11/8/17 Newtown and Tyler State Park loop with Justin Gurbisz and Shayna Michaels
This next hike would be somewhat of a repeat of a past night hike I’d done, as well as some new stuff I’d wanted to see in the area around Newtown.
This hike had been on my “to do” list for a really long time. I was doing a series of hikes along the lovely Neshaminy Creek going back to 2007, and sort of stalled on many of them for a while.
The bulk of the exploring for this one was to be in Tyler State Park, which is quite huge. I’d done two hikes through the park in the past, but both were night hikes. I quite literally had never done any trails in Tyler as a day hike, but I was already very familiar with the trails.
My first one was in September of 2008 when we wandered through the west side of it on the old farm lanes and such. In January of this year, Brittany, Red Sean and I explored the park some more, in another version of this hike.
Newtown Creek
We met this time at Village at Newtown Shopping Center.
It was Election Day Tuesday, and I made a 10 am meeting time so people could attend who’d gone out to vote. I also thought I’d do something closer to Philly because I’d had friends from down that way asking about doing another one there. As it turned out, only two friends from up north came.
My first plan was to head to the south from the meeting point, but we went into Wendy’s for snacks first. We’d all arrived early, and so we had to wait for them to open the doors at ten.
Old mill in Newtown
Newtown is a very historic area, although the route we walked through looked for the most part pretty new and modern. We headed south from the Wendy’s to Washington Ave to the east.
Newtown was first planned by William Penn in 1684, his “new town”. It was a convenient milling location with the Newtown Creek flowing to the Neshaminy Creek.
Penn had set up a common for all landowners to use, now along Greene Street, but most all of it was later sold off for development.
At the corner of Washington and Sycamore Street was an historic marker denoting the corner as the site of Washington’s Headquarters. From December 24-30th, Washington made a brownstone building that stood at the site his headquarters. Newtown was a strategic point to receive munitions and such. He crossed the Delaware on Christmas 1776 from here, and defeated the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton. It was from here two famous letters were sent.
The headquarters was rebuilt in the 1800s of the same stone, and on the same foundation.
In typical moronic style, the house was razed in the 1960s. I made a comment about Washington headquartering at a gas station, and Justin commented he was smart for choosing a site next to an ice cream shop.
No pedestrians???
We headed across Newtown Creek on Washington Ave and followed the creek down stream through the parking lots. We then passed a liquor store to see if they had anything interesting.
They had no Weyerbacher, much to my disappointment. Justin and I went into the wine place next door to look for something interesting, and we settled on some Sambuca. I’d never had sambuca before, so it seemed like a good time to try it. I also got a little thing of hard cider that came in a little jar.
Sambuca was originally a fermented elderberry concoction I understand, but now it’s more anise-liqueur with that anisette type black licorice flavor. I’m not a huge fan but it was alright. My opinion was that it tasted like a cross between anisette and yagermeister.
Neshaminy Creek
We crossed over Newtown Creek again at Centre Ave, and started walking to the south. There was some sort of business to the left we were able to cut through, then went behind the Olde Church of Saint Andrew to enter the associated cemetery. We followed the west side of the cemetery to the Carl Cedia Park. We were able to skirt the edge of this to the south, and then head left on Barclay Street. We followed this to another crossing of Newtown Creek where there was an historic stone mill at a bend in the road. We crossed first, but then I realized we had to go to the other direction, and we turned back into developments.
Bridge in bad shape
We took Whitman Drive south, and I missed some paved walkways I had intended to take because they didn’t show up clear enough on my phone GPS to catch them. We followed development streets and made a couple of wrong turns until eventually we came out to a parking lot on the west side, and then could get into Sycamore Street/Rt 532.
This was the worst road walk of the hike, because it was narrow. We’d have to head to the Neshaminy Creek and cross to the preserved land on the other side.
Neshaminy
When we reached the traffic light at Rt 332, there were multiple signs for “no pedestrians”. We of course had to ignore this because there was no way we were going to get over there otherwise. It really was a crappy route to walk though.
