Well. It seems that nearly all my articles so far have almost all focused on one subject – bridges. While this was not intentional, I must admit that I do love bridges. Looking at them, that is. I had to drive over the Pulaski Skyway once and thought I was going to have a heart attack. It’s like driving through the clouds, but knowing you could plummet to your death at any moment. My children, who were in the back seat, can attest to my 3.5 miles of screaming… in each direction.
I do, though, have a couple more (shorter and lower) local bridges I’d like to tell you about. One of my favorite local bridges is the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge.
I know that many of us drive over this bridge on our way to New Hope, but it is a lovely bridge to walk across as well. The original bridge was completed in September of 1814, shortly after the Calhoun Street Bridge. It was a covered toll bridge, owned by the New Hope Delaware Bridge Company. The current bridge, built in 1904, replaced the prior wooden bridge that was destroyed by… wait for it…. “the Pumpkin Flood” of 1903.
I did manage to find an article about said Pumpkin Flood; the story appeared in the 10/15/1903 Perkasie News Herald. It states in part, “Not in the memory of a man now living nor in history has there been such a disastrous flood in the Delaware…The water rose at least 5’ higher than any previous record, and left ruin and destruction in its wake. Along the entire bank of the Delaware in Bucks County, bridges went down like ten pins, and Pennsylvania is practically divorced from New Jersey.”1 Wow! Now that’s a great description.
A new steel pin-connected Pratt truss bridge was opened in the same spot in 1904, and that is the bridge we use today. One of my favorite times to visit the Lambertville Bridge is in the fog. Of course fog is fickle; you may leave your house in a thick blanket of white, only to have it vanish before you reach your destination. But if you do happen to make it to the bridge in the fog, as Sophie Madden says, “Don’t be afraid to go into the mist.”
*The photos for this article were taken before it closed recently for construction. The bridge is expected to have intermittent lane closures until fall – currently you can only drive across west bound. You can use the 202 bridge (which is free eastbound) coming back. For more information about the repair schedule, click here.
1 Perkasie News Herald, 10/15/1903
All photos copyright KB Robinson Photography.
