Spring Bridges The Delaware ...

“My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.”

                 ~ Steve McCurry

                 ~ born 1950

          ~ American photographer, freelancer & photojournalist. His photo “Afghan Girl” of a girl with piercing green eyes, has appeared on the cover of National Geographic several times

The historic town of Phillipsburg, New Jersey can be seen behind the historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, which spans the Delaware River as sunset looms on a beautiful mid-May evening in this painterly, HDR image.

The iconic Jimmy’s Doggie Stand can be seen to the left of the bridge.

The Free 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.

Phillipsburg was established March 8, 1861 and was named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the river from Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, Pennsylvania 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.

 

History Hops ...

“I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.”

            ~ Walt Disney

             ~1901-1966

The historic Neuweiler Brewery is soaked in spring sunshine on an April afternoon in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

 

I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic mood.

 

Also known as Germania Brewery, Neuweiler’s is an historic brewery complex built between 1911 & 1913, and consists of the office building, brew house, stock house, pump house, wash house, chemistry lab building, boiler room, bottling house, garage, fermenting cellar and smokestack with the name “Neuweiler” on it. The office building is a two-story, brick and granite building. The remaining buildings in the complex are built of brick. The brew house stands six-stories, and has a copper hipped roof with cupola. The stock house is a long, narrow four-story building. The brewery closed in 1968.

 

Today, although the buildings have been vacant and/or underutilized since the brewery’s closing, the towering structure and copper cupola atop the brew house has been an iconic part of the city’s skyline for nearly 100 years, symbolizing Allentown’s rich industrial history.

Neuweiler’s was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The site is currently listed on Preservation Pennsylvania’s “Pennsylvania at Risk” list.

 

Unfortunately, the structure has fallen into disrepair and has been vandalized with graffiti. Hopefully, it will be redeveloped and returned to its former glory.

 

Thanks to Neuweiler’s, history really “hops” in Allentown!

 

Cool Keys In The City ...

“The only truth is music.”

    ~ Jack Kerouac

    ~ 1922-1969

The new Public Piano waits to be played along the new SouthSide Urban Arts Trail Nov. 8, 2020 at Third and Fillmore Streets, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Anyone is welcome to sit down and tickle the ivories or listen to the music that weaves into the street rhythm of South Side Bethlehem.

The piano features the art of local artist Christopher Colon and is sponsored by The Lehigh Valley Chamber Main Street Foundation, Northampton Community College Fowler Family SouthSide Center, the SouthSide Arts District Design Committee and Wegmans Food Markets.

The project was a venture of the SouthSide Arts District, an initiative of the Bethlehem Economic Development Corporation.

A sign of the times in the age of COVID-19, a spray bottle of hand sanitizer sits atop the piano.

A street piano is a piano placed in a public area that encourages passersby to stop and play.