Hike #993; Lambertville and Bulls Island

Hike #993; Lambertville and Bulls Island Loop

12/8/16 Lambertville and Raven Rock Loop with Shane Blische, Jason W. Briggs, Annika Krystyna, Jim "Uncle Soup" Campbell, Dan Asnis, and James Quinn

This next hike, like the others I had done while being stationed at Washington’s Crossing, would be a loop utilizing the old canals and railroad beds. Only a short distance from work, I could do the hike out of Lambertville and make a good loop on it, as well as make Shane happy because he’d been wanting to walk that stretch of the old Bel Del Railroad with us for a long time.

Sun rise at work before the hike

A good hike was much needed for me; I had been getting to work before the sunrise, and not getting home until after sunset because of how long the commute is between home and Washington’s Crossing. Any other circumstances would be easier to accept, but I was still just not feeling good about it.
I got through the day at work, then jetted out to meet the group at the CVS pharmacy in Lambertville. They have pretty good parking for a strip mall there, so it seemed like a rather obvious choice of where to jump off for this hike. We got snacks and such in the CVS and were soon ready to get moving.

Bel Del Railroad just below Lambertville before the Pumpkin Flood of 1903, historic postcard image

The loop between Lambertville and Raven Rock with New Hope and Lumberville on the PA side comes to about thirteen miles, and with a couple of side trips it would put us just up above fifteen.

Silver Co.

We did the first bit of the hike on the former Belvidere and Delaware Railroad, which was extended to Lambertville and further north in the early 1850s. By doing this during the light hours, Shane could show us more historic stuff along the way.
We had a good group for this particular hike because people were interested, but also could handle it all well. It was good to have Uncle Soup back from Virginia as well (pulling a double header for the NYC hike the following weekend).
Shane took the lead on the first half. The trail is very straightforward, whether we follow the Delaware and Raritan Canal which came first in 1834, or the Bel Del Railroad bed, which are usually pretty close together.

Rails in the pavement!

The first point of interest we stoppd at was the Plant No. 1 Diamond Silver Company. Old businesses like this have been re-purposed into modern amenaties like store fronts and offices. Shane told us this business was served by rail.
The Diamond Silver Co. was a stainless steel manufacture in northern Lambertville, mostly producing kitchen appliances. It was served by the railroad via a street running track on Elm Street. - Shane
We continued further along back streets of Lambertville to the south a bit, and he pointed out to us exactly where these spurs ran. In fact, I was quite surprised to see that the rails were still in the street causing the pavement to heave a bit. I had no knowledge of their ever being a spur in this part of the town at all. We continued along the route, now with the former rail obvious, to a lumber yard area.

Rails still in place at the lumber yard

Shane explained that this was Neice’s Lumber. These tracks were on the east side of the canal, and the main line was on the other.
Shane insisted that we walk this way not only for historic interpretation, but also because there is a long abandoned baggage car on the opposite side of the canal that he did not want anyone going in. If Lerch had shown up, he certainly would have run over there to get up in it. I looked across at the old car and it made me think of my first time climbing inside of it back in April of 2001. At the time there were no trees growing around it at all, and trains could still navigate the branch to Flemington.

The old baggage car

The car is now covered in trees, rusted to beyond where you can see it’s original color. Places like this, for me, are always kind of funny. I don’t feel old, but to think that was over fifteen years ago, and the trees are so much larger is quite a trip.

The old baggage car in April 2001

We started walking the Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath (actually the feeder canal, which was also used for navigation) to the north, and the former railroad siding was to the right, behind a fence.

A Black River & Western RR special excursion on the Nieces Lumber siding. Photo taken in 1968 by Nelson Tower.

This line connected to the Flemington Branch, which was originally an independent Flemington Railroad, then a branch of the Belvidere Delaware, followed by a branch of Pennsylvania Railroad before eventually becoming Black River and Western.

During bridge timber replacement on the canal bridge, BRW track workers watch a PRR freight train zoom by on the Bel-Del across the feeder canal. Photo taken 1967 by Nelson Tower.

The line to Flemington today is badly overgrown. I walked almost all of it on Halloween of 2006 (with detours only due to weeds), and even then it was impassable. However, today, Black River and Western has been working to re-open the line and run excursions back to Lambertville.

BRW freight crosses the 1920 built canal bridge at Lambertville in 1980, Kermit Geary Sr. photo

We approached the bridge that carries the Flemington Branch across the D&R Canal, which stands intact but too badly overgrown to be passable to trains at this time. We continued on the towpath beyond, which went by a couple of homes.