We soon reached the bridge over the Neshaminy, which was in deplorable shape. The concrete was deteriorating and exposed rebar was everywhere. There was a nice view of the creek, and we crossed to the other side where a quick but steep climb led onto the undeveloped preserve land.
Neshaminy area map
Maps of the area show the places along the west side of the Neshaminy Creek are conservation easement or conservatory lands, or are private open space associated with nearby developments. I recall a sign saying something about one. I think this one might have been the Heritage Conservancy but I’m not sure.
Open easement area
At first, there is a sort of cleared trail that goes along the high slopes above the Neshaminy Creek. It makes for some nice views. We pretty much followed it the same way I had with Brittany the previous time out there, with one exception where we went into a sort of development area and skirted what was probably their retention pond on a mowed pathway, which followed some sort of sanitary sewer easement or something.
We got back into the woods, and I started recognizing places again when we got down lower to the creek. There was a stick shanty made by kids along the river.
Big Sycamore
Further on, small tributaries began to flow into the creek, and it was a bit more difficul to get across. The previous time, we climbed down and up, but this time we mostly went around. We did however cross part of the giant fallen Sycamore tree that we’d done the previous time.
This stretch of the river was much longer than I’d remembered it being. We weaved back and forth a good amount, and eventually reached the edge of the creek where the previous time we had to climb up and into the development above.
View of the Neshaminy Creek from the slopes
This time, I figured we’d try something different. We weren’t going to try to stay directly along the Neshaminy; it was kind of cold out and it would require some really tough walking along the edge. If it were just Justin and I we might have actually tried it, but it’d have been sketchy.
We went up the slope, and instead of cutting out to the apartment buildings, we went along the top of the slope. It seemed like an official trail, or at least it used to be. There were places where someone had cut through the fallen trees, so following the path was easy. We remained on it until St.Leonards Road came close to the edge.
Old Rt 332
From there, we got on the road only for a short distance. We were then immediately able to cut to the right through a meadow area to what was probably the old road route. It led us gradually down hill to the abandoned former route 332, which was widened and moved into a cut to the north. The old highway is still paved, and we followed it down hill just as we had on the previous hike, only this time we had a good amount of daylight.
The road emerged on the new road, which we walked to the right for a short distance to the Spring Garden Mill, which is now used as a play house. It was originally a grain mill.
Spring Garden Mill built 1819
The mill was built in 1819, and it sites on another older route of the highway, also known as Newtown-Richboro Road.
There used to be a covered bridge that spanned the Neshaminy at the mill, but it reportedly burned down in the 1950s.
We walked by the mill, and could see the old road heading directly to the old bridge footings. The piers for the bridge couldn’t be seen, but the abutments were in reasonably good condition. It looked like it used to have a stone arch at it’s west side, but was filled in. I think maybe the original stone bridge washed away, and was replaced on the same site.
Spring Garden Mill Bridge
We headed down the path to the edge of the Neshaminy, which took us then beneath the main road bridge on a rather new walkway constructed when the newest bridge was put in. We then turned to the right on a faint path heading up stream.
Old bridge abutment with arch
When we had a good clearing, we went down to the stony edge of the Neshaminy. On the opposite side, I saw what appeared to be the remnants of another old mill dam, or maybe it was the only one associated with the mills, and the mill race is now filled in. I can’t be sure.
Big hollow Sycamore
Justin climbed up inside the tree, which was pretty neat. We then continued to walk up stream along the creek to the arced dam. I’d only ever seen this dam twice before, and it was in the dark both times, so it was really cool seeing it in the light finally.
Neshaminy dam
The area that is now Tyler State Park was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. George F. Tyler between 1919 and 1928 where they raised dairy cows, poultry, sheep, pigs, and riding horses.
The land was purchased for park use in 1964, and it was dedicated ten years later.
Of course, the history of the area dates back far longer than that. Some of the homes on the property belonged to earlier farming families, some of which date back to the 1700s.
