The Delaware River - TravelStorys

The Delaware River

Sponsored by D&R Greenway Land Trust

  • Location: New Jersey
  • Travel Type: Driving
  • Trip Time: 1.5 hour
  • Language:

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About This Tour
Welcome to D&R Greenway’s Seldom Told Stories of the Delaware River. This driving tour will guide you along the route between Bordentown, New Jersey, and New Hope, Pennsylvania, and Lambertville, New Jersey. It can be navigated from either direction, or you can join at any point in between. The tour crosses the state border via the Trenton-Morrisville Calhoun Street Bridge and the Washington Crossing Bridge. The drive time without stops is about 90 minutes. The full tour has additional stops along the way. Please feel free to join us for whatever part of the tour you have time for today. Remember that you can always come back another time or listen remotely to the stories you missed by tapping on the story site on your phone or computer.

The journey you are about to embark on travels about 40 miles along the scenic Delaware River and shares little-known stories about the region’s history, geology, preservation, open space and recreation. You’ll drive through quaint historic river towns and the state capital of New Jersey. And you will experience many wonderful features of the river and its surroundings, from tidal areas in Bordentown to Goat Hill and Baldpate Mountain. Feel free to stop to hike a trail and visit the sites if you are able to.

The Delaware River has an incredible story. People have lived along this waterway for thousands of years, side-by-side with nature. You’ll hear how the river and its environs were impacted and changed over centuries. This is the last major undammed river in the eastern United States. It flows for 330 miles through four states, 42 counties, and 838 municipalities. Its drainage area of 13,539 square miles is known as the Delaware River Watershed.

This river is not an ordinary river. Some parts have received recognition as a National Wild and Scenic River. In 2020, American Rivers named the Delaware its River of the Year, hailing it as a “national success story” for its dramatic revitalization and clean-up from decades of environmental degradation. This improvement came about thanks to many dedicated people over decades.

Today, the Delaware River serves as a source of economic revenue with a commercial freshwater port in Philadelphia and a wide range of recreational resources and tourism opportunities. Over 8 million people live in the Delaware River watershed. It provides drinking water for more than 15 million people living both in the watershed and in major cities, including New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Camden and Trenton, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware.
 
As you listen to these stories, we hope you’ll be inspired to join D&R Greenway and the many people who have spent decades caring for the Delaware River as stewards of its natural, historic and cultural resources.  

Tour Sponsor
D&R Greenway Land Trust is the nonprofit organization that produced this audio tour. D&R Greenway's mission is to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and for the future. D&R Greenway has worked tirelessly with state and local partners since the 1990s to preserve nearly 200 acres of naturally and culturally critical land in the Abbott Marshlands.
 
Find More Tours Near You
If you enjoy this tour, check out TravelStorys and D&R Greenway’s other New Jersey tours:
 
Walking the Abbott Marshlands
Paddling the Abbott Marshlands
St. Michael's Farm Preserve
Healing Trails
Women in Conservation
 
To find more tours wherever your travels may take you, visit TravelStorys.com. Every place has a story.

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Tour Excerpts

About This Tour

18_Trent’s Town

19_Sports Stadium

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