Werewolves, Jack-o'-Lanterns and a Ball: Halloween at Doylestown's TileWorks
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
Bucks Co. & Beyond Daily
by Nick Rau
With its poured-concrete arches, tall chimneys and a courtyard ringed by an arcaded balcony, the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown already looks like the setting of a gothic novel, and every October it gets to play the part. Over the next two weeks, the TileWorks at 130 East Swamp Road hosts three very different Halloween nights: Terror at the TileWorks, a haunted house tour on Oct. 22, 23 and 29; Pumpkinfest, the BC Cares Educational Foundation's pumpkin-carving festival on Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25; and the Saints & Sinners Ball with the band Wineskin on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026.
The reason to plan now rather than the week of Halloween is the haunted tour, which runs at just nine scheduled times across three nights. Pumpkinfest is the easier family pick, with carvers at work all Saturday afternoon and a courtyard full of lit jack-o'-lanterns after dark, and the ball is the grown-up finale, with chili, a bonfire and a band in Mercer's barrel-vaulted Big Room.
Terror at the TileWorks borrows its story from the man who built the place. According to TileWorks, the immersive tour is inspired by Henry Chapman Mercer's "November Night Tales" and "The Wolf Book," and it opens with a crime: a pack of werewolves led by one named Red has stolen a silver-covered book from the Mercer Library, and they need your help to uncover its secrets. You follow a guide through the historic building, solve puzzles and try to work out the mystery while the wolves lurk nearby, and TileWorks promises suspense, a little intimidation and plenty of supernatural storytelling along the way. Tours run at 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, Friday, Oct. 23, and Thursday, Oct. 29, and tickets are $35 plus a booking fee.
Pumpkinfest is the BC Cares Educational Foundation's annual fall fundraiser, and its organizers describe it as a two-day community celebration with a pumpkin-carving contest, live music, food vendors and art vendors. On Saturday, Oct. 24, the festival runs from noon to 8 p.m., according to BC Cares, with professional and amateur carvers turning pumpkins into works of art from noon to 6 p.m. and the finished, lit jack-o'-lanterns on view once the sun goes down. Sunday, Oct. 25, runs from 4 to 8 p.m. with the lighted display, a youth carving contest, food and more music, and BC Cares encourages kids to come in costume. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for ages 5 to 15 and free for kids 4 and under, and BC Cares says passes are good for each day. One small heads-up: TileWorks' own calendar lists Saturday's start as 1 p.m., so check the BC Cares page before you head over early.
The month closes on Friday, Oct. 30, with the Saints & Sinners Ball, where local favorite Wineskin plays the historic Big Room under its barrel-vaulted ceiling. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 7, and TileWorks says the $40 ticket includes chili, cornbread and desserts by Anna P, plus one free drink. Between sets you can wander the hallways, warm up at the courtyard bonfire or gather under the arcaded balcony. The invitation's guest list includes vampires, witches, ghosts, "Luke Skywalker, Phillies Karen and Dorothy from Oz," so it seems just about everyone is invited.
Mercer, the archaeologist and collector behind the Mercer Museum, built the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works between 1911 and 1912 to "master the potter's art and establish pottery under personal control," as TileWorks puts it, and for about 30 years afterward leading architects sought out his handmade tiles for public and private buildings across the country. Today the building is owned by Bucks County and run by the nonprofit TileWorks of Bucks County, and it's part of a National Historic Landmark district with the Mercer Museum and Fonthill, Mercer's concrete castle next door. It's still a working pottery, too. On a regular tour you can watch craftsmen turn wild Bucks County clay into Mercer tiles, and on Tuesdays you can make a 3-by-3-inch tile of your own, which is a pretty good souvenir from a building that looks this haunted.
According to TileWorks and BC Cares Educational Foundation:
When is Pumpkinfest 2026 at the TileWorks in Doylestown?
Pumpkinfest runs Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, from noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 25, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, according to organizer BC Cares Educational Foundation. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for ages 5 to 15 and free for kids 4 and under.
How much is Terror at the TileWorks, and when does it run?
Tickets are $35 plus a booking fee, according to TileWorks. Tours run at 6, 7:15 and 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 22, 23 and 29, 2026.
Where is the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works?
It's at 130 E. Swamp Road in Doylestown, next to Fonthill and about a mile from the Mercer Museum. Henry Chapman Mercer built it between 1911 and 1912, and it still makes handmade tiles today.
The TileWorks sits just outside downtown Doylestown, which my Doylestown guide covers, along with my story on the Scarecrow Stroll downtown, and you can browse the rest of my Bucks County town guides.
Few places in Bucks County do Halloween as naturally as a 1912 concrete tile factory full of arches and chimneys, and whether you pick the werewolves, the pumpkins or the ball, it's a great way to see one of our county's landmarks in a new light. I'm Nick Rau, President of Sales with the Rarity Real Estate Team, ranked in the Top 1% of agents nationally (RealTrends 2025, individual), with more than 135 Google reviews, and I live right here in Bucks County.
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The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Photo (cropped): Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons.
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