Flemington Branch Bridge over the canal

Just before the bridge underpass, Shane pointed out where the spur to the lumber yard turned off to the right to join the Flemington Branch, which soon crosses the Alexauken Creek.

Bel Del in Lambertville 1988

BRW's Pennsy doodlebug #4666 on the Bel-Del north of Lambertville above highway 202 with coach #321. Photo taken in 1988 by Richard Gordard. The former second track was to the left.
Shane said that trains had been able to pass this far south as recently as 2003, but not since. There has however since been speeder traffic, small craft for moving along sections of rail, recently.

Nice Sycamore

We continued on the towpath ahead, toward the parking area and where the official trail switches from the east to west side of the canal, to the Bel Del right of way.
The trail was lined with a lot of trees through here, but most notably two enormous Sycamores that had to have been there during the days both the canal and railroad were in service. There was also evidence of beaver activity along the canal, which is kind of interesting, since we saw no dams or lodges.

Beaver Shane

We soon approached the Alexauken Creek Aqueduct. When the canal was built, it spanned the creek on an earlier wooden structure. Today, masonry remnants of the original aqueduct are visible on the right side of the trail bridge. The current structure is made of concrete and steel, and probably was built when the NJ Water Authority took over the old canal. The Bel Del crosses over the same creek on a bridge immediately adjacent to the west. The sun was setting beautifully as we walked through here.

Alexauken Aqueduct

Shane pointed out that to the east we could see the Flemington Branch crossing it’s deck girder bridge over the Alexauken Creek.
On the other side of the aqueduct was the parking area where we crossed the bridge to the west side.
It was already starting to get dark, but we at least had enough light to see some of the historic stuff along the way.
Shane pointed out to the right that we could see the Holcombe Jimison Farmstead which is now a sort of living historical farm.

Sunset from the canal with Bel Del bridge over Alexauken

That will be a good opportunity for a stop on a future day hike in the area.
We passed beneath the large bridge carrying Rt 202 across the Delaware River and continued on the trail heading to the south. It was sort of surprising that a lot of the rail through the area had been cleared of vegetation for some reason. Shane said that the last time the section north of the Alexauken had seen service was quarry trains coming through in 1993. These probably won’t be used again unless the quarry one day wants to re-establish rail service to their site.

Holcombe Jimison Farm

There were still a few people out walking on the trail at this point, but to the north of town is always less busy. The tracks became overgrown again around the 202 underpass.

Old Bel Del approaching 202 underpass

The canal went out of view completely between the vegetation in this section. The tracks were still there for a bit.
It wasn’t too long before we reached the Brookville Quarry spur bridge.

Privately owned Erie caboose C140 by the Brookville Quarry spur bridge in 1992, Rich Wisneski photo

The bride is still standing, but in rather poor condition. I think it sits slightly sideways. It’s held up by wooden braces in the canal, which will inevitably rot and take away the bridge one day.

Brookville Quarry Spur bridge by Shane Blische

We turned off to the right briefly to check out the bridge. I’d walked across it before, but now it was the worst I’d seen it. The ties were quite rotten and it’d be easy to put a foot through. I only stepped onto it briefly to get a good look and a photo.

Brookville Quarry Spur bridge

I asked Shane if the bridge had an “official” name, and he said no. I proposed some ridiculous names like “Shane’s Super Pee Pee Fun Bridge”, which he completely objected to.
The Delaware River in Hunterdon and Mercer County was once lined with quarries for miles, and few are still in use today, but this one is actually still going.

1909 postcard view at the Quarry

We continued to the north, and the canal became more visible to the right of the rail bed. The canal weaves around a lot between this point and Stockton. It’s very obvious here that the trail is in fact not the towpath, which would have been along the edge of the canal, but rather the rail bed. Shane and I both agree that the area is very lacking in historic interpretation regarding the railroad.

Historic Brookdale Quarry image

Brookville Quarry's small Davenport switcher owned by Traprock Industries, pictured 1972. For a time it was leased to BRW. Sadly it was eventually scrapped. The last stone train came out of the quarry in 1993

Some sort of bent metal marker

In truth, the canal was built less than twenty years before the railroad. Time has gone by, and little or no acknowledgement to the railroad is given. When we find a rare historic marker, it’s often incorrect with it’s information.
As we walked, Shane spotted a metal marker to the left, west side of the trail. It looked much like one of the old railraod mile markers, but it had no numbers on it. Shane told me that most of the mile markers on the entire Bel Del were in fact metal, when I had always thought them to be concrete. I’d never thought about it, but I had never touched one to see what they were.

