Stories from WIll Rivinus – Part 1
The Canal Walk- A Journey Through History – Tales by Will Rivinus, edited by Betsy Rivinus Deny
One of the more interesting projects that I started was the CANAL WALK. The 60-mile Walk follows the towpath from Bristol, Pennsylvania to Easton, Pennsylvania, or vice versa Easton to Bristol. My walk started in the summer of 1960 after I had been working in Manhattan on a start-up that didn’t make it. I came back to the farm, exhausted and unhappy with the world. Deciding I needed some fresh air and exercise, I filled my backpack with necessities, walked down the hill to the Canal from my farm in Solebury, and headed north up the towpath. My objective was to reach Easton via the towpath and then somehow get to the Appalachian Trail, which was crossed a few miles above there. After having done what turned out to be the north half of the towpath, I subsequently walked the southern half, saying to myself, this Canal is perfectly beautiful.
Geologically the Canal is fascinating as it runs down from the Appalachian Mountains through the Piedmont farm district down to the sand and gravel plain of the Jersey Shore. There is a tremendous variety of plant material that grows in the area. The Canal is also the story of American industry, the history of the iron, lime, and coal industries, and the transportation network across Eastern America. It is truly an education in the beauty and the history of America.
As a member of the Friends of the Delaware Canal, I promoted the idea of a Canal Walk. We had the first Walk in 1987, and it has been a regular event every year since then barring floods. It was reinforced by the fact that at virtually the same time, unknown to me, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States William O. Douglas was doing the same thing on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath. He did not go for any great distance, but he got a lot of publicity. So we said, let’s get some publicity for the Delaware Canal and thereby help to prove to Harrisburg that it’s worth keeping and paying for. People who complete the full 60-mile Canal Walk with the Friends of the Delaware Canal earn an expired stock certificate from the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. The certificates feature the portraits of Josiah White and Erskine Hazzard who built the Lehigh Canal.
The federal Cares Act may provide a way for you to increase your contribution to the Friends. The Act allows you to be more generous with funds that you might otherwise pay in taxes. If you use the standard deduction, as most taxpayers did in 2019, you may take a special charitable deduction of $300 per taxpayer ($600 for a married couple) on your 2020 return. If you itemize, you can give and deduct as much as your entire Adjusted Gross Income.
The Library’s founder Sol Feinstone acquired Buckstone Farm in 1945. He and his family lived in the stone farmhouse that is the centerpiece of the property. Sol Feinstone’s son, Ezra Stone, already had become famous playing Henry Aldrich on the popular radio show, “The Aldrich Family.” In September of 1945, Stone was discharged from the Army, and he returned to the cast of the radio show. He stayed with it until the fall of 1949, when sponsors decided to make it a television show. Stone’s association with the show ended because he was almost 30 years-old—too old to be believable as the 14-year-old Henry Aldrich.
“Do the PA/NJ Canal Loops” is a recreational opportunity that the Friends of the Delaware Canal introduced to the public in 2005. Since then, it has become one of the most popular features of both the Delaware Canal in Pennsylvania and the Delaware & Raritan Canal in New Jersey attracting increasing numbers of visitors each year. The five loops connected by six bridges spur more cross river usage from bicyclists and hikers, who are happy to discover new places and not backtrack.
The centrifugal pump, which will draw water from the Delaware River for the benefit of the Canal when it is water starved, is sitting at the northern section of Washington Crossing Historic Park ready to be dropped into the River and hooked up. The service “road” down to the River was installed this summer and has already
What’s wrong with this picture?
As you can see from the photographs, the project was quite a production number.
Spring brings sunny days, comfortable temperatures, and great numbers of Delaware Canal State Park visitors – bicyclists, hikers, runners, walkers, equestrians, birders, scenery lovers, etc. The Canal towpath, with its many quirks, is required to accommodate everyone, making it so much more important for visitors to be aware of and courteous to each other.
