Founding principles feel present, still, in venerable New Castle, Delaware. Literally on the banks of the Delaware River, famed as William Penn’s landing place. But when the Swedes arrived around 1638, this bucolic spot was home to legendary Lenapes.
Brick sidewalks thread through brick neighborhoods. Flags are as likely to bear thirteen stars as the sharp angles notorious as the British banner (proudly displayed to left, below.)
A far cry, this joining of emblems, from the high spirits of the Founding Fathers hammering out a country in nearby Philadelphia; debating, and then signing, the Declaration of Independence.
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That Declaration and our Constitution remain living, yes, sacred, documents to me! Democracy was the fruit of their labors, and where is it now?
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To my great delight, Revolutionary history is EVERYWHERE. Here we read of (my hero!) Lafayette’s having given the bride away in this church:
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Buildings echo Philadelphia’s most venerable. Here, both country’s flags blow in a July wind off the adjacent Delaware River.
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Venerable signs have faded on vintage buildings. It’s eerie to see Coca Cola as a vestige of some storied past.
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Here and there, one passes “packet alleys” — long slopes, brick-lined, leading to the Delaware. Here, clipper ships had landed. Along these time-worn ramps, ‘stores’, –ships’ provisions–, had been tugged into the commercial part of town, by four-legged and two-legged creatures. At one time, an epidemic closed the major port of Philadelphia. New Castle had to step into the breach until a change of season brought a change of health.
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SHIP’S MODEL IN WINDOW OF HISTORIC JESSOP’S TAVERN
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THE SHADOWS KNOW… What stories these rooms could tell…
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“O, Say, Can You See?”
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PORT OF CALL
COMMERCIAL DELAWARE, DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE TO NEW JERSEY
YOU, TOO, CAN OWN A STORIED INN
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THOMAS JEFFERSON ALE, JESSOP’S TAVERN OF NEW CASTLE —
300-year-old building
From “Delaware, 200 Years Ago”, by Harold B. Hancock, “New Castle remained the county seat, but it lost out in trade and population to Wilmington… Visitors in the port [of New Castle] considered it a town of lost importance.” In 1785, New Castle was described as “a little, insignificant town.” There were predictions that it would “bloom again” And bloom it does for this traveler, in search of the courage, honor, dignity of Revolutionary Days, in a setting of unparalleled early beauty and taste.
When Lafayette and Jefferson join me on my history treks, I ask no greater boon.
STARTING POINT – The Black Bass Inn and The Lumberville General Store, Lumberville Pennsylvania
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HALFWAY ACROSS ON A HOT JULY DAY, STRONG NORTH WIND A GREAT BLESSING
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BICYCLE AT THE BOAT LAUNCH, BULL’S ISLAND
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ONE ECSTATIC CYCLIST
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CONSIDERING…
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BEATS TUBING!
HOMEWARD BOUND…
RESTORED RESTAURANT & 1745 INN, RESTORED BRIDGE
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RESTORED TOWPATH AFTER HURRICANES & FLOODS, PENNSYLVANIA SIDE
Mostly a photo essay on the priceless fruits of preservation and restoration….of restaurants and venerable stores, of towns, of islands, of the historic towpath, of our River of Liberation itself.
Today is le quatorze juillet, –the independence birthday of my beloved France. I was blessed to live in Cannes on this day, 1987. In the Bay floated ships of that country and ours. Each morning, between 4th of July and le quatorze (14) juillet, I wakened to American anthems, then French, floating across the Mediterranean. Those so-familiar notes drifted in, over my herb-fragrant balcony, then through the (of course) French doors.
For Fourth of July, 2017, no anthems enhanced Fourth of July in this horrifically compromised time. In fact, I find our situation worse than under George III himself. Nor do I hear French martial music this morning.
But I think about independence, the enormous sacrifices of all that everyone held dear, required to achieve true freedom in both countries. I am particularly preoccupied after a recent Morven visit, by the fate of Princeton’s own Richard Stockton. That stately mansion occupied and partially burned by the British. He who had been chased, captured, tortured, never to recover from his personal sacrifices to free this land from tyranny.
The more we prate of ‘liberty’ now, –to the ridiculous extent of naming an airport after this blessing/necessity–, the less we possess.
But, in bucolic riverside Riverton, New Jersey, patriotism is alive and well in nearly every dooryard.
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I do not possess ‘patriotism’, as it has been vengefully re-defined since 9/11. But time travel can restore its essence. I seek opportunities to re-love my country in towns along the Delaware River. I am particularly so blessed from Lumberton and on up to Frenchtown (!) down through Roebling, Del Ran, Burlington, Riverside and Riverton on our splendid River Line train.
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Return with me, NJWILDBEAUTY readers, to idyllic Riverton in our New Jersey, as that precious town prepared for our independence birthday this year.
