Field Trip! The Mercer Museum

If you are ever in Pennsylvania, and you love the 1800's, this is the museum you have to visit.  It is called "The Mercer Museum".  Mr.  Mercer was a man who knew that some day all of the things that he loved and were part of his world in his time would be gone.  So, he spent his money purchasing treasures from his world.  In the picture below, you can see a display that kind of drives home his point.  The things in the bucket look familiar to many of us, but my class didn't know what they were.  The whole museum was a wonderful teaching experience.  It was a wonderful time to show students things from the past, but to also show the kinds of things I love and collect.

 

 

Mercer was big into concrete.  The whole museum was made of concrete.  We also visited his home nearby.  It was a castle made of concrete and tile.  The tiles were made in his tile works.  I couldn't take pictures inside of his home, but you can see examples of his tile work in the picture below.  We just so had a blast!  There was only one way in or out (so I could guard the entrance), the whole place was concrete ( so nothing to break), lots of levels and nooks to explore- just awesome.  My class kept shouting down, "This place rocks!"  We did scavenger hunts.  We would give the kids an item to find, like "a pierced tin revere lantern".  They would have to take a picture of it and come back and show us.  It was a blast!  So, I would highly recommend this as a worthy excursion.

 Drool, drool, drool, drool...

 

This is the ceiling.  There are boats, buckets, carriages all suspended from the ceiling.

 

 This my favorite part- It is a store set up like it would be in the 1800's.

 

 

 

 Excessive drooling.  Maintenance had to be called to clean up the spill...

 Oh. My.

 

 Pewter teapot. Check.

 Pierced tin Revere lantern.  Check.

 

 

Got tiles?

Love it! I see a spot for my Smartboard right now!

 We even found a furnace that was made at the Hopewell Furnace that we visited on our field trip in the fall!

 

 

  I taught my students about different baskets, even "buttocks" baskets.  My students would not believe me that they were called that.  Boy, did they get a chuckle out of it.