The Light Fantastic Trips the Delaware ...

“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 facing 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 116^th 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.