Sunset on the Delaware

The temperature wasn’t too cold, and it was a really nice night to be walking this stretch. We had nice conversation and walked the rail bed and canal to the north, with the ambient lights of traffic on Rt 29 across from us showing the way.

Canal and railbed

The canal weaved off to the right a bit, and soon we were approaching where the canal and towpath turn left, and the old Bel Del crosses over the canal to head straight into Stockton.
Off to the right, across Rt 29, we could see the ruins of an old masonry building, which Shane told us was associated with the old Brookdale Quarry. There was a stone wall on the slope beyond it, which must have been more of that old quarry spur we had passed earlier. The quarry operation was likely more extensive once.

Bel Del bridge over the canal

I had the group wait up when we reached the old rail bridge.
It is from this point north that the trail is absolutely only the Belvidere Delaware Railroad and not the canal. The canal remains much farther apart until it’s terminus at Bull’s Island, and the trail continues as just the rail bed to Frenchtown. Because it is designated Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park the entire way, people erroneously refer to the entire thing as the canal, even though no canal ever existed on the NJ side until Phillipsburg.

Ruins at Brookdale Quarry

While the canal moved off further to the left of us, Route 29 moved off to the right. The right of way was now more secluded, and only the lights from the backs of houses showed the way.
Shane pointed out to us a few different historic remnants, the first of which was an old mile marker reading 49 miles to Manunka Chunk, 19 to Trenton. It did look quite similar to the busted one we saw just a mile or two to the south of this point.
I had a brief scare when I saw a light come from behind, but it was a cyclist.

Shane with a mile marker

The next thing was an old metal signal box along the left side. There was no pole on it any more, but the box itself was intact.

Shane and a box

We headed north and buildings came into view in the town of Stockton. Shane pointed out where the right of way widened for sidings and such at the approach to the town.
Shane seems to know where every little bit of history is through these places. Just a bit earlier, he had gone off into the weeds to the left of the trail to pull up the remnant of some old switch that just about no one would ever notices.
As we approached Stockton, he headed off into weeds on an old siding to reveal yet another old switch associated with the Stockton Station. He brushed back the leaves to reveal the equipment was made by an outfit knows as Hayes out of Richmond, Indiana. On the other side of the trail, Shane pointed out I think where there was a coal trestle or something. He said there was once a bicycle factory there, but that it turned into a rubber manufacturer. These are the kinds of things that we’d never have seen if Shane didn’t point it out to us.

Old switch in Stockton

The town of Stockton has the obvious feel of an old railroad town, and Jason commented about it being similar to Lambertville and New Hope. It certainly is, but it’s history stems far back before both the railroad and the canal.

Historic Stockton image

In this snowy scene, a snow rotary car being pushed by a GP9 clears snow on the Bel-Del through Stockton in 1956. Frank Barry photo, Delaware River Mills Society collection.
Stockton can be traced back as far as around 1710 when the Stockton Inn was first established.
It did not hold that name at first; it was simply a home that was converted into an inn around 1832. The town was originally known as Reading, and the ferry across the Delaware here was Reading’s Ferry. It was later changed to Howell’s Ferry, and then to Centre Bridge, because that was (and still is) the name of the hamlet on the other side of the Delaware. The first bridge, for which the bridge and communities took their name, was a covered bridge built in 1814.

Historic Stockton Station view

The Bel-Del's Stockton station. By 1962 when this photo was taken it was a furniture store; the station was closed by the railroad in 1958. It survives today as a lovely convenient store and deli. Norman Lipponcott photo

Historic Stockton Station view

One of the last trains through Stockton was a special excursion between Lambertville and Phillipsburg hosted by Black River & Western RR and Conrail in late March of 1977. The last train to run through Stockton was a work train checking the line of washouts and fallen trees between Lambertville and Milford in November of 1978. The 19 mile portion was abandoned in 1979 and torn up shortly after. Carl Cathers photo
The original covered bridge at Centre Bridge was swept away by a flood in 1841, and replaced by another covered bridge.
The town got it’s own railroad station, and post office in 1853. It was renamed for Robert Field Stockton who was instrumental in the creation of the Delaware and Raritan Canal.
The original bridge burned in 1923, and the current bridge at the site was built in 1926.
No one really wanted to stop at the old station, which is now a nice little deli, which surprised me. No one needed to get any further drinks either, so we continued on north toward Prallsville.
Prallsville is another settlement that dates back to the 1700s. John Prall Jr. became owner of the site in 1794, which is when the settlement took on the name. It was taken over in the Delaware River Mills Society, and eventually became part of the state park. The site still has an 1877 grist mill, a 1790 linseed oil mill, an 1850 saw mill and a 1900 grain silo. Shane told us the original grist mill was destroyed by sparks from a Bel Del engine going by.

