Red Pops Along The Canal ...

      “When in doubt, make a red painting.”

         ~ Kay Walkingstick,

             ~ born 1935

     ~ Native American landscape artist, member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma

         and resident of Easton, Pennsylvania

I captured this painterly image of one of the historic locks in the Delaware Canal on a late October afternoon along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) between the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead at Delaware Canal State Park and Wy Hit Tuk Park Trailhead, Easton, Pennsylvania. 

The trail is positioned between the Delaware River and Delaware Canal.

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Historic Faith ...

“I believe in an America where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”

            ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

                    ~ 1917-1963

~ 35^th President of the United States of America

                ~ 1960-1963

         & U.S. Navy veteran

   ~Address to the greater

       Houston Ministerial Association

           ~  Sept 12, 1960  

The historic First United Church of Christ of Easton stands as a beacon of faith in downtown Easton, Pennsylvania along the Karl Stirner Arts Trail on a beautiful late October afternoon.

The German Reformed Church was originally constructed at Third and Church Streets in 1775-1776 and was the largest building in Easton at the time. The church congregation’s office building, on Church and Sitgreaves Streets, dates from 1778, and was originally Easton’s second school building. The church served as a Revolutionary War hospital, treating wounded soldiers from the Battles at Brooklyn and Brandywine. It was during this time that George Washington came to the church to visit the wounded. The church was also the site of the Indian Treaty Conference in 1777.

The brick portions were designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, who was the architect of the dome of the United States Capitol and later served as President of the American Institute of Architects from 1876-1887. Known today as the First United Church of Christ of Easton, it stands as the oldest existing church building in the city.

The church has a Star of David in honor of Meyer Hart, Easton’s first Jewish citizen and a contributor to the original church building fund.

The Karl Stirner Arts Trail follows the historic and bucolic Bushkill Creek for 1.75 miles. Though the placement of artwork in a transcendent natural setting, the Arts Trail seeks to stir the public imagination and sense of possibility.

The trail is named for Easton sculptor Karl Stirner, who spent 25 years as a mentor and unofficial real estate agent, ushering aspiring artists to Easton.

The Red House Along The Autumn Canal ...

“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.