“The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes
from the summer cottons into its winter wools.”
~
Henry Beston
~ 1888-1968
The
historic Harry Rickert House reflects in the Lehigh Canal on a beautiful autumn
afternoon in early November along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage
Corridor (D&L Trail), Weissport, Pennsylvania, where the trail is
positioned between the Lehigh River and Lehigh Canal.
Weissport
flourished as a Lehigh Canal town until 1942. Diverse goods, coal and people
moved along the waterway. Boatyards and a mercantile center in the Harry
Rickert House anchored business activity here.
The
house itself was built just after the canal was dug and built in 1828. Jacob K.
Rickert came to Weissport in the 1850s, and through his son Hiram and grandson
Harry, the Rickert’s business continued to operate until the 1950s. Today the
stately building is owned by Rod and Jennifer Mann. The house is their home
plus a guest house known as “The Canal Side Guest House.”
Running
from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and
Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.