Passenger car at Prallsville

In the late 1960s long after the JW Smith's Sons Milling Co ceased operating the Prallsville Mills, Ed Josyln leased the Prallsville Mills siding for space to restore his PRR office car, painted in "NYOW" livery. His car was moved to Ringoes, N.J. in the summer of 1978 when CR started planning on abandoning the Bel-Del through Stockton.

Passenger car as it appears today

I’ve always wondered about Prallsville and any ties I might have with family history. My great grandfather’s name was George Prall Allen, and in trinomial nomenclature, often maiden names are taken as the middle names of children. Some of my descendants, the Albertsons, moved to Hunterdon County as Wheelwrights in 1734 from the Dutch section of Nassau, Long Island. I’ve always wondered where they settled and what might be left of that.
Shane took us to the side, off the trail in Prallsville to show us some more historic sites.
We dashed across Rt 29, and then went up past an historic home on the left of us. We then took to a path to the right to a long abandoned quarry, which I believe was called Woolverton Quarry.

Old cemetery

It was really cool to see because I’d never known it was there. We then headed onto an official trail I’d had no idea about, up on a hill above the quarry. Shane had been telling me about an historic cemetery I didn’t know about, so this was our chance to see it.
Off to the right of the trail, there was a path that led to the amazing old colonial cemetery. It was mostly all field stones, but several of them were on legible rocks. I put my pack down and we took some time to read some of the ancient tomb stones.
The inscriptions were in amazing shape, and I spotted one early on from 1732.

Historic tomb stone

The cemetery was far more extensive than what I had expected it would be. There were broken off stones everywhere, which could easily be missed and tripped over if not watching.

Historic tomb stone

One of the names was Cavanaugh, and I can’t recall the others. I saw no Pralls or Albertsons, but it was obvious that the land was settled long before the Pralls arrived.
I think it was Shane that spotted one particular stone that appeared to read “1711” on the top.
At one of the graves, someone leaned down and a stick or something came up. Jason I think it was half jokingly said it was a bone, but it turned out it was! I’m not sure whether or not this could have been human, but it was sort of a shock to see in this graveyard. They undoubtably made some of these graves quite shallow.

A bone!

We started getting ready to go, and I heard the faint sound of a motor. I was getting a bit nervous, so we started heading back up to the trail. The sound got closer, and I told everyone we needed to get out of there. When I finally saw a light, we had to get into the weeds.
We dispersed and layed down, excpet for Dan who just froze there. The guy on the ATV stopped and asked what he was doing, to which he responded he was just checking out the graves. Jason layed down behind a log, Uncle Soup and James were off in brush, and Annika and I went to a slope in briars. I cut my face up a bit diving into it. The ATV left dan, went down the trail more, flashed around into the brush, and continued on, obviously looking for the rest of us. Once he was out of view, we got up and hurriedly headed down the trail in the same direction.

Southbound passenger train crosses the 1913 built Wickcheokee Creek trestle bridge by Prallsville Mills in Stockton sometime in the 1920s. (Carl Cathers collection)

We probably wouldn’t have had a problem, but I didn’t want to take chances. These people don’t know we’re not up to trouble.
We cut off to the left and headed down hill off of the trail. There was sparse brush, so it wasn’t too tough. We got to the slope where there was the drop off to the Wooverton quarry, and then walked down a somewhat worn path heading down hill. I was up near the front, then waited to make sure the others got down safely. We made our way past the historic house, and then crossed over Route 29, and regrouped along a small building at a parking area.

Back then before it was considered dangerous, locals swam in the canal. Here are a few swimming at the Wickecheokee Creek spillway sometime in the 1930s

From here, we were good to continue north along the Bel Del. We passed by the historic Prallsville Mills, and crossed the bridge over the Wickechoeke Creek. The D&R Feeder Canal was just below, just above river level with a spillway into the Delaware. This section of the canal is not walkable and the towpath in many cases is destroyed.
The trail ahead was an easy walk toward Raven Rock. Rt 29 stays relatively close much of the way. I just wanted to be away from Prallsville at this point.

Northbound iron ore train crosses Quarry Rd. at Raven Rock in 1971.

