Learning and Archives

April 14, 2025 One of the most prominent buildings in New Hope today is found at the current location of the Oldestone Steakhouse . For 125 years it was the home of the New Hope Methodists, under various names including the New Hope Methodist Episcopal and New Hope United Methodist Church. The history of this building is intertwined with the history of New Hope and helps inform us about how societal trends impacted our community. To prepare this article, volunteers from the New Hope Historical Society met and toured the building with current Oldestone owner/partner, Michael Sklar. They also spoke with Walter Jennings who was born while his father pastored the church in the 1940’s. Rev. Joseph F. DiPaolo was also interviewed. He was pastor of the church from 1992 to its last service on Main Street in 1999 and was the first pastor after it then moved to Aquetong Road in Solebury. Rev. DiPaolo wrote lengthy and well-documented histories (1,2) of Methodism and other religious entities in New Hope and nearby areas covering the years 1818-2003. These sources, coupled with the archives of the New Hope Historical Society, provided the content of this article. Rev. DiPaolo writes in his book that in the early years of Bucks County’s development, residents were largely Quakers, with a local meeting house built on Sugan Road in Solebury by 1805. In addition to Quakers, Bucks County was home to Scots Irish Presbyterians. They formed the first New Hope Sunday school in 1818 and met in what was known then as the Academy, still standing at 129 Bridge Street. It was in the Academy that the first Methodist congregation in New Hope also met by 1818: the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church which later took the name Mt. Moriah and drew congregants from the African American community. In 1830, another Methodist group began meeting at the Sutton home on W. Mechanic Street, drawing from the White community. By 1837, a simple wood-frame church building had been built at the southwest corner of West Mechanic Street and New Street, the first such structure in New Hope. The second great awakening in America (1795-1835) was occurring and by 1845 there were 12 churches in the area of New Hope, Solebury and what was then called Lambert’s Ville. The building at 15 South Main Street was built 1873-1874 on land between the Logan House (now the Logan Inn) and the then newly constructed Crook home (now the Mansion Inn). The land was purchased for $600, having once been part of tracts owned by well-known New Hope historical figures: Richard Heath, Benjamin Canby, John Coryell, and Joseph Stockton. The church architect was James Bird, and the stone mason was Peter S. Naylor. By the time it was completed it was valued at $14,000. It replaced the Methodist church on Mechanic Street, for which no known photos exist today. A newspaper at the time reported the prior church was in a bad location and in dilapidated condition. The old Methodist cemetery still exists adjacent to the parking lot driveway from Mechanic Street to the New Hope Borough Municipal Office. Rev. DiPaolo reports that a cemetery clean-up in 1959 resulted in some gravestones not being placed in their original location.

Buttonwood Street in New Hope is just one block north on Chestnut Street from Bridge Street. This article will focus on one home on Buttonwood, but also remark on other interesting properties nearby. The subject home on Buttonwood was once a stable located on the Bridge Street property now known as the Wedgwood Inn Bed and Breakfast. The inn is clearly visible from Buttonwood Street. At a recent visit to the property on Buttonwood the current owner related that the stable was built in 1833, and at least partially supporting that assertion was the hand-hewn post and beam construction found under the walls during modern renovations. Such construction was most common from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries. As stated in our earlier "Beyond the Door" article about the Wedgwood Inn, the building now housing the inn was constructed in 1870 on the stone foundation of an earlier "old hip-roof" house built in 1720. The Buttonwood property owner says the stable was moved to its current location in the 1940's or 1950's and then was used by a blacksmith, and later an upholsterer. In 1958 it was converted to a home. If the stable dates to 1833, it must have been present during the time of both the original 1720 house as well as the still extant 1870 building now housing the Wedgwood Inn. 

Situated directly across Main Street from New Hope Historical Society’s Parry Mansion is one of the oldest surviving buildings in New Hope, now housing several commercial ventures including Farley’s Bookshop. The New Hope Historical Society (NHHS) archives include a copy of Margaret Bye Richie’s extensive and well-documented review of historic buildings in New Hope for her 1987 academic dissertation in the University of Pennsylvania Department of American Civilization. In it, she noted that the northern portion of the building was built circa 1748 and was represented on Benjamin Parry’s 1798 map as “No. 21”, while the southern portion was built circa 1830 near the time of the canal construction. Her 1980’s conversation with local architect Donald Hedges quoted him that in 1940 a sign stating “Parry’s General Store” still hung on the building. The Parry Store was likely the first provisions store in New Hope. 

New Hope Historical Society archives volunteers recently met with Ernie Bowman at the historic home he shares with his wife Dee Dee at 116 New Street. This home is the south side of a stone double house that was built facing east over 200 years ago, before the construction of the Delaware Canal which now borders the home in its backyard. After the canal was built and New Street was constructed the front door was changed to the west side of the house facing New Street. Due to the slope of the land towards the canal, the original second floor became the first floor entering from New Street. The original first floor was transformed into an above-ground basement with an outdoor entrance facing the canal. Ernie Bowman believes prior to the canal being built by 1834, that the future towpath near the house may have been used as a carriage path. New Hope Historical Society archives files indicate the house was likely built by Joshua Vansant. When Ernie and Dee Dee purchased the home in 1982, much of the original woodwork inside the home was intact and to this day has never been significantly altered. Although the 1983 nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places for the “New Hope Village District” lists the house as being built in 1805, during renovations of the now basement level, a penny from 1817 was discovered under the floor, perhaps indicating that as the date of construction. 

2 Stockton Avenue, at the corner of Stockton Avenue and Bridge Streets, has been the site of multiple enterprises over more than two centuries. Most recently it has been owned and occupied by New Hope Arts, Inc. and their tenants. Volunteers from the New Hope Historical Society recently met with Joyce Worthington Homan, whose grandfather, father, and uncle were the owners of the property from about 1920-1968. We also met with and toured the property with the current executive director of New Hope Arts, Christine Ramirez. We explored both the current use of the location as well as its historical uses. New Hope Historical Society (NHHS) archives were also used in preparation of this article. The earliest NHHS files show a 1799 title transfer from John Beaumont to Eli Doan. One online source states Eli Doan was a descendant of the infamous Doan family. The Doan Boys had been known as the “outlaws and loyalists” during the Revolutionary War. At this writing, Eli Doan’s connection to that family is not known to be otherwise documented. By 1830, title transfers mention a dwelling at this location. Within a few years of that the Delaware Canal was constructed just east of the property. By 1844 a title transfer from Hiram Ely to Britton Ely mentions 'stone house, frame kitchen, soap factory and stable.'” NHHS files contain a 1977 architectural description of the building as being built between 1850-1880 as a factory shop and foundry, with the construction being sandplaster over brick. By 1850 the property was owned by Charles B. Knowles, husband of Margaret Parry who was the daughter of Parry Mansion and New Hope Flour Mill owner Benjamin Parry. It presumably continued as a soap factory under Knowles's ownership as an 1865 title transfer to a new owner mentions that enterprise. By 1869 it was being used as a blacksmith shop and storehouse, and by 1906 it was a machine shop when John W. Kooker bought the property and began its use as a sausage factory. Sausage was easily shipped to markets in Philadelphia along either the Delaware Canal on the east side of the building, or the railroad on the west side.

A notable structure in New Hope with a most interesting history is located at 105 S. Main Street, now housing Havana restaurant, bar, and concert venue. This location is said to have been the home of John Coryell (1730-1799) in the mid 1700’s. John was the son of early ferry operator Emmanuel Coryell who died in 1748 and willed the New Jersey side of the ferry to his son, Abraham. In 1764 Abraham’s brother John Coryell bought the ferry rights on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River from John Wells. At the time of the American Revolution, both sides of the river were known as Coryell’s Ferry. New Hope Historical Society (NHHS) Beyond the Door volunteers recently met with Havana owner, Mark Stevens, who provided a tour and information on the recent history of the property. A review of records in the NHHS archives provided additional relevant insight, as did literature including A Hot Bed of Secession: New Hope and the Civil War by Joseph F. DiPaolo, and History of Bucks County by William Watts Hart Davis. The portion of the building that is to the rear or west of the structure underwent some construction in recent years and Mr. Stevens reports that wooden pegs serving as nails were discovered there. That is suggestive that this is an older section, perhaps dating to the days of John Coryell. When viewing the structure from the street, the part of the building that rises three stories on the northern end was likely built in the mid-1830s by Daniel Parry, younger brother of the mill owner Benjamin Parry, known as "the father of New Hope". It was then purchased by Lewis Slate Coryell (1788-1865), grandson of John Coryell. Lewis Slate Coryell is a very interesting character in the history of New Hope. He was born In Coryell’s Ferry (later Lambertville), NJ in 1788. NHHS archive records show he was involved in building and owning multiple New Hope properties. In addition, with Joseph Murray, Coryell had a lumber mill and was involved in the local construction of the Delaware Canal. Interestingly the canal ran through the rear of his property on Main Street making him potentially a beneficiary of canal-related funds as both a contractor and landowner. In the above-mentioned book by Joseph DiPaolo, the author notes that New Hope was “solidly democratic” in the 1860 presidential election casting only 87 of 213 votes for Abraham Lincoln. During the war, Lewis Slate Coryell was one of the Northern democrats who were not sympathetic to the Union’s prosecution of the Civil War. Coryell was twice elected to one-year terms as burgess (mayor) of New Hope during the war. When the governor of Pennsylvania called for militia recruits at the time of the threatened incursion of Lee’s troops into Gettysburg, Coryell is quoted in the local press as telling his townsmen to stay home and tend to their crops. At his last New Hope council meeting on March 3, 1864, minutes reflect he said that the war “…has assumed gigantic proportions and has afforded the administration pretext to assume for military necessity despotic rule to deprive our citizens of the benefit of our common inheritance in the constitution and protection of the laws…” In the home of Lewis Slate Coryell, we find multiple period architectural elements. There are third-floor dormers, and windows are mullioned sash with small glass panes. Original front parlor floor-length windows are still evident from inside the north end of the restaurant seating area (see photos below). In addition, original molding can be seen. Recent interior modifications expanded first-floor fireplaces while incorporating their authentic stones in the expansions.

The Paxson Estate was sold to developers in the 1890s, leading to the development of North Main Street.

Anyone who has ever driven North on South Sugan Road towards the Wawa will recognize the next home in our “Beyond the Door” series. On a hillside at the corner of South Sugan and Old York Roads sits this elegantly restored home dating to the 1790s. At that time John Magill built the fieldstone western half of this home in the community of Springdale, on the first-developed Western edge of what now constitutes New Hope. Two other structures diagonally across the road were occupied by Magill family members. Springdale was situated along the Aquetong Creek and this water source allowed for the development of cotton and grist mills there. Housing for the mill workers stood in the area as well, and some of that housing as well as elements of the mills still exist today. In a will dated October 31, 1812, John Magill left the home to his daughters, Jane and Rachel. He died in 1814. Records in the New Hope Historical Society (NHHS) archives state that Samuel Kinsey built the quarry stone granite eastern half of the home in the 1830s, acquiring title in April 1833. Granite was quarried up the Delaware River and rafted to the Village, arriving by canal after 1832. The 2 ½ story structure is built into the sloping hillside such that the main entrance and basement entrances are both at ground level. NHHS archives documents indicate that two attic-level dormers were added later, possibly at the turn of the 19 th to 20 th centuries. Title records indicate there were multiple owners of the property over the years, including John Huffnagle, Owen and Mary Markey, Thomas and Millie Crooks, and Joseph and Rose Zinger.

Reading that the historic Wedgwood Inn was up for sale, the New Hope Historical Society's Archives Team felt it was the perfect time to visit the inn, explore its history, and update our building records. On a recent afternoon, our team met with husband-and-wife owners Carl Glassman and Dinie Silnutzer. They have owned the Wedgwood – note this correct spelling – since 1982. While making additions over the years they have kept much of the original design intact. In addition, they discovered a historic tunnel that was possibly used as part of the underground railroad.