Hazy Evening On The Delaware ...

“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.

 

Phillipsburg's Soldiers & Sailors ...

“Freedom is the last best hope of earth.”

    ~ Abraham Lincoln

       ~ 1809 ~ 1865

~ 16^th President of the United States of America

           ~ 1861 ~ 1865

 

Its patriotic Americana at its finest as Old Glory billows in the summer breeze as valor is celebrated at the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument on a beautiful early July afternoon at Shappell Park, in the historic downtown of Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

 

The monument was erected in memory of the soldiers & sailors of Phillipsburg and vicinity who served in the Civil War 1861-1865.

 

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

 

According to the Phillipsburg Historical Society, The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated May 10, 1906 and stands at the apex or “point” of what was originally known as the “Town Lot” next to the Lovell School Building; known today as Shappell Park. The monument stands approximately 48 feet high and was built of “Barre Granite” quarried from Vermont at a cost of $5,500.00.

 

For more information on the monument visit http://www.phillipsburgnj.org/boards-commissions/historical-society/.