Remembering the River

Of My Childhood

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Living in a town along a river, you realize how important that river really is.  It divided two states,  and most of our lives were spent on our side for some reason. This wasn’t because of the rickety old bridge, but it was because there wasn’t very much to offer on the other side, except an adorable restaurant/ice cream/sundries store and a beautiful view of the river.

Remembering my childhood, I was always riding in the car with Daddy, up and down the river.  I remember thinking when I was about four years old, that airplanes had to follow the roads below.   Also at that age I remember a long stone wall with baskets of peaches on top, one after the other, where Daddy bought a basket of them. Many years later, I found out that I am a second cousin to the family who has been growing peaches for decades in Holland Township, with the most perfect rows of peach trees.

I also remember when I was five years old, Daddy built a motorboat in our basement.  It was beautiful!  But he had a very difficult time getting the boat out of the basement through the door.  He had to take the molding off to do this.  We sure did have fun riding in the motorboat up and down the beautiful Delaware River!  Then we’d always stop for ice cream on the way home!

A very vivid and fond memory of mine, when I was about five years old, was sitting in a rocking chair on Aunt Annie’s Porch which overlooked the beautiful Delaware River.  Daddy was visiting Aunt Annie who was in her 90s and sick, and most interestingly, she took her pills in jelly.  As an adult, I looked for that house on Old River Road many times.  With a County Historian’s help, I finally found it!  It is a big beautiful white stone house with a long porch with posters, with rocking chairs on the porch. At this part of the Delaware it is not as wide and the branches of the trees that line the road hang down. It is a breathtaking view. It means the world to me to have found it! I would love to sit there on a rocking chair and look over the Delaware at that spot once again!

My dreams of sitting on the porch and looking out over the Delaware River came true this past week. My husband and I stayed two nights at the Chestnut Hill Bed and Breakfast in Milford, New Jersey, along the Delaware River, and we had every opportunity to sit in a padded rocking chair and look out over the river and enjoy her beauty all day. We also could walk down to a cleared area on a walkway halfway down to the river and sit on chairs to enjoy the beautiful view. Or, if we were particularly energetic, we could have walked down to the dock. From our bedroom windows we also could see the river, and at night with a full moon as well. Temperatures were in the 70s, most enjoyable this week. Every early morning, we noticed a fog along the Delaware which added to her charm. The fog was overtaken by sunshine by morning. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at this beautiful bed and breakfast.

Another strong memory was when my mother took me to see the muddy looking Delaware River when it was very high, and looked like it was boiling in an angry sort of way, which was frightening.  This was in August, 1955, when the river flooded and crested at 44 feet.  Friends who lived on the other side of the river, in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania, had their homes flood up to the second floor, with fish in their basements.  I can imagine how terrifying that must have been. The telephone poles are still marked showing how high the water came. Daddy went up in a Piper cub and took pictures all along the Delaware of the brown flooded areas.  He was interested in showing the slides, but I really didn’t like seeing them. We discovered this past week that Chestnut Hill Bed and Breakfast never was flooded in the 40 years Ìt was owned by the present owners. They said that their house is 12 feet higher than those right along the river in Upper Black Eddy.

After leaving the area when I went to college, coming home felt so relaxing, especially when I crossed the river back into my home state. When I caught sight of the beautiful Delaware River waiting for me, I would always breathe a sigh of relief. I think the river is running through my veins, it is so much a part of me.

This photo is from Good Morning Milford - By The Milford Merchants