december 22, 2016 bucks county herald page a7 (7) · 2017. 1. 22. · december 22, 2016 bucks...

December 22, 2016 Bucks County Herald Page A7 (7)

Events that few remember haveoften reshaped the landscape ofthis history-drenched place.About 20 years ago, a group

of Solebury Township residentscomplained to the board ofsupervisors about a strangesmell. They were worried abouttheir water supply. The concerned citizens were

residents of Limeport, a devel-opment of houses built aroundthe 1960s and 70s in an areabetween Centre Bridge andPhillips’ Mill. Unlike other areasalong River Road that back up tohills of stone, Limeport is anopen area whose main road is amore gently sloping hill. The wild vegetation that exists

near the manicured lawns is rela-tively young and it hides anindustrial past. The settled com-munity shows no signs that itwas once a quarrying hub with acanal dock for unloading coalfrom the Lehigh Valley. “At this dock, Lehigh Coal &

Navigation Company canal boatswould stop to unload their cargoof anthracite, the fuel which firedthe limekilns nearby and themany others which marked theneighborhood’s exposed seam oflimestone. The seam came to thesurface here and stretched wester-ly for several miles, as indeed itdoes,” according to “In theVicinity of Limeport,” publishedby the New Hope HistoricalSociety in 1966.George S. Havens wrote the

paper, with Mary Ely Havens.Charles Dawson did illustra-tions – one showing how alimekiln operated. In the 19thcentury, Limeport had two quar-ries and six kilns to processlime, which was used in mason-ry buildings. The kilns werehuge structures. An illustrationshows a stone kiln 70 feet wideby 35 feet deep and 20 feet high.Two sandstone-lined pits areinside the structure. The ground at the back of the

kiln was used for loading thekiln with fuel layered beneathlimestone. “The finished‘burned’ lime, the white lumplime, was loaded into horse-drawn carts and taken toLimeport, where it was dumpedinto a canal boat for shipment tomarket,” according to Havens. One of Limeport’s many

changes came when kiln opera-tors cut down thousands of treesfor starting the fires, leaving anunsightly wasteland that hassince filled in with vegetation. Abroad swath of land between theDelaware Canal and theDelaware River was farmed untilthe flood of 1903, which washedthe fertile soil away. At the turn of the 20th century,

lime was replaced in construc-tion by the newly invented con-crete. A farmer named WilliamEly, continued a modest opera-tion, selling limestone from hisquarry, for agricultural use.Several owners followed him buttheir quarry operations were notsuccessful. Then, in 1905, Standard Oil

Company of New Jersey estab-lished a pumping station at

Limeport through a subsidiary,the Tuscarora Oil Company. Oilwas transported throughLimeport from westernPennsylvania to a refinery inNew Jersey. A pipeline was laid under the

the canal and the river. “Thisline had storage tanks on thePennsylvania side of theDelaware, at Centre Bridge, andtransported unprocessed oil. Theroute which the Tuscarora fol-lowed began, in HunterdonCounty, north of Lambertvillenear the Alexauken CreekBridge; thence northeasterlythrough Delaware and EastAmwell townships to a pointsouth of Ringoes; thence enter-ing Somerset County nearClover Hill. The company waseventually absorbed byStandard,” Mrs. FrederickStothoff write in a history oftransportation in HunterdonCounty, N.J.Havens said, in the Limeport

history, “Another subsidiary ofthe Standard Oil, the NationalTransit Company, also had a sta-tion located here. The NationalTransit had six storage tankslocated on land adjoining theTuscarora Oil Company’s hold-ings at Limeport.”The Tuscarora steel tanks held

100,000 barrels. The NationalTransit tanks each held 80,000barrels. Hidden now, in the1960s, they could be seen fromRiver Road. The power station was fueled

by anthracite until the canalstopped operation in the 1930s.Tuscarora changed its fuel fromcoal to oil at that point. In 1938, aleak hit the main pipeline, whichcrossed under the road and theriver. “The leak left its imprint onthe neighborhood and must beincluded in our heritage fromthese companies,” Havens wrote.He said the leak went undis-

covered and the subsoil was sat-urated sometimes with petrole-um, sometimes with gasoline.The gasoline came to the sur-face, covered the canal and con-taminated the water supply tothe group of houses aroundPhillips’ Mill.The oil company tried to cor-

rect the damage. “First they installed filters in

each home,” Havens said “Whenthose were unsatisfactory, theytried digging each home’s wellmuch deeper. This also failed toeliminate the taste and smell ofoil. Finally the company dug anew well located in the flat landabout a quarter mile above thepoint of leakage. From this, theypiped water to each of the homes.It runs by gravity. This arrange-ment solved the problem.”In 1953, the oil company allo-

cated money to ensure the repairand maintenance of the well andsupply lines, with the homeown-ers administering the contract.Over the years, the legacy of

the limekilns and the oil tanksresurfaces as it is doing today.This fall, excavations for therepair of a bridge over the canalhave brought attention again toLimeport’s past.

Charles Dawson showed how a limekiln looked in a 19th-centuryinstallation in the publication “In the Vicinity of Limeport.”

Bridget Wingert: Happy to Be Here

A man-made landscape

It’s December 1948 and it’sthe first Christmas since my Daddied. Mom had her hands fullbecause not only did she haveme to worry about she, some-how, wound up with her motheras a resident of our house.It was explained to me that

since my mom and Uncle Rudy,though the youngest of eight,were her only “real children” itcame down to the two of them –and since he had three kids andwas struggling Mom won.Grandpop’s first wife died, hemarried my grandmother andthrew in six kids. Lucky her.Christmas was looking pretty

grim. Mom was depressed overlosing her husband and I’m sure Iwas a handful too. I was 9, whatdid you expect? The big day wasgetting close and we had no tree,no decorations, not much of any-thing. It really looked like SantaClaus was taking the year offfrom the Taylor family.With two weeks to go, it

looked like the two coloredporch lights were going to be theonly Christmas decorations atour house. Then I took mattersinto my own hands. I still hadsome birthday money – I wasalways a saver – and I marchedoff to Glenside to personally rec-tify the lack of decorations. I wasjust a kid but I knew exactly

what I was going to do.First I went to the 5&10 in the

heart of town and looked forsomething that would add a fes-tive look to our living room. Ifound it, too. A little plastermanger scene was for sale and itcame with all the people – andanimals – necessary. I paid for itand I marched home. Next I headed back to

Glenside where they were sellingChristmas trees at the gas stationnear the school. Since I hadspent most of my bankroll on themanger scene I’d need to becareful with my tree selection. I picked a regular sized tree

and asked the man in charge,“How much?” I flinched whenhe quoted a price – and I put itback. This scenario repeateditself over and over, all the treescost too much. But the man selling the trees

took pity on little me and steeredme toward a beautifully shapedtree, albeit no taller than I was.“I can let you have this beautyfor a buck,” he said. I had abuck, but that was it. I replied,“Okay but can you throw insome of those greens layingthere?” And that’s what theywere, just branches off of othertrees. He smiled and said, “Sure,I can do that.”My Mom later told me that she

happened to be looking out thefront door and saw me trudging upthe street, dragging the tree withone hand, holding a load of greensin the other. She said it made hervery happy and she immediatelygot the Christmas spirit. We dug out the old tree orna-

ments from the attic and put thelittle tree on a table in the livingroom. The manger scene wasplaced on the mantel. Momwrapped a red ribbon around thegreens, hung a few Christmasballs on them and hung themfrom the door. Christmas had found the

Taylor family after all.I don’t exactly remember what

I gave her – or she gave me –that Christmas, but I do remem-ber that we were very happy,even my grandmother. It was usagainst the world and we werewilling to play it that way.The manger scene makes an

appearance every year in myhouse. It is a cherished part ofthe holiday season and lets merecall when we didn’t have much– but shared a lot of love.

Ted Taylor, a longtime writerfor local newspapers in thePhiladelphia area, lives inBuckingham Township. Listen tohim Tuesdays on WRDV FM(89.3) from 8 a.m. to noon.

ted@tedtaylor.com

Last year I wrote an articlecalled, “A House Divided,” quot-ing Abraham Lincoln who wasquoting the New Testament, “…every city or house dividedagainst itself will not stand.” I lamented the fact that news

agencies had adopted the practiceof referring to red and bluestates, indicating Republican andDemocrat, and how that visualimage reminded me of the blueand gray states I had learnedabout as a boy. I said that it promoted divi-

sion, that it was a subtle, con-stant reminder of practicallyopposite colors. I felt that it sug-gested a sense of permanencethat hurt compromise, and thatWashington, especially in recentyears, has reflected that mind-set.Compromise, the very life-bloodof a democracy, had become adirty word; and gridlock becamea way of life in D.C. The popularity of Bernie

