“The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, & the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present. Life, if well spent, is long.”
~ Leonardo da Vinci
~ 1452 ~ 1519
~ “Leonardo’s Notebooks”
The historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge,
spans across the Delaware River linking Phillipsburg, New Jersey & Easton,
Pennsylvania as sunset neared on June 30, 2023.
I shot this from the banks of the river on the Phillipsburg side facing
Easton, as wildfire smoke from Canadian wildfires moving through the area
caused hot milky skies and haze in the evening sky.
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. It
underwent a rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021
until spring 2023.
The
bridge that connects 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.
