#Delaware and Raritan Canal

[reblogcentral4]

Saw these mallards hanging out with this lost redhead duck

[lilbugblue]

i almost got heat stroke on this one 🙂

[rickspix]

Delaware and Raritan Canal

Somerset, New Jersey

[wolf1933mar]

1907 or later. That is the southern end of the Delaware and Raritan Canal over yon. Today nature has pretty well taken its revenge on that point of land.

[southjerseyweb]

New Jersey's hidden Gem, Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail - YouTube

Comments · The Rarest Saltwater Fish in New Jersey · Man dies after falling off sky ride at Lagoon · Nightly News Full Broadcast – Nov. 1 · Biking the …

[infosisraelnews]

Un pilote israélien tué dans un accident d'hélicoptère aux États-Unis

Un pilote israélien a été tué dans un accident d’hélicoptère léger près de la ville de South Brunswick, dans l’État du New Jersey aux États-Unis, a rapporté le réseau d’information américain CBS, après s’être entretenu avec les forces de secours et des témoins oculaires sur les lieux de l’accident. Selon le rapport, le petit hélicoptère s’est écrasé dans le canal Delaware-Raritan et a été…

[dendroica]

Gall made by a Horned Oak Gall Wasp (Callirhytis cornigera) (by me)

[emilchoskiart]

“Delaware and Raritan Canal” 24“ x 18″ OIl on Canvas

[dix-a-la-proprietaire]

Art training 

[i-like-old-things]

One Small Town

Emily Hutchinson DeCou (1885-1964) (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township)

Today, I will be talking about a small, suburban, often forgotten about—yet important—town in New Jersey. This town is named: Lawrenceville apart of Lawrence Township.

Smiling by the fence, c. 1915 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township)

You might know the name Lawrence from that one naval captain during the War of 1812 who said “Don’t give up the ship”. Or, maybe you even recognize the Lawrenceville Prep School, which is actually in the exact Lawrence I am talking about.

Lawrenceville School baseball team, 1883/4 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township)

In between Princeton and Trenton, Lawrence was first established as Maidenhead (after a town along the Thames River in England—the name comes from “Maidenhythe” which means port or heaven) in 1687 or 1697. It remained a, mainly, farm area until around the 1950s when it shifted to suburbia (probably due to the extreme white flight in Trenton).

However, Lawrence is rich in history that’s often forgotten about and so when I stumbled upon it, I thought I should share!

(Don’t worry I’m not going to go into EXTREME detail I’ll just list some things and put links so you can read more—if you want)

Lawrence is home to New Jersey’s largest (for its species) and oldest tree! Also, this exact tree also has the largest *umbrella word* in New Jersey. Called “The Brearly Oak” it’s a black oak that has been in the ground since before George Washington came!

The Brearly Oak Tree (Courtesy of: Princeton Nature Notes)

On the note of George Washington, when traveling to the Battle of Princeton from the Battle of Trenton that “local road” that they took actually went right through Maidenhead. Elias Phillips, who’s buried here, actually helped guide the Continental Army to the Princeton Battlefield.

Along with Elias Phillips, a man named Colonel Hand fought against the British in a skirmish right in Maidenhead to help the Continental Army gain more time to reach the Princeton Battlefield.

Lawrence was the birthplace of one of New Jersey’s signers of the US Constitution as well as the first Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. And, while he isn’t buried here, the entire rest of his family is and they’re house has been completely restored by the township and sits right by the Delaware Raritan Canal!

The canal was extremely important to the economy of New Jersey and the Lawrenceville Canal House has been restored to its prime.

Port Mercer Canal House before restoration, 1979 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township Revisited)

I can’t talk about the town of Lawrence without talking about the Prep School. Originally established as “The Academy of Maidenhead” the Lawrenceville School was created by the Rev. *name* of the Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church (the same place where the Brearlys are buried) for his 9 students. It was *name*, headmaster of the school, who wanted to change the town’s name to Lawrenceville from Maidenhead. The Lawrenceville School built it’s reputation and now it’s an internationally known school and one of the most expensive private high schools in the United States.

Finally, I will be talking about (a mostly) forgotten piece of Lawrenceville history: the Princessville Cemetery. (A little background: before Lawrence Township solidified, it was a whole bunch of small rural towns—Princessville being one of them—which is why it has a separate name) Princessville Cemetery is right by the Brearly House. However, what makes the Princessville Cemetery different from the others in Lawrence is that it is the home to black Civil War soldiers.

Pictures:

Four friends relax along the Delaware and Raritan Canal, 1908 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township Revisited)

Annual Colonel Hand March, 1963–the Colonel Hand March happens every year and has only been canceled 3 times since it started in 1962 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township Revisited)

Company review, 1918–students at the Lawrenceville School would prepare themselves for World War I by practicing drills on the school’s lawn (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township)

Lawrenceville Schoolyard, c. 1880 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township)

Fred Martella posing next to the “bookmobile”, 1939 (Courtesy of: Images of America: Lawrence Township Revisited)

Sources: Images of America: Lawrence Township, Images of America: Lawrence Township Revisited, Pictorial History of Lawrence Township: 1697-1997

Side Note:

If you know of/about any small/lesser known towns that have a lot of history, please tell me! I love learning about things that aren’t as well known to a lot of people!

[restandwild]

Delaware-Raritan Canal Trail, New Jersey -- restandwild.com

[bigmacdaddio]

The Morris Goodkind Bridge spanning the Raritan River from Edison to New Brunswick.

Did you know the Eddie and The Cruisers story and the Soprano episode...

Connecting Edison on the North bank and New Brunswick on the South bank, two bridges tower over a river crossing that was favored by the Raritan Lenape native Americans.  One bridge, a concrete arch structure built in 1929, was not enough.  By the time it had been named the Morris Goodkind Bridge after its designer, traffic was so congested that a second bridge was needed.  Up stepped Goodkind’s son Donald to design a parallel span, which opened in 1974.  In 2004, the new bridge was re-named the Donald Goodkind Bridge.  Where else in the world are you going to find that?

Donald was criticized for his “ordinary” concrete and steel design, but according to his family, he carefully aligned a narrow structure that would permit his father’s work to be seen as clearly as possible from the West and that would be mostly hidden from the East.  The visual preeminence of the original bridge is evidence that Donald tried to pay homage to the 1929 span and avoid any one-upmanship.  His father had  won a medal for excellence in bridge design from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the 1929 bridge.  Morris then became chief bridge engineer for the NJ highway department. The Pulaski Skyway is another of the spans built under his leadership.

150 years before the construction of the first bridge, George Washington celebrated the fourth of July, 1778 while encamped at the river.  In 1834, the opening of the Delaware and Raritan Canal heightened the economic importance of New Brunswick and allowed central NJ access to new markets.

Both bridges have a tragic chapter in American pop culture.  Eddie and the Cruisers star, Eddie Wilson was said to have drowned in the Raritan River when his ’57 Chevy Bel Air crashed through the concrete side rail of the bridge.  In the 11th episode of The Sopranos (spoiler alert) Detective Vin Makazian commits suicide by jumping off of the Donald Goodkind Bridge.

If things keep up, commuters will be back to using one bridge with two lane of traffic in each direction.  The nearly 100 year old span is in deplorable shape.  Not only are the plaques commemorating Goodkind and the Lenape covered in graffiti, but the formed concrete rails are so deteriorated that a vespa could crash through parts of them at 15 mph!  That’s not a nice way to treat such a majestic Art Deco span, is it?

[kensabe]

Princeton. New Jersey.

[dendroica]

East Coast Greenway (by me)

In my area, the East Coast Greenway runs along the historic Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath.