TOWNS
The Bucks County Courthouse is located at 55 East Court St., Doylestown PA 18901; phone: 215‑348‑6000.
Beginnings
One of the three original counties created by William Penn in November 1682. Bucks is named for Buckinghamshire in England, where the Penns had lived for generations. Doylestown replaced Newtown as the county seat in 1812 and was incorporated as a borough on April 16, 1838. It was named for William Doyle, an innkeeper.
Most original settlers were Quakers, and William Penn's estate was at Pennsbury Manor. During the religious Great Awakening the log college at Neshaminy educated clergymen. In 1776-1777, Washington used Newtown and Keiths as bases for his Trenton and Princeton campaigns, crossing the Delaware River on Christmas at McConkey's Ferry and in 1778 his army camped at Doylestown.
Bristol was the first county seat, succeeded by Newtown and then Doylestown. Fries' Rebellion occurred in 1798 in opposition to a federal tax on windows. Bucks has a long tradition of high quality farming, including selling seeds used across the nation. Dairying became strong toward the end of the nineteenth century. Wealthy estates have acquired much of the farming area; less than 20 percent of the land is currently farmland. Textiles, pottery, and decorative tile making flourished. The U. S. Steel Company built a plant after World War II, and then the population increased sharply. Many found homes in the new housing complex of Levittown. Explorer Zebulon Pike, writer Pearl Buck, and War of 1812 general Jacob Brown were all from Bucks. There were Underground Railroad stations in four towns. – Pennsylvania State Archives
The Arts in Bucks County [†]
The arts, culture and history [1] are alive and thriving throughout Bucks County. In almost every village, town, hamlet, and city you'll find museums, historic sites, arts, creative design, visual arts of every kind, and a host of talented men and women, some who make their livings as artists along with many who present their talents as amateurs and volunteers.
Wherever you seek talent in Bucks County, whether in New Hope, Yardley, Quakertown, Doylestown, Bristol, or Newtown, or everywhere in between, you'll find Bucks County is filled with exceptional artists making great art — right here in our delightful part of eastern Pennsylvania.
Bucks County is also home to many out-standing museums. Doylestown Borough, in particular, hosts the world-famous James A. Michener Museum, and the homes, castles, museums, and factories created by Henry Chapman Mercer.
Bicycling in Bucks County [‡]
Bucks County has long been renowned as a world‑class destination for scenic beauty, fascinating history and interesting cultural heritage. The County is home to nationally significant trails including the Delaware & Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor, the Highlands Trail and the East Coast Greenway. Many breathtaking and beautiful scenic routes have been mapped and documented in guidebooks which are so popular that local bookstores have a hard time keeping them in stock.
There is a lot going on in the world of cycling in Bucks County. All 54 municipalities have parks, recreation and open space plans that to some degree deal with greenway and trail connections. Numerous municipalities have undertaken the connection of their communities via trails. Over 100 cycling events are held annually in the County, to the extent that event organizers report overlapping routes. A major event that is held annually is the Uninvest Grand Prix. Through the development of a Bicycle Master Plan, the County works to establish a way to build upon these efforts to maximize cycling initiatives and enhance the already desirable quality of life here.
While the bicycle network within the County is still taking shape, there are several successful facilities that have been implemented. These include:
East Cost Greenway
The East Coast Greenway is as a trail and on-road system that covers nearly 3,000 miles from Canada to Key West, Florida.
Route 113 Heritage Corridor
The Route 113 Heritage Corridor provides a transportation and cultural link through historically significant towns, rolling landscape and green lands. The corridor begins at Route 611 in Bucks County and continues southwest into Montgomery County. All total, the corridor spans 30 miles along Route 113.
Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
The D & L Trail is a 165 mile trail along the banks of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers. The trail, within Bucks County follows the Delaware River from Bristol Borough to Riegelsville, and passes through Morrisville, Yardley, and New Hope.
†Bucks County Board of Commissioners, Life in Bucks County Pennsylvania, 2013, www.buckscounty.org, accessed July, 2020.
‡ Bucks County Bicycle Master Plan, 2012, www.buckscounty.org, accessed September, 2019.