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RIVER LINE TRAIN TILE IMAGE FOR RIVERTON, NJ (River Life & Shad)
I feel most fortunate to live in New Jersey when I ride our brilliant light rail, The River Line, especially with people who’ve never been on it before. We board this snazzy Swiss-built conveyance at bucolic Bordentown, The station offers views of ‘my’ river, along with free, safe parking, and interesting sculptures having to do with our often undervalued state.
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TRENTON MAKES / WORLD TAKES Sculpture @ Bordentown River Line Station
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Within soundless seconds, we are wrapped in marsh landscapes, heading south through storied Roebling; brick-sidewalked Burlington (proud to have a London neighborhood founded in 1656), and on to explore and feast in idyllic Riverton.
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The River Line could solve so many problems in our land, in our world. Gliding along rails used for freight at night, the glistening two-headed train has become a traveling village. Conviviality rules the ride, especially surprising New Yorkers, now key members of the Princeton Photography Club, on a day-long time-travel excursion.
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PROUD SIGNATURE IN ANCIENT SIDEWALK
People walk around in Riverton. They’re lively and open, eager to talk to strangers. Parents hold children by the hand; and children hold books, coursing toward this town’s charming little library. A Councilman asks us why we are photographing, tells us how Riverton came to be (summer homes for Philadelphians in 1800’s), and exchanges cards with the real photographers.
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This amateur is in heaven in Riverton, because ‘her’ river, the Delaware, is so near, so alive, shimmering with history and promise. The Delaware’s signature, –almost a perfume–, is that zingy breeze that starts to riffle hair, even on a steamy July day.
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The town is gearing up for its hundred-year-old Fourth of July Parade. Homes of other era are as spiffy as when they’d been built; each yard individually planted and tended and decorated for our first day of Independence. One man invited us INTO his home to meet the cats.
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Another neighbor explained that the arresting black and blue and white flag on one balcony honors policemen, EMT people, First Responders.
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The colors of our day, however, were red, white and blue. No town is more celebratory about the efforts of those founding fathers, –so near, across our pivotal river–, without whose vision and heroism, we would not have a country.
Delaware, the River, and the Official Riverkeeper — Tale of Christmas and Courage
Washington Crossing the Delaware to Trenton, from Internet, by Leutze
Christmas is a time for every citizen in our country and everywhere, to remember:
without the Delaware River, there wouldn’t BE an America.
This post celebrates a mightily courageous woman — Maya von Rossum — the official Delaware Riverkeeper. She’s articulate, accurate, and brilliant. Following her blog, or attending to local news media night after night, readers marvel at Maya’s steady focus on the many perils of our boundary water, and what must be done to reverse them. Some situations are obvious and seemingly internal: like pollution, stormwater run-off, animal wastes and fertilizer poisoning by nearby farms. One, which I fought to prevent, is artificially emptying her to cool a nuclear power plant. Other dangers are less visible, certainly far more difficult to describe — matters political. Listen with me to our spokeswoman, what she has to say about our river, our country, our freedom in these times. AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING OUT.
Thomas Paine exemplified the utmost daring and determination in his diatribes, polemics, books and pamphlets in the time of the American Revolution. It is the essence of the country our Founding Fathers dared all to create, that vox populi — the Citizen’s Voice — is to be encouraged and heeded so that liberty may truly exist.
Thomas Jefferson felt the war could never have been won without Paine’s words. It is no accident that his most famous book is Common Sense.
NJWILDBEAUTY long-time readers, –especially those who came aboard when this was a Packet Publications Blog, NJWILD –, know that I’ve been fighting for the well-being of our magnificent Delaware River since I moved to New Hope from Princeton in March of 1981. I used postcards of the painting above to announce my change of address.
Delaware River From Baldpate Mountain by Brenda Jones
That essential move across the river plunged me right into her perils. Forces of greed, (though we did not bandy about that phrase in those days), a.k.a. PECO (Pennsylvania’s PSEG) and chemical firms, lawyers and judges, far-seeing realtors wanted to insert a pump into the Delaware. To remove unconscionable amounts from this already too-thin river, and pump them to the Susquehanna River, where Del’s water would be used to cool a nuclear power plant. A fierce protest group, Del-AWARE formed. A newspaper was generated. The printed word, the spoken word, and especially the televised word brought us national coverage in our battle for the river.
Our strategy meetings were held at a rather disreputable tavern, [Applejack’s – is it still there?] –appropriately upriver, on the river, above New Hope. Remember that taverns were the meeting sites in the 1770s, where our seemingly impossible American Revolution unfolded. I always picture early patriots, including Tom and John and George and Ben at Philadelphia’s City Tavern, banging pewter tankards on rough wooden tables, asserting “Give me LIBERTY or give me DEATH!”
In the 1980’s, near Lumberville, PA, just north of New Hope, my own friends, — women, including nursing mothers and venerable grandmothers–, lay down in front of the bulldozers set loose to ruin the river environment— lay down to save the river, and were jailed at what is now the Michener Museum. For some reason, no one at that Bucks County penal institution seemed to have heard of the writ of habeas corpus, so those women were jailed for the entire weekend! Patriots, indeed! I think of this every time I view Delaware River Impressionists honored on the Michener’s former prison walls.