We went up to the edge of the dam, and then reached the red blazed Neshaminy Creek Trail.
Dam
We started following the official trail up stream from here on the same route I had followed in January. It was nice and easy, and eventually ascended a bit up hill to the steeper slopes where we picked up Wood Field Trail, which was an old woods road. This took us around a tributary wash, then down hill toward the pedestrian causeway over Neshaminy Creek.
We headed down to cross over the causeway, which had a smaller dam across the creek just up hill from it.
We turned left after crossing toward a boat house building which has a nice overhang and a fire pit beneath it. A park mainenance worker had his truck outside.
Neshaminy causeway
The men’s room was open, but the workers were in the women’s side. Shayna tried to go in anyway, and the worker hollered at her. When she asked how long he was going to be, he said a long time, so we guarded the men’s room for her to use. Justin and I pondered causing mischief but we behaved ourselves.
We continued from this point along the creek heading up stream. At the end of the building area, the trail continues across a meadow and further up stream, but leaves the state park property and enters college land.
My suit
The section of the trail passing through the Bucks County Community College was absolutely beautiful, with views of the creek and overhanging branches. The trail surface was also a bit tougher. At times it was easy, but it wasn’t really maintained. There was a bridge obviously missing at one point, and there were exposed tree roots that were absolutely spectacular, heading all the way down the slopes beside us.
Soon, we reached the campus of the community college. On the previous hike, Brittany and I had remained lower where the trail ended, and we had to climb a very steep cliff.
Neshaminy
This time, since it was light, we could see where we were supposed to have turned a hard right. This took us out to a nice manicured yard where men were out working on a beautiful old stone building.
Tyler Mansion
As it turns out, this house was actually the George F. Tyler Mansion, known as “Indian Council Rock” because it was built on a site reputed to have been a Lenape meeting site.
Neshaminy
The mansion was designed by architect Charles Willing and built in French-Normal Style in 1930-31 using native brownstone. It is the largest residence ever constructed in the history of Bucks County.
The mansion now serves as the administration building for the Bucks County Community College. We were able to walk right by the front of it on a good path, which went right by one of the walls and near an overlook where a young couple were hanging out, but cautiously looking back at us.
We walked past the building and continued on the path, but last time we had gone up hill to a parking area and walked to the north using a parallel road. This time we did better.
We followed a vague pathway down hill to ball fields we had emerged in the previous time, and then skirted the far left side of them, which was farther than we had made it before. At the ends, we turned to the right to follow the edge east, and looked for spots where a path might enter the woods to keep us going north.
I was surprised that there’s not a good path into the state park lands again from the north side of the college, but there is from the south. We basically followed some deer trails and meandered a bit until we got to more recently fallowed fields. We were able to cross those with only a little bit of briers here and there until we reached the state park fields.
Schofield Ford Covered Bridge
When we got to the fields, we simply turned left and followed their edges. This was the same as we did the previous time, only it was dark and we came from the parallel road.
A big buck started cautiously at us through the weeds. Since hunting season was in effect, he must have known to hide out.
We reached the parking area at the edge of the north field, and turned on the path that descended to the Schofield Ford Covered Bridge.
Neshaminy at Schofield Ford
The original covered brige at the site was built in 1874. Unfortunately, it burned down in 1991 by arson. Funds were raised and the bridge was rebuilt in 1997.
Pennsylvania retains more covered bridges than any other state in the US, although people generally think of Vermont or something when it comes to them.
The first covered bridge in the US was constructed in Philadelphia, in fact. Pennslylvania still has over 1,500 of them.
We made our way up hill from the covered bridge and followed parts of Covered Bridge Trail, Haybarn Grass Trail, and Dairy Hill Trail.
Dairy Hill
The foot paths and old farm lanes were particularly beautiful. We cut away from the foot paths to get a very nice east facing view across the Neshaminy’s valley.
