The Delaware River Valley

The Delaware rises in two branches and flows 419 miles – 674 Km – into Delaware Bay. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles - 36,570 km² - in the five Atlantic Coast States of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

Tributaries and Creeks there are 216 tributaries and 14,057 miles of streams and creeks in a watershed that is home to 4 million people and drinking water to 17 million. The Delaware River basin sustains fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation, and other industrial and residential purposes. With no dams or impediments on the river's main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing rivers in the United States.

The Hudson and the Delaware were originally called the North and South Rivers

History the river was first visited in 1609 by Henry Hudson and the Dutch East India Company resulting in Dutch and Swedish settlements along the lower section of river. The River was renamed Delaware in 1664, after Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and the Virginia colony's first royal governor. With the removal of the Lenape Indians, the name has been spread to municipalities and counties in the American Midwest and Canada were the tribes resettled.

Development the Delaware River played a key factor in the economic and social development of the Mid-Atlantic region. In the 17^th century it provided the conduit for colonial Dutch and Swedish settlement followed by the Quakers in Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley.

Canals Philadelphia’s importance as a commercial center led to improvements on the upper river; the Pennsylvania Canal running from Easton to Bristol, opened in 1830; the Delaware & Raritan Canal ran on the New Jersey side of the river while the Morris and the Delaware & Hudson Canals provided connections to the Hudson River. The Chesapeake & Delaware Canal linked the Delaware with Chesapeake Bay.

Recreation the Delaware Gap National Recreation Area resulted from the failure of a controversial plan to build a dam to control water levels for flood control and hydroelectric power generation. In 1978, environmental opposition led to a takeover by the National Park Service; surrounding communities developed recreational facilities and worked to preserve the remaining historical structures.

The Lehigh and Delaware River Valley are ideal anchor locations to visit New York City, the Hudson Valley, Philadelphia and South Central Pennsylvania.

Delaware and Lehigh Valleys Coal Iron Steel and Canals

The Coal Iron Steel and Canals of the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys

The Delaware & Lehigh five county region of Northeastern Pennsylvania developed in the late 18^th Century as a result of the anthracite mines, the iron and steel industries, and the canals built to reach Philadelphia .

Land People and History the Lenape of the Delaware Valley hunted deer, grew grains and vegetables, and caught seafood along the coast.  The Lehigh Valley was of great importance because it was one of their main east-west pathways, intersecting with major north-south aboriginal trails in the Delaware Valley. Despite its prominence as a crossroads, the Great Valley was the site of few permanent villages, although they often camped at the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers in what is now Easton.

  

 

Delaware and Lehigh Valley Local Native Plant Gardens, Family fishing in New Hope and Bristol Amish Market 
The first Europeans in the Lehigh Valley were Scots-Irish who followed the Saucon and Indian creeks and established settlements in today’s Northampton County. Large numbers of Germans came into the Lehigh Valley in the 1730s.  Among them were the Schwenkfelders from Saxony and Mennonites, known for their skills as craftsmen and millers, and for establishing schools.  Most of the Germans became known as Pennsylvania Dutch and grew maize, squash, wheat and livestock. At least 50 different nations and ethnic groups have been identified among the immigrants of the 1800s; many arrived at Ellis Island and traveled straight to the Lehigh Valley. Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton thrived by the late 19^th Century.
The Delaware and Lehigh Valleys played a major role during the American Revolution. George Washington’s crossed the Delaware River in 1776, the second reading of Declaration of Independence was held in Easton and the Liberty Bell was hidden from the British here.

The Discovery of Anthracite in 1791, Carbon County set the stage for America’s Industrial Revolution, the founding of small towns, the birth of industrial powerhouses such as Bethlehem Steel and the development of the Lehigh and Delaware Canals. Also known as stone coal because of its rock-like hardness, it appeared atop hills and under valleys in seams or veins up to 12 feet thick. Industries involving iron, steel, Portland cement and zinc processing flourished, followed by tanneries, silk and textile mills. These raw materials led to commercial, transportation and cultural opportunities along a 165-mile route through the Wyoming, Lehigh and Delaware Valleys.

Planning Your Trip assumes uniquely local dimensions wherever you go; the activities that you, the visitor – local, or global –  select and irrespective of the length of your stay, are unique of the community you are visiting and rooted into the local economy, history and traditions.

TEMA develops personalized travel itineraries based on client interests by leveraging an in-depth knowledge of your destination, superior client service in the planning stages and throughout the trip or event as well as logistics expertise to reduce accommodations and transport costs and transfer times.

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Transportation and Communications the Lehigh River carved a trail that would eventually become the backbone of future transportation routes. Footpaths along the river banks gave way to canals, then to railroads, and finally to modern-day highways. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Lehigh Gap, a dramatic landscape where the Lehigh River breaks through Blue Mountain, also known as Kittatiny Ridge, the final ridge in the Appalachian chain. The Delaware Canal was built during the early 19^th Century from Easton to Bristol on the Delaware River fostering development of textile mills such as the Grundy complex, steel mills like the Fairless Works and planned suburban community like Levittown. Completion of the Lehigh Canal further accelerated development of the Valley.

The 1862 floods destroyed all the dams, locks and canal boats and coal shipping shifted to railroads.  The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which ran through Easton and on to New York City, was the first rail line to have a significant impact. The Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad and Reading & Pennsylvania Railroad created competition for shipping coal and other goods. The Delaware Canal was a transport link with limited industrial impact on the rural, farm region it flowed through.