Delaware in Flood, by Brenda Jones
I love our river even more than I cherish our state. But I couldn’t lie down in front of bulldozers. However, I could write. I penned poems such as “I am The River Speaking” and “To Val (Sigstedt) and the Valorous” to be published in the DEL-AWARE newspaper. One, written when the forces of greed blasted the river during the shad run, [and Nature generated a powerful mud-slide right across from the site of the proposed PUMP], ends, “Blast ME? I’ll show YOU power!”
One feels so hopeless in the force of these impassive official corporate forces. But I could also write prose, –especially letters to editors of Bucks County and Philadelphia Newspapers. And, each week, in Doylestown, as a volunteer, I penned position papers, releases and speeches for Congressional candidate, Peter Kostmayer. Peter ultimately would see to it that our Del was named Wild and Scenic, for as much of her imperiled length as could possibly qualify. He also played a major role in stopping the Tocks Island Dam Project. I’d write truths about the essentiality of saving our river one day, and see them on Page One of the Philadelphia Inquirer, as headlines, the next day.
THEN, as NOW, WORDS MATTERED – but they must be conveyed to the broadest possible public.
We succeeded in returning Peter to office, despite mockery, fury, insults, dirty tricks – like wording the Dump the Pump referendum backwards, so we had to vote YES to mean NO PUMP. We won the May referendum to prevent the building of the PUMP.
After which, I moved to France. Upon my return, the PUMP was in place. It had been a non-binding referendum. Let the protestors beware… However, our battle kept the greedy group from fulfilling their original plan to remove 200 million gallons a day from the River of the Revolution!
It’s almost Christmas, 1916. Grave changes are afoot in our country, which could result in negative changes far more perilous and long-lasting than the Delaware’s unwelcome PUMP.
It’s also almost the anniversary of George’s famous Crossing, to win the two battles of Trenton and the one battle of Princeton. Never forget that the third of our first victories took place in Princeton, near the Clarke House, near the Institute for Advanced Study [who have finally bowed to protests and will not be developing acres of that sacred battlefield.]
Soon we can attend the annual re-enactment at Washington’s Crossing on the Delaware below New Hope. There might be enough water in our river, after all, despite this serious drought year. People who live near major rivers know truths despite increasing insistence that global warming is a myth. For awhile, it looked as though this year’s Re-enactors would have to walk across.
Without the Delaware River, and her bounty of shad, according to Founding Fish author John McPhee, which fed our meagerly-clad-and-nourished officers in winter quarters, WE WOULD NOT HAVE A NATION.
Because of the Delaware River, we are the only state with three coastlines — the Shore, The River, and the Delaware Bay. Vital Philadelphia and our own Capitol would not exist without the Delaware, Yet, she is never safe.
Coursing Waters, High Water, Delaware River by Brenda Jones
LISTEN TO THE DELAWARE RIVERKEEPER, HERE, AND ACT ACCORDINGLY. Her level of commitment, devotion, and willing to sacrifice and risk, is Revolutionary. Let Maya be our model, every one of us!
Maya K. van Rossum is the Delaware Riverkeeper & leader for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. Learn more http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org
3 days ago
Environmental Protection is not a Partisan Issue by MAYA VAN ROSSUM: official DELAWARE RIVERKEEPER.
… it is an obligation; an obligation we owe to ourselves, others and future generations. It is an obligation that includes being brave and speaking up when we need to.
Environmental organizations across the nation are raising red flags of concern with each new anti-environment pronouncement and appointment the Trump administration issues. His cabinet will be filled with individuals who put corporate and industry profits before people, health, safety and the environment.
His speeches announce staunch opposition to environmental-protection regulations and deny climate science proving that global warming is a human induced catastrophe. His platforms and plans demonstrate a commitment to advancing dirty fossil fuels and rolling back environmental protections.
In response to posting thearticle, “Leaked Transition Team Memo Outlines Trump’s Catastrophic Energy Agenda,” to the Delaware Riverkeeper Network Facebook page, someone commented: “It is unwise for Delaware Riverkeeper to inject partisan politics into its advocacy.”
I took this as an effort to shame us into removing the post — suggesting that somehow we had betrayed the public’s trust by highlighting this major threat.
My response? “I don’t care what political party you are in, you should care about environmental protection. This is not about partisan politics. This is about a promise from the next administration to rollback critical environmental protections that protect our rivers, our drinking water, our communities and our economy…”.
Those who care about our families, earth, and future generations should not be manipulated into silence by assertions that speaking out is illegitimate because it is partisan. Those concerned with the environment have always faced insults and accusations.
Maya goes on to deplore epithets and “accusations used to bully, embarrass or trick people into silence.”
CONSIDERING…
HOMEWARD BOUND…
RESTORED RESTAURANT & 1745 INN, RESTORED BRIDGE
