Successful Plant Sale At Passer Community Center
Successful Plant Sale at Passer Community Center
The first successful plant sale at Passer Community Center occurred on May 12, 2018. The plant sale is an annual fund-raising event at Passer Community with many vendors bringing plants and other items.
However, this is the first time plants either grown on or dug from Bridge Street Farm went to market.
In total, red and pink geraniums, rosemary, variegated lemon thyme, and sweet marjoram plants sold at the plant sale. Two horse chestnut tree seedlings freshly dug from under the large horse chestnut tree near the house also found new homes during the plant sale.
Bridge Street Farm plans to attend the 2019 Passer Community Plant Sale with a greater number of healthy plants to offer for sale.
Durham Township
Exploring Durham Township
This Bucks County township borders the Delaware River in the far northeastern corner of Bucks County. The borough of Riegelsville is located on the Delaware River and River Road in Durham Township.
Early Durham residents made great contributions to the American fight for Independence and the expansion of commerce in the early colonies. Two are listed below.
George Taylor
One of the Durham residents making contributions to the fight for independence was George Taylor, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Along with signing the Declaration of Independence, Taylor owned the Durham Furnace. Using Durham Furnace, he produced ammunition for use in the Revolutionary War.
This sign near the location of the Durham Furnace remembers its role in winning the Revolutionary War.
Robert Durham
Durham built the “Durham Boat.” This sturdy craft carried stoves, pig iron and bar iron to sell in Philadelphia. It was an important key in establishing and expanding commerce using the Delaware River as a highway to market.
The Durham Boat is also famous as the boat that carried General George Washington across the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. Learn more about the Durham Boat and General George Washington here.
Nockamixon Township
Nockamixon Township
A Short History of Nockamixon Township
Nockamixon became a township in 1742 and remained intact for many years. However, it lost one third of its area when Bridgeton formed a separate township.
The Natural Beauty of Nockamixon Township
Nockamixon touches the Delaware River at a place called “the Narrows.” Here red shale cliffs tower above the Delaware River. These cliffs slowed down early transportation along the banks of the Delaware River.
The meaning of the native-inspired name, “Nockamixon” is unknown.
Sections of Nockamixon township have a long history of Native American occupation.
In 1698, the Lenape Tribe settled at the mouth of Gallows Run. In 1730, the Lenape Tribe left Gallows Run and migrated to the Susquehanna River. The influx of white settlers continued.
As the number of white settlements grew, the Lenape were driven further and further from their lands.
By 1867, the Lenape Tribe faced a forced relocation to Oklahoma along with the Cherokee Tribe. After a legal fight, the Lenape Tribe regained their separate identity from the Cherokee Tribe in 1999.
The names of the early German settlers of Nockamixon Township include Stover, Gintner-Kintner, Traugher, Oberbeck, Deemer, Buck, and Frankenfield.
Early township residents excelled in the production of red tulip ware and in the manufacture of charcoal.
Bridgeton Township
Exploring Bridgeton Township
This township was named for a bridge that crosses the Delaware River between Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania and Milford, New Jersey. As to its size, Bridgeton Township is 6.7 square miles in size and is one of the smaller townships in Bucks County.
“Small But Beautiful” Bridgeton encompasses scenic and beautiful views both from Bridgeton Hill Road and from the banks of the Delaware River.
Perhaps, one of the most noted locations in the township includes a rock formation known as “Ringing Rocks.”
Recognized by Bucks County for their distinctive sound, the Bucks County Park System maintains “Ringing Rocks Park.”
The Colonial Roots of Bridge Street Farm-Jacob Ott
The Colonial Roots of Bridge Street Farm
Bridge Street Farm is the Jacob Ott Homestead. The first record of the Ott family in Springfield Township is found in “The Direct Tax of 1798” by Harry C. Adam. Jacob Ott, born on March 2, 1776, was 22 years old at the time of the Direct Tax Record.
As you may notice, Jacob Ott is listed as an “owner” with a 26′ x 20′ log home in Springfield Township, Bucks County in 1798.
Unfortunately, the “Direct Tax of 1798” doesn’t specify the exact location of Jacob Ott’s Homestead.
Bridge Street Farm traces its connection to Jacob Ott through a set of concrete slabs which lists him as the 1828 builder of the stone house on Bridge Street Farm.
In 1901, Dr. John Jacob Ott, Jacob Ott’s grandson, added concrete slabs dating the owners and builders of the Ott stone home. He also added a frame addition and car port.
In 2016, metal detectors unearthed a large iron square nail and a door/window hinge commonly used in colonial log homes. This colonial iron building hardware found beside the 1901 carport addition near the original Ott stone house may pinpoint the location of the original log home of Jacob Ott as listed in the 1798 Direct Tax Book.
Additional Structures on Jacob Ott Homestead
The 1798 Direct Tax outbuilding listing for Jacob Ott, includes a 36′ x 20′ log barn. Since no current log barns remain, the circa 1820-1830 English Lake District Style Stone Barn measuring 50′ x 29′ may be a replacement for the original log barn.
Ott Stone Barn
The 1798 Direct Tax listing of a 18′ x 12′ log smith shop, may also be an earlier version of the stone building ruins shown below.
Pennsylvania Historical Recovery Services recovered many iron tools and artifacts used in a colonial smith shop near these ruins.
This find may point to the original location of the log smith shop as evidenced by iron tools/artifacts found.
Jacob Ott’s son, Charles B. Ott, established “Pleasant Valley Fruit Farm and Nurseries” and advertised it as a “Summer and Fall Boarding House” around 1879.
A handbill advertising “Pleasant Valley Fruit Farm and Nurseries” circa 1878.
The ad states that visitors to the Farm stayed in the main house.
Springfield Township
Springfield Township History
Finding Bucks County’s Springfield Township may prove difficult to one unfamiliar with Southeastern Pennsylvania. You see, similarly named townships exist in Montgomery and Delaware Counties, too.
This township is at the border with Northampton and Lehigh Counties and may be located on this map.
The Lenni Lenape tribe lived in this area generations before the white man arrived from Europe. And while William Penn, the proprietor of Pennsylvania, treated the native populations with respect, his sons did not. The Infamous Walking Purchase of 1737, swindled 1,200 square miles from the Delaware tribes. Afterwards, some of this land became Springfield Township.
Bridge Street Farm is located in this area of Upper Bucks County..