Culture and The Environment in more recent times, the region has been in the forefront of land conservation, historic preservation and an arts movement that celebrates land and landscapes. The local culture draws from the Moravian settlements experience in which all men were equal, hence a unique and broad cultural environment in which music, art, education and religious tolerance flourished, as shown in the communal dwellings, churches and industrial structures in Bethlehem and Nazareth.

                                                 

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USA Coast to Coast Travel Destinations

Pennsylvania Kentucky Minnesota South Dakota and Seattle Washington

Historical Tourism in Pennsylvania

Bucks County is one of the three original counties created by William Penn in 1682. Pennsbury Manor stands on the point of land formed by the Delaware River between Morrisville and Bristol. Painstaking research went into restoring the prim-fronted, three-storied, brick manor-house, rebuilt on the original foundations. Read More

Lehigh Valley Allentown was a rural village founded in 1762 by William Allen, Chief Justice of Colonial Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. By 1829 Allentown expanded from a small Pennsylvania Dutch village of farmers and tradesmen to a center of commerce. With the opening of the Lehigh Canal, many canal workers made their homes here. Read More

The Lehigh Valley Gave Birth to America’s Industrial Revolution

The Brandywine Valley, facing an industrial development that would impact a largely rural community, focused on Development & Conservancy Issues, including floodplain areas that threatened to devastate water supplies in parts of the Delaware River Valley. Local residents bought endangered land and initiated conservation easements that now protect five and one-half miles along the Brandywine River. 

Hudson Delaware and Susquehanna River Trails

In Philadelphia, the waterfront is now a 6 mile walking and biking destination. Trail features include streetscape improvements along the entire waterfront trail, a bi-directional bikeway, pedestrian walkway and rain gardens that collect the first inch of storm water, relieving the city sewer system during major weather events, as well as benches, bike racks, decorative street pavers and innovative solar trail lighting. Center City offers a thriving culture and entertainment scene as well as contemporary arts museum with training programs and study tours for students, aspiring artists and family traveling. 

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Louisville Kentucky

Derbies Diversity Sluggers Bourbon Food Historic Architecture and Parks

Louisville is centrally located along the Ohio River and is one America’s most accessible cities within a day’s drive of more than half the nation’s population.

History this city has a colorful past, from its frontier founding at the time of the American Revolution, to early 19^th century steamboats and as a Union base during the Civil War. Named for King Louis XVI of France in appreciation for his assistance during the Revolutionary War, Louisville was founded by George Rogers Clark in 1778 becoming Kentucky’s largest city by 1830. Strategically located at the Falls of the Ohio, Louisville was a major commercial center with river transportation supplemented by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, chartered in 1850 and operating 1,800 miles by 1920. Read More

Minnesota

River Towns Lakes State Parks Performing Arts and Local Brew Traditions

Minnesota means clear blue water from the Dakota language. Nearly 60 percent of the population lives in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the center of transportation, business, industry, education, government and an internationally renowned arts community. The remainder of the Land of 10,000 Lakes consists of western prairies, forests in the southeast and mining, forestry, and recreation in the North Woods.

The Twin Cities besides the Mississippi river, they are also connected by the Metro Green Line light rail, which runs between Minneapolis’ Target Field and St. Paul’s Union Depot, with more than 20 stops.

Performing Arts Minnesota is home to a number of older stages that have been recently restored Read More

River Towns Route 66 Chicago South Dakota Western and Native American Heritage

South Dakota

Aberdeen before the arrival of European settlers, the area was inhabited by the Sioux Indians. The first group of Euro-American settlers to reach the area in the 1820s was a party of four people, three horses, two mules, fifteen cattle, and two wagons. This group of settlers was later joined by another group the following spring, and eventually more settlers migrated toward this general area. Like many towns of the Midwest, Aberdeen was built around the newly developing railroads. Officially plotted as a town site on January 3, 1881 by the Milwaukee Road which was presided over by Alexander Mitchell, who was born in Scotland, hence the name Aberdeen. The town was officially founded on July 6, 1881, the date of the first arrival of a Milwaukee Railroad train.

Aberdeen the perfect family destination

The Dacotah Prairie Museum The idea for a community museum in Aberdeen dates back almost 70 years. In 1938, John Murphy, a Northern State College professor, and Marc Cleworth, a salesman, created the Northern South Dakota History Museum which was housed in the Central building on Northern's campus. The collection of this first museum grew rapidly through loans and donations until by 1941, it had amassed a collection of over 500 items. Read More

Rapid City is centrally located to visit the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park and the Badlands. Western and Native American Heritage throughout the city you will find Native American history exhibits, fine arts displays, and interactive museums like the Journey Museum that takes you from the formation of the Black Hills over 2.5 billion years ago to the continuing saga of the Western frontier. Read More

Seattle Washington

Seattle is surrounded by water, mountains and evergreen forests, and encompasses thousands of acres of parkland. Located between the saltwater Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east, the city's chief harbor is Elliott Bay. North of the city center, Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington, incorporating four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay and Union Bay.

A Major Gateway for Trade with Asia and the Third Largest Port in North America

From Logging to High Tech logging was Seattle's first major industry, and by the late 19^th century the city also became a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. In the 1940s, Boeing established Seattle as a center for aircraft manufacturing and, beginning in the 1980s, the area developed as a technology center with companies like Microsoft and Amazon. Read More

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