We crossed the bridge over the Lockatong Creek, and it wasn’t much longer before we reached the old site of the Raven Rock Station.

Original Raven Rock station, built 1852, torn down in the early 1940s for lumber during a wood shortage.

There are still metal rails on the right side of the trail that were from the Pennsylvania Railroad years. It’s hard to believe this little location was once home to a large railroad station.
The town was originally called Saxtonville, and it was a place where it was attempted to mine uranium.

The new Raven Rock stop, a shelter. The stop was terminated in April 1952. This photo was taken in 1953 by which point the stop was closed. Don Wentzel photo

We left the old Bel Del line at this point, and crossed the bridge over the Delaware and Raritan Feeder Canal to Bull’s Island. It was here that James met up with us, having run late to meet up. I had been in phone contact with him earlier, but the limited service of the area for both of us made it slow and frustrating.

Bathroom selfie

We took a bathroom pit stop before making our way across the footbridge, known as the Lumberville-Raven Rock Bridge.
The original bridge at this site was built in 1856, and was a covered structure.
Like many of the bridges, it incurred damage in the Pumpkin Flood of 1903, and one of the spans had to be replaced with a steel truss structure. The bridge lasted on until 1947, when Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission deemed the remaining timber structure unsafe, and vehicle traffic was no longer necessary at the site. It was replaced by Roeblings Son’s company with the current pedestrian only bridge.

Original Lumberville-Raven Rock covered bridge

It’s likely that if the bridge had not been dismantled, it would have been destroyed during the disastrous Flood of ‘55.
We headed over to cross the bridge, which was the windiest part of the entire hike.

Historic view of the Lumberville-Raven Rock bridge after the installation of the steel section

Once we got to the other side, it was rather fortunate for us that the Delaware Canal was pretty much dry, because we could just descent next to the bridge and walk up to the towpath directly, without having to go north to the next bridge a bit.

The foot bridge

Lumberville is another colonial settlement, with the Black Bass Inn having been built there in the 1740s. It was originally called Wall’s Saw Mills or Wall’s Landing, because it was where Colonel George Wall established his mills. The current name of the town still reflects the industry.
The Delaware Canal, or rather Pennsylvania Canal Delaware Division opened at the site in 1832, and has one of the many locks, Lock #12. The lock tender’s house stood until 1955 when it was washed away by the flood. Much of this was also damaged in 2004, but seems as though repairs have been well done.

Lock 12 at Lumberville

We began following the canal to the south. It was much colder on this section because it is so close to the Delaware. The berm of the towpath is all that separated us from the river.

Delaware Canal after a flood in 1902 that threw boats around

Because it was so close to the river, it was more susceptible to flooding than other sections, even during the days of canal operation.

Lumberville

We continued along the canal heading to the east at this point, remaining really close to the edge of the Delaware.
Some of the group got much farther ahead, and I was really enjoying a liesurely stroll. We were sort of close to Rt 29, and the other homes of Lumberville were very close for a bit, but soon it was dark and pretty secluded.
We soon passed by the quarry to the east of the town. This dates way back and was at one time a canal customer. I used to come down to this location when I worked at Hunterdon County parks to purchase materials.

Historic image of the quarry at Lumberville

We continued further on, and passed by the Theodore Roosevelt Recreation Area, where there is a restroom. This area was given this name sort of in place of the entire state park. When Delaware Canal was named a state park, it was Theodore Roosevelt State Park, but later redubbed Delaware Canal State Park.

Canal near Centre Bridge historic view

Our second scare came as we approached the recreation area. You never know who is going to be out anywhere at any time.
Some of the group was ahead, and it turned out there was a police officer ahead in a lot. Again, we likely would not have had a problem, but we turned back for a bit and waited on a bench. It wasn’t all that long before he left the lot and continued back onto Rt 32. We just continued walking on the southbound canal into Centre Bridge.
We didn’t make any more stops on our walk to the south. It was easy and free of incident.

1923 image of the bridge at Centre Bridge when it burned

We passed beneath the foot bridge and then Rt 202 again as we reached the north side of New Hope. Shane said goodbye to us when we got to the crossing of Bridge Street, because he lives only a couple of blocks away. We continued on through town, and I had interesting and entertaining conversation with Jason about some of our past experiences.
We walked across the bridge from New Hope to Lambertville from here, and took to the back streets to get to where we had parked at the CVS.
It was another great hike with a good mix of history, excitement and leisure. No problems that weren’t laughable, no bad feeling. Just a great little jaunt around familiar places with a few new surprises.