 Locks on the Lehigh Canal at Easton, Pennsylvania / Lehigh Canal |
 Within easy reach of America’s eastern cities, you can drift back to a gentler era, turning the clock back to the dawn of the industrial era, before the sparks and steam of the railways replaced the gentler motions of water pouring into locks and mules plodding along towpaths.
The Delaware Canal ran originally from Easton in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley south to Bristol, a market town near Philadelphia and the mouth of the Delaware River. Locktenders' houses, stores, inns and warehouses still remain as do the distinctive camelback bridges spanning the canal.
Linking 300 years of history, the Delaware River Road is a narrow strip of tarmac inviting you to meander along with the river and the now-dry canal. On a balmy day in early spring the river's banks revive with the first dusting of apple green and the dogwood petals appear. You might confront a brooding Canada goose, brazening out your intrusion. At rustic Lumberville Lock No. 12 and an aqueduct are preserved for posterity. Step down to watch the fly fishermen casting off mid stream, waist deep in waders. Take lunch at the Black Bass Hotel (1745) amidst wood panelling and metal candle lamps of punched and pressed tin.
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