibits and activities for kids. Highly recommended if you're in the area.

This was a neat little house/museum that I hadn't heard of but was just randomly looking up things…read moreto do in the area and found it. It's right next to Princeton's campus and the Battle of Trenton Memorial. My husband is a big fan of all the Signers of the Declaration, and unlike a more restored house about the people who owned the house, it focuses on the Stockton family who lived here and the American Revolution and a special exhibit. We were actually here for a few hours since there's a lot of signs to read and a lot of Richard Stocktons who lived in the house, followed by some governors. When I went, there was also a really interesting exhibit on Ma Bell and the history of telecommunications upstairs. This was a great historical site, a cheap price, and a nice space. Would love to come back when the garden is in bloom, and I will look out for future exhibitions as they rotate in.

I was fortunate to be able to go when they were offering a cream tea which I can highly recommend…read more It was quite wonderful. The tour was interesting and ok but with limited things to see. There was information about some Stockton family members who lived there but would have liked to have more broad information. The house is quite beautiful and the garden is very nice. I did enjoy the visit but the cream tea was really the best.

I take my 2 y. o. granddaughter nearly every week. There are so many wonderful things to explore…read moreand learn from. They have a walking path through the woods with a natural playground and sandbox, a bird house building to watch and interactive displays, a mini zoo inside a house with small animals and activities including a treehouse. They also have weekly activities and seasonal events for elementary school kids. My granddaughter calls Briar Bush "The Animal House" and loves to put a donation in the collection box before we leave.

They were so friendly and it was a great little center to see the local wildlife and learn. We…read moredidn't get to do the whole path with a stroller but it was nice and shaded on the trail so even on a hot day it felt cooler.