Field view
We ended up taking a kind of weird and indirect route for a bit here. We went across Twining Ford Road, followed an informal trail for a bit, then emerged at another field trail. We turned left to head down hill on it, and we emerged on Dairy Hill Trail again. We turned left on that, which took us across a little bridge where was a couple playing with their kid in the water, and we turned right again on Twining Hill Road, which is also another trail. This took us down hill gradually and to the shore of the Neshaminy Creek yet again.
Old barn
We had gone by two historic farm houses that were still lived in, a barn, through pastures, and on lanes with lines of Gingko trees.
This was definitely out of the way, but it was a pretty route. We took a little break at the paved trail before turning right on the foot path heading along the Neshaminy down stream.
The route down stream was definitely circuitous as well, but much prettier than one of the roads would have been, and also much softer surface. We continued down stream and saw some of the places we had been before, including the mansion and college property.
Gingko lined lane
One of the reasons so many backed out of this hike was because of the promise of rain later in the day. Dan Asnis was going to come, but put a comment on the meetup page that it was going to rain. Whenever someone does that, people immediately take their names off the list, so I hate it when people do that.
It hadn’t rained yet, but Justin checked the radar and it looked like it was coming, and we’d get soaked if we were still out.
Neshaminy
We were making really good time though; we soon got to where we could see the boat house, small dam, and the restrooms we had stopped at before. They even had a fire going in the fire pit under the pavilion section.
We reached the causeway bridge we had crossed before again, and recrossed it, this time to head down stream along the Neshaminy’s east side. This was a former road known as Tyler Drive Trail.
When we turned at the other side of the bridge, it started to sprinkle on us. It started out very light, but then got continuously heavier as we walked to the south.
Near the causeway
It seemed like everyone was leaving the park at this point. We had some more great views of the Neshaminy to the right for a while before the trail started to turn away to the east.
Tyler Drive Trail continues back down to the south side of the park, but my plan was to go to the left on Quarry Trail, which is what we did the previous time. I figured we were doing fine, because I saw one of the restrooms we had stopped by that previous time. We continued walking, and ascended onto a higher slope. Something didn’t seem right.
Neshaminy
As we walked, I heard water, and looked over to the Neshaminy Creek to the right. I could see the arced dam we passed earlier, only from above, and I reminisced about the time that Commando Tom and Wyatt and I night hiked by this exact spot.
I was so busy chatting with Justin, I didn’t realize that we had made the wrong turn. We should not have ended up at the dam at all; the Quarry Trail heads to the east well before that.
Rather than turn back, I tried to look at my phone to see a cut off to the northeast.
Neshaminy
We were in the midst of a disc golf course area, and so the woods were pretty open. We cut to the east through one fo the disc golf pathways, which led us back around to another paved path. I think we ended up on another part of Tyler Drive Trail after a curve. We cut to the left from this, which took us north and out to another restroom building, which was surprisingly open and very nice. We took a break here, and I was able to double check on my phone inside that we were going the correct way.
My phone kept opening up the camera function by itself from past times getting it wet, so it was really frustrating trying to see, and then having the camera go off.
Arc dam
We came out to a wide open field, and we were able to walk right across past a grown over picnic bench to get back to Quarry Trail.
We turned right, and the trail took us to Main Park Road at the intersection to Swamp Road entry. Just to the right of that, Green Lane Trail goes straight into trees. We continued right on through there.
The rain was coming down pretty good by this point, and we were getting pretty wet. The trail led us out to Green Lane, an access road from the middle school under Route 532 to the Newtown Council Rock High School.
We walked straight across the parking lot when we got to the school. Without having to change trajectory, we just went perfectly straight across the lot, and it led us to a path through a line of trees coming out behind the Newtown South Shopping Center. I immediately got myself a slice of pizza at the first establishment.
We really weren’t in the rain for very long at all, and finished the entire hike very fast.
I’d enjoyed this so much that it really spurred more personal interest into exploring the Neshaminy, starting with it’s urban confluence with the Delaware, which I posted on the Metrotrails schedule soon after.
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