Ask any of my teachers over the years. They will tell you that I had little or no interest in history.  It never came alive for me like it did many of my classmates.  Despite that, I have started to be fascinated with historic New Hope. Also other historic topics that apply to me more personally today.

Historic New Hope – An Artist’s and River Town

Thaddeus has gotten me interested in historic New Hope in a few different ways.

He’s always looking for old postcards that show the canal and towpath where we bicycle.  It’s fun to identify the location from photos taken a long time ago.  Old dirt roads that no longer exist, or that have been transformed into a major road are always fascinating to me now.

New Hope Free Bridge Anniversary

There are two bridges in that span the Delaware and connect New Hope, PA to Lambertville, NJ. A relatively new and large toll bridge to the North and a historic “free bridge” a mile to the South.

Today (Friday, January 3, 2020) is the 100th anniversary of when the historic bridge was made a “free bridge.”

First of all, we just assumed the term New Hope/Lambertville Free Bridge was a term to distinguish it from the nearby New Hope/Lambertville Toll Bridge.  We had no idea of the history the name.

Initially, the bridge was a wooden covered bridge. It was built in 1814 and was privately owned and the owners collected a toll from anyone using it to cross the Delaware.  When a flood wiped out the bridge in 1841, it was replaced by a second wooden covered bridge.  This was also privately owned and demanded a toll by its owners.

In 1903, the second bridge was wiped out by another flood and was eventually replaced in 1905 with the metal bridge that still exists today.

The “new” bridge had a trolley track that took passengers from Lambertville to Yardley, PA.  And it was still privately owned and required a toll…until January 3, 1920.  At the point the private owners sold the bridge to the new toll bridge commission, who turned it into the free bridge we know today.

Read more about the history of transportation in this great PDF file.  It’s mostly about Lambertville, but can’t avoid discussing the connections to New Hope.

Here are also a couple of well-known artists (Bucks County Impressionist school) representing New Hope.

Current Knitting

The latest Westward Hat has been finished.

I didn’t have enough of either the purplish/gray color or the green color to do a full headband. So I used both! I can’t wear this yellow color, but I have to say I just love it.

I also added a few more rows to the latest Knitted Cross Stitch Scarf.

This design is great for so many reasons.  It blends even the most garishly bright colors in a way I find pleasing.  It’s reversible, since it’s really just a modified garter stitch.  And it’s surprisingly easy to do…again…it’s just a modified garter stitch knit lengthwise.