“To trip the light fantastic is
to dance nimbly or lightly to music.”
~ the origin of the phrase is attributed
to
John Milton
~ 1608 ~ 1674
Reflections from lights on the
historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, trip the
light fantastic as they dance in harmony on the Delaware River from my vantage
point by the banks of the Delaware in Phillipsburg, New Jersey during an autumn
twilight in late November.
New programmable LED lights
illuminate the iconic bridge which spans the Delaware River to link
Phillipsburg with Easton, Pennsylvania.
The lights were installed as
part of a bridge rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021
until spring 2023. The bridge is colloquially referred as the “Free Bridge” to
distinguish it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge (previously the
Bushkill Street Bridge), a short distance upstream.
I shot this on Thanksgiving Eve,
the night prior to the 116th meeting of the Phillipsburg High School
Stateliners and Easton Red Rovers on the football field on Thanksgiving Day,
November 23, 2023. The colors were illuminated in a salute to the annual game,
which Phillipsburg won the next day 47-12 at Lafayette College’s Fisher
Stadium, Easton.
The
bridge that spans the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding
from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and
is one of my very favorite places to photograph.
Historic Phillipsburg was
established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of
the area. The historic town of Easton was founded in 1752 and is located at the
confluence of the Delaware River and Lehigh River, known as the
Forks-Of-The-Delaware. Both are Delaware River Towns.
The
Free Bridge can also be seen from across the Delaware River at Delaware Canal
State Park, Easton, near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware
and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).
Running
from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and
Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.