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.
One of Winter’s Welcoming Fireplaces, Lumberville General Store, PA
How can one be homesick for a place that is not home? Or actively miss a place, when one is there every few weeks? This has been my fate since I ‘met’ the renovated Lumberville General Store, on ‘The River Road’ above New Hope. This emporium of excellence has been eincarnated by brilliant Laura Thompson, aesthetic genius behind the Black Bass Inn across the road.
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Bass Inn, Venerable ‘Parent’ Establishment Across Route 32
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A Florida friend and I had set out for Bucks County with Christmas presents for one another in hand, planning for breakfast at a traditional Lamberville morning restaurant. Now that she lives in the South, time together needs to be timeless and quiet. Our destination, that morning, turned out to be rambunctious and raucous, with a line out the door into December’s gelid air. “We’re not doing this,” I announced. “I’ve read about new chefs at the Lumberville General Store. Let’s give it a try.”
Ice Floes Race Down the Delaware River, Out Lumberville General Store Windows
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Welcoming Lantern on the Mantel
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Window Decor, Lumberville General Store Haven
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Fireplace Tile, Lumberville General Store
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Even the Fire-Tending Gloves are Decorative!
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Scotch Woodcock (home-smoked salmon), gossamer eggs, cloud-like roll, home-fashioned-and-smoked sausage with ginger and sage — and the most ethereal (so-called) hash-browned potatoes of our lives — [Chef Anton’s secret being pre-preparation inspired by The French Laundry] — an hour and a half sous-vide… and, o, yes, “We finish them in butter. Everything’s better in butter.”
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One chooses a room, a table, a fireplace. One picks up a handy compact clipboarded menu in the main room of the General Store. One agonizes between their own bacon, quiche with crust that levitates, scrambled eggs in the form of the omelets of France, triple-berry or cheese scones, hearty breakfast biscuit, and the like. I cannot count the number of friends I have taken there or met there. All are astounded — even at lunch. This attention to detail, to sources (“We’re between Manhattan and Philly — purveyors are glad to serve us.”) I seem to remember Anton’s delight in the storied Viking fisheries of LBI for salmon and other fish; and local eggs whose provenance resembles that of works of art. Their legendary soups are also available frozen to take home, as are those remarkable quiches. Tall sturdy glass bottles with metal and porcelain stoppers hold (free) refrigerated water for your table, by whatever fireside, or outside, setting you may choose.
While Amy and Charlie and Anton banter with you behind the counter, you can create mixed coffee concoctions to meet your morning needs. Everyone’s pride in his and her work is palpable. Their delight in one’s presence is as though you’re guests and they’re cherished hosts in the warmest of homes.
We’ve done any number of Christmas and birthday rituals, wrapped in timelessness that is not the norm in this dire century. There have been celebration of having recovered visits and even sympathy returns. Hale or not, merry or sad, by the fire, or with backyard breezes wafting in as guests feast at the sturdy outdoor tables — in this historic setting, one feels blessed. As well as gastronomically enchanted.
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And afterwards, in most weather (once, even in black ice — a short jaunt), one can walk the foot(e)bridge across my beloved Delaware and its Pennsylvania canal, to Bull’s Island in New Jersey. There’s even a successful eagle nest visible when trees are less leafed out, one mile below the New Jersey entry to Bull’s Island. This hefty structure crowns a massive sycamore, almost on the river. And another eagle nest may be found on the power tower near the Lambertville toll bridge — whose three young fledged on the Fourth of July weekend! For a long time, the Homestead Farm Market on the Lambertville hill had its scope trained on the nest where these hefty young were “branching” — testing their wings.
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Canal and Towpath, Pennsylvania Side
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Canal and River Alongside/Below Black Bass Inn
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Winter Canal, “Down By the Riverside…”
NJWILDBEAUTY readers well recognize that this haven, which extends far beyond a mere restaurant, constellates most of my passions: beauty, history, authenticity, gastronomy, and Nature herself — especially my cherished Delaware River.
Places such as Riverton and Burlington NJ, and Perkasie and Sellersville, PA, remind us, along with Lumberville: Without preservation, we would have little or none of the experiences and photographs on this ‘page.’
This canal was connected to our D&R Canal by an aqueduct at nearby Raven Rock. Much of New Jersey was settled, in the canal era, beside canal towns. Before that, the Delaware was the main artery. Lumberville was named for the trees harvested there and floated down the river to build Pennsylvania and New Jersey in those centuries. It is a miracle that not only beauty, but even artifacts of those time, let alone buildings, remain.
NJWILDBEAUTY readers know I celebrate living in the Delaware Valley, because it is so easy to get to beauty and wildness, and HISTORY, within an hour’s drive or less! It wasn’t like this in Michigan, which became a state in 1837… Open your eyes and your tastebuds newly to our surroundings. Give yourselves these memorable gifts.
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From their web-site — you see, yet another passion, art in general and Delaware Valley Impressionism in particular…
HISTORY
As you can see from the original date stone on the front of the store, our beautiful building has stood on River Road since 1770. Over the years – with ownership passing from local family to local family – the General Store has always honored the same fundamental tradition: providing a place for the community to congregate. While our visitors may not be relying on us for their weekly groceries these days, we’re proud to still maintain the cozy, communal feel that has defined our store’s history.
PAST
This once-sleepy area alongside the Delaware River steadily developed over the course of the late eighteenth century, and with it, the General Store. In 1775, Revolutionary War hero Colonel George Wall, Jr. acquired the land and began personally overseeing the store. He also (modestly) renamed the area “Walls Landing” and created two lumber mills, a grist mill, and a surveying school. By 1825, the store started to serve a dual purpose as the post office of the newly renamed “Lumberville” – a moniker chosen by Jonathan Heed and Samuel Hartley in response to the successful saw mill operations. As the eighteenth century turned into the nineteenth, the General Store exchanged hands between the Livezey family and the Heed family.
Over time, Lumberville became a bucolic haven for artists, such as Martin Johnson Heade, who was originally a “Heed” before leaving for Europe to study painting. His romantic landscapes experienced a resurgence in popularity the 1940s, with pieces selling for up to $1,000,000. When the daughter of his nephew, Elsie Housely, became the owner of the General Store in 1939, she ensured Heade’s continued recognition after disassembling his sketchbook and selling the pages to eager dealers and collectors. The store remained in her capable hands until 1973, when the ownership changed again.
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
Window Decor, Lumberville General Store Haven
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