This Playground Has Doylestown’s Fonthill Castle as Its Inspiration
A uniquely-themed playground inspired by Henry Mercer’s historic Fonthill Castle is coming this fall to a corner of Doylestown’s Broad Commons Park, writes Freda R. Savana for the Bucks County Herald.
General Recreation in Newtown Square and Landscape Structures helped create the playground.
The play space for children of all ages is expected to be open by the end of September.
The playground’s Fonthill Castle replica tower dominates, and there’s a slide that resembles a huge tree trunk, with faux logs as steps.
Other features include a storytelling space, a We-Go-Round, a climbing bridge and a “nature-oriented” section.
The playground is fully accessible and open to those of all abilities.
The idea for the custom-designed space just “came to him,” said John Davis, Doylestown Borough manager.
The entire public green space of the park is uniquely Doylestown, with concrete pillars that mimic Fonthill’s, to the embedded Mercer tiles.
“We wanted to build on that in the play area. We knew a spaceship or pirate ship wouldn’t fit,” said Davis with a laugh.
Planners even took photos of the interior of Fonthill, a national historic landmark, and hope to recreate some of those images within the playground’s castle.
The playground is also designed to be a comfortable space for adults.
The borough received a $250,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help develop North Broad Street Park. Chris and Whitney Chandor gifted $50,000 toward the approximately $450,000 price tag of the playground.
Read more about this Doylestown playground in the Bucks County Herald.
General Recreation in Newtown Square serves Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware and has helped hundreds of community leaders and organizations build playgrounds that are safe, aesthetically pleasing, and made to last.
General Recreation projects are supported by expert services, including site evaluation, playground design, installation, and community build services.
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