Sanders and Donald Trump sug-gested that the public was fed upwith the intransigence of busi-ness as usual by the Washingtonestablishment. But that is not thevibe I got from the electionresult. I feel two opposing things. On

the one side I get: “To the victorbelong the spoils.” From theother side I get: “We won thepopular vote so our agenda is themajority opinion.” We are moredivided than ever. This election ushered in some-

thing that truly threatens thiscountry. Mark Twain said humor-ously, “If you don’t read thenewspaper, you are uninformed.If you read the newspaper, youare misinformed.” Will Rogerssaid, “We have the best Congressmoney can buy,” and we smile,because there is partial truth inthe statements, but they are notuniversally true. With the decline of newspa-

pers and television networks(that only slightly differed inreporting the same facts) and the

rise of social media and propa-ganda websites, the truth hasbeen sacrificed for opinion. Weare in trouble. We now have bothan uninformed and misinformedelectorate going to the votingbooth believing utter nonsense. There are a hundred examples

on very important issues but Iwill mention just one – the“birther movement.” When itstarted I was a military officerand the president was my com-mander in chief. Does Americahave the imagination and decen-cy left to understand the implica-tions of that disloyalty and whatit suggested to my youngrecruits? Can Americans under-stand where we’re going if this iswhat our children have to ingest?How do we pick up the pieces

following this election? How, inthe present climate, are we goingto find healing and commonground? For me the answer comesout of religious teachings.Perhaps that’s why Lincoln quotedScripture. There is a differencebetween right and wrong, betweenthe truth and a lie, between cheat-ing and being honest.We don’t blur the lines for our

children in Scouting or when wetake them to worship. Why, forheaven’s sake, are we blurringthe lines for our kids with poli-tics and political figures? Weknow the moral character wewant for clergy, for Scout lead-ers, for high school principles.We don’t send our children toschool to learn to be nasty andnegative and dishonest. Weexpect these institutions to standfor something resembling thespiritual truths we cherish. President Jimmy Carter wrote a

book titled, “We Can Have PeaceIn The Holy Land.” What a mar-velous and accurate title. He didnot say we can have peace inPalestine or peace in Israel or anyother red or blue, blue or graystate. He said Holy Land.There can never be peace if

you cling to that which can never

be compromised. There can bepeace when you cling to thatwhich is holy. But what is holy?And haven’t we had Holy Wars?No, we have not. There hasnever been a war that was holy.The Dalai Lama and PopeFrancis have both stated thatthere is no such thing as aBuddhist terrorist or Muslim ter-rorist or a Christian terrorist,because the two things cannotco-exist. We know what needs to be

done. We allow kindergartenteachers to tell it to our childrenwithout controversy or debate –it’s called the Golden Rule.Children can grasp it becausethey can feel its immediateimplications. Only through amnesia of this

simple rule do we arrive at theadult completely counter-spiritu-al principle of entitlement. It’sworth teaching because it is arule that will serve them wellthroughout their life: “Do untoothers as you would have themdo unto you.” Let the doing begin. If human

beings can be recruited for war,human beings can be recruitedfor peace. I have it on greatauthority. ‘Tis the season.Major Stephen Nolan, Retired

For the past six months, peo-ple from The Peace Center, theHuman Relations Council andthe Interfaith Committee ofLower Bucks lent a voice of rea-son to the conversation duringthe election. We still feel an obli-gation to be that Voice of Reasonas President-elect Donald Trumptakes office.

There is much division in thecountry, with a steep rise in hatecrimes, intimidation and vandal-ism since Nov. 9, so our conver-sation with you, the readers, willcontinue. Our goal is to findcommon ground, bring aboutunity where possible, and speakup for peace.

Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWas a childhood upstart

Now we can’t find music finerThan his famous Eine Kleine

David Cuff’s book, “Brief Biographies,” is a collection of lightverse using the Clerihew, a challenging poetic form devised byEdmund Clerihew Bentley when he was a student at St. Paul’sSchool in London.

David Cuff: Short and Sweet

Brief Biographies

Ted Taylor: At Large

The kid saves Christmas

Stephen Nolan: Voices of Reason

Peace on Earth

Fire company’s helper GORDON NIEBURG

The Eagle Fire Department of New Hope delivered Santa by fire engine to the Giant Food Store inSolebury where he greeted children shopping with their parents. The Eagle firefighters were treated tohot dogs with all the trimmings and they accepted donations for the fire company. The company mem-bers lined up for a photo with Santa.