July
2002
Feature
Story: The
Delaware River - an unappreciated asset to the Trenton area
Do we give our humble river the credit it deserves?
By
Joe Emanski
The Mississippi. The Colorado. The Missouri. The Columbia. These
are famous American Rivers.
The Ohio. The Monongahela. The Rio Grande.
The Delaware. Our river.
Our famous river. Sometimes, looking out as you cross the
Trenton Makes bridge or the Scudders Falls Bridge, it doesn't
strike you that every schoolchild in the United States has heard
of the Delaware River, knows what happened one very famous night
on the Delaware in 1776 when this guy named George Washington
led his troops across the river and on into Trenton, where they
turned the tide in the American Revolution.
But if the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi
is long on history, it's perhaps a little short on…length.
And width. At about one-tenth the length of the Missouri-which
is the longest North American River, though not the largest by
volume-the Delaware has been known to leave visitors in something
a bit less than awe.
"George
Washington crossed that?" they say. The next thing
they say sounds something like whoop-de-doo.
The Delaware River may not rush past like the roiling Mississippi
and it may not take long to cross-by car, canoe, inner tube or
backstroke. What it does have is a rich history, from General
Washington's days to its life as a resort destination, to its
fishing heritage and on to today's events like the Delaware River
Sojourn or tubing down the Delaware.
And from the Delaware Water Gap to the Delaware Bay, towns like
Lambertville and Riverton and, yes, Trenton, have taken advantage
of the river as a source of fun, commerce and industry. As the
New Jersey State Museum calls it in their ongoing main-floor exhibit,
the "River of Leisure" may have once been appreciated
more for its beauty and resources than it is today, but that doesn't
mean we can't rediscover what it is that has always made the Delaware
River a prominent part of life in the region.
For
Sail: river of dreams and resort haven
It's
hard to picture it perhaps, but when the east coast wasn't a megalopolis
that ran from Boston to Washington, D.C., a place like Riverton
or Florence, in Burlington County, was considered remote. Remote
enough that both Riverton and Florence were originally designed
as resort communities. The Riverton Yacht Club was formed in 1865
and still operates today as the oldest yacht club on the Delaware
and the ninth oldest in the U.S.
Philadelphia's
rich and privileged made their way a little bit up the Delaware
to a refuge where they could enjoy the tranquil life on the river
and still be relatively close to home. Today, the Riverton Yacht
Club holds events like the "Great River Race," set for
July 12, where boaters depart from the yacht club and make their
way to the Walt Whitman Bridge. Bordentown's Yacht Club is also
a place where many of Trenton's boat enthusiasts berth their crafts.
In all, the Delaware River Yacht League has 35 members, including
Bordentown and the Florence Township Yacht Club.
North
of Trenton, you will find few if any sailboats on the Delaware.
But below Trenton-where the river is still tidal-the water is
ideal for a casual Saturday afternoon of recreational boating.
If
you're looking for the Trenton Yacht Club, you will find it-in
Ontario, Canada.
Row,
row, row your boat
Trenton
is considered to be at the "fall line" of the Delaware
River; the fall line is the part of the river where the elevation
changes, generally resulting in waterfalls. It also usually marks
the point where the river changes from tidal to non-tidal.
The
small little whitecaps and rocktops that you see beneath the Trenton-Morrisville
Bridge are what passes for waterfalls on the Delaware. Further
up the river toward Lambertville, there is a little more drama
to the landscape, but it's not the Niagara. For canoers, these
qualify as Class I rapids-in other words, beginner's stuff.
But
if you're looking for a reason that Trenton is located where it
is, look no further than the falls. To place a city of significance
any farther up the river would have severely curtailed access
in an age before superhighways and eighteen-wheelers.
The
falls serve another, less commercial purpose: they make canoeing
fun. You can debark from the Delaware and Raritan Canal State
Park at Scudders Falls and enjoy an afternoon of canoeing or kayaking
through the falls. It's the sort of adventure that sounds fun,
and yet area residents find themselves ranging far and wide to
enjoy outdoor adventures without taking a look at what the river
offers.
Of
course, historically, canoeing was not merely a daily excursion.
A hundred years ago, nobody thought of canoeing as fitting the
kids in helmets and orange life vests and helmets and packing
a picnic lunch. There were at that time a significant number of
canoe clubs, such as the Algonquin Club, clustered around the
City of Trenton, some of which built elaborate boathouses. Trenton's
upper class made these canoe clubs their social centers.
Today,
they're all gone, burned or dismantled. But the Red Dragon Canoe
Club, in Beverly, N.J., is still going strong, offering sailing
and paddling lessons, a summer sailing youth day camp and a sailing
school. Like Riverton and Bordentown, it's a little way down the
river's coast, but for anyone who's looking for the remnants of
yacht and canoe club life, it's what's available.
On a grander scale, the Delaware is home of the Delaware River
Sojourn, an annual eight-day event where travelers spend two days
each in the upper, middle, lower and estuary portions of the river.
Though not everyone who participates makes the entire journey,
each year about 20 people take the opportunity to make the entire
200-plus mile trip.
The rest are there to learn about the river's history, ecology,
economy, conservation and recreation, in one- or two-day chunks.
Sojourn guides lead the expedition down the river and participants
sleep on the banks each night. This year's sojourn took place
May 31 to June 8, starting in Pond Eddy, N.Y. and concluding at
the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, in Philadelphia.
Participants got to learn about sunken revolutionary warships,
bald eagle habitats and the Industrial Revolution. For an activity
that combines learning, camping and fun, few can top the Delaware
River Sojourn. And it happens right here on the Delaware.
A
variety pack of entertainment
Of course, there's fishing too. The upper Delaware River is considered
one of the premier trout fisheries in the U.S., and according
to Jim Turk of the New Jersey State Museum, which this summer
features an exhibit, "River of Leisure," on the history
of recreation on the Delaware, Philadelphia was an early center
for fly-fishing in America.
Possibly the most famous fish-related event on the Delaware, though,
is the Lambertville Shad Festival, which occurs each spring. Originally
held 21 years ago to celebrate the return of shad to the then
newly-clean river, the Shad Festival features arts, crafts, entertainment,
food, beer, and, of course, shad-which are hauled in by the only
New Jersey shad fishery.
You can also fish at Washington Crossing State Park, where one
of the main July attractions this summer will be in the Open Air
Theatre. Planned performances in July are Fiddler on the Roof
from July 4 to 13 and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
from July 18 to 27.
Tubing down the Delaware is also a popular activity and one that
can be done either on one's own or as part of a commercial outing.
Motorboats and wing dams offer some hazards for tubers, as can
rocks. Yet for a lazy, hazy summer day, sitting in an inner tube
and letting the current take you downstream is something that,
at the very least, requires little in the way of technical skill
to experience.
Then there's Waterfront Park, where the Trenton Thunder, Double-A
Eastern League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, play baseball.
The view of the river over the right field fence has quickly become
one of Trenton's best-known vistas. Next door at KatManDu, one
of Trenton's nightclubs, you can party on the river deck. Down
Route 29, where the new tunnel has been built, a tunnel-top park
is under construction, promising to offer views of the river and
picnic areas.
Yes, the Delaware River is more than an encyclopedia entry. Despite
being one of the areas most prominent geographical features, it
somehow escapes our thoughts when we first consider how to spend
our recreation hours throughout the year.
You
can hike in the Delaware Water Gap just north of Interstate 80,
and you can fish for bass off the Scudders Falls Bridge standards.
Remember that the next time you're crossing the bridges that span
the Delaware. There's a river down there and it's beckoning you.
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