New Hope, Pennsylvania, is a town with a long history, going all the way back to the days before the United States won its independence from Britain. It sits on the western shore of the Delaware River, and in colonial times it served as the half-way point between the big towns (cities?) of Philadelphia and New York. Travelers would arrive from Philly, spend the night, then the next morning take a ferry across the river and continue on to New York.
In the 1950s it became a magnet for gay people, writers and artists, and the town turned an old mill on the river into the Bucks County Playhouse, a theater where many famous shows (e.g., Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park), and actors (Robert Redford, Helen Hayes, Angela Lansbury, Bela Lugosi), performed before heading for brighter lights and bigger cities.
And today? The major industry is tourism, which is exactly why Parky and I went there.
Here are the signs as you enter the town. The bright yellow sign at the bottom says “4 Feet Please.” Parky, being a quadruped, felt this was an especially warm welcome.
First stop: brunch at Café Blue Moose! They served excellent puff pancakes with berries and cream, baked in a cast iron skillet in a hot oven! This was delicious…
…while overhead there was a 2nd floor balcony and lovely blue parasols. A beautiful sight…
…which Parky’s natural raccoon curiosity urged him to examine up close!
After brunch we walked all over. Miles. Here we are on the Delaware Canal, which runs 60 miles parallel to the river. In olden days mules walked the canal tow path, pulling barges containing the fuel of choice at the time (anthracite coal), as well as gravel, limestone and lumber. The tow path is still good for hiking!
There’s a railroad, too – that dates back to 1891! You can ride it today for an hour’s trip out into the countryside. So of course, we did!
Here’s the engine…
…and here we are in the First Class carriage. It cost a little more than Coach, but they served refreshments (rum and Coke for us!).
Parky, with his intense raccoon curiosity, was fascinated to watch the countryside roll by!
Cars had to stop for the train to pass.
There were streams everywhere…
And as we returned to New Hope, we could see the backs of some large and expensive-looking historic housing. (According to Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, “In 2015, Coldwell Banker reported that New Hope has the most expensive real estate market in Pennsylvania and the 86th most expensive real estate market in the United States.”)
That’s something to reflect on, isn’t it!
The conductor told us that these same train tracks were used in the early 20th Century for one of the “Perils of Pauline” movies – the one where she’s tied down to the track and faces certain death as the train’s about to run her over!
Parky tried it out … for just a moment!
Here we are in front of the Bucks County Playhouse.
The old Ferry Terminal is now a market with fancy food stalls. If we can get political for a moment, we’d like to point out that “We believe in ferries….
…and in pansies, too!”
Parky sat on a window sill, and all these rubber duckies clambered up to see him!
A distant relative, but he had already closed up shop for the day!
Q: What on earth is that?
A: Another quadruped….
We ended the day at a quiet spot down by the river, hungry for dinner, glad we had made the journey, and eager for another outing!
And with Parky posing on a post, it makes this whole story a “real” blog post!
To order your own Parky, click here: click! All profits from the sale of Parkys help bring junior researchers, junior clinicians, and people living with Parkinson’s to the World Parkinson Congress (WPC).
To learn more about the upcoming 5th World Parkinson Congress (WPC) in Kyoto, Japan, click here: click!
To read other stories of Parky’s activities and appearances around the world, click here: click!
And to read some of the adventures that Parky and I experienced in the past, click here: click!
