Philly Escapes: New Hope, the Brandywine Valley, and Winterthur
By Andrew Collins

Because Philadelphia has become one of the great comeback cities of the Northeast, and it remains one of America's gay-friendliest destinations, it's worth thinking about some of the wonderful cultural attractions, charming towns, gay-friendly inns, and fine restaurants that lie within just an hour's drive of Pennsylvania's largest city. Greater Philadelphia is known for such verdant river towns as Chadds Ford and gay-popular New Hope (and its neighbor, Lambertville, N.J.), not to mention fantastic museums, mansions, and gardens, such as the du Pont legacies of Winterthur and Longwood Gardens. Here's a look at three charming weekend escapes just outside Philadelphia.

New Hope and Lambertville
Straddling the Delaware River less than an hour northeast of Philadelphia and 90 minutes west of New York City, the twin towns of New Hope, Pa., and Lambertville, N.J., have long been popular gay getaways. Lambertville is smaller and has fewer attractions, but the dapper little village does have a handful of noteworthy galleries, boutiques, and cafes. Across the river, New Hope bustles with fine restaurants, some of them gay-owned, and is also home to the superb Bucks County Playhouse. It's an excellent base for touring some of the alluring attractions in surrounding Bucks County.

History buffs should visit Washington Crossing Historic Park, where they can learn about General George Washington's important attack on the British on Christmas night of 1776, an event that completely changed the momentum of the war in America's favor. Just west of New Hope, Peddler's Village is a 42-acre community containing more than 75 crafts shops and restaurants. It verges on kitschy but makes for a fun afternoon diversion.

Right in downtown New Hope, you'll find a branch of the exceptional James A. Michener Art Museum, whose main campus is in the nearby community of Doylestown. The museum focuses on works by the many American Impressionist and Modern artists who lived and worked in the Delaware River Valley, and also has an extensive exhibit on noted woodworker George Nakashima. Excellent rotating exhibits are mounted at both branches of the museum.

Doylestown has a noteworthy historic district, comprising more than 1,200 buildings, including quite a few cafes and restaurants. The town's most celebrated resident, an eccentric philanthropist named Henry Chapman Mercer, is responsible for two of the area's most famous structures. He developed downtown's Mercer Museum, a massive 1897 castle filled with tools, folk art, crafts, and machines that hark back to America's 19th-century Industrial Revolution. Just outside of downtown, you can tour Mercer's former home, Fonthill, a 13th-century-inspired mansion built in 1912 and filled with the elaborate Arts and Crafts tiles fired in the adjacent Moravian Pottery & Tile Works. Tours are available of both facilities.
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