Lambertville
by Jeffrey Marshall
Many Bucks Countians see Lambertville as the town “across the bridge from New Hope.” What an injustice. In many ways Lambertville outshines its more noted neighbor across the Delaware River. It is a town of great architectural beauty, history and charm. In fact in the August 2013 issue of Forbes Magazine listed Lambertville as one of the 15 prettiest towns in America. Forbes stated that Lambertville packs a lot of punch, welcoming visitors with some of the best antique shopping in the Northeast, as well as having a fine selection of galleries, shops and restaurants. “It’s quaint as heck.”
Lambertville got its start very much the same as most riverfront towns— with an early ferry crossing. Sources tell us that in 1703, William Biddle, Jr., John Mills and John Reading, acting for the Province of West Jersey, negotiated with Native Americans for the purchase the land now occupied by Lambertville as part of a 150,000 acre tract along the Delaware River north of Trenton. Modern Lambertville was part of two lots of land with the boundary of the two lots called the “Bull Line.” The line ran from the river diagonally to what is now Route 179.
In 1705, John Holcombe, purchased 350 acres north of the first survey line. Holcombe is credited with being the first settler in Lambertville. He is credited with building the stone house on North Main Street later occupied by George Washington and now known as Washington's Headquarters. Holcombe also purchased property to the north including the property now known as the Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead, a museum illustrating early farm life in Hunterdon County.
Lambertville’s second lot went through several owners until 1732 when Emanuel Coryell purchased the land between Church Street and Swan Creek. It was Coryell who operated the ferry across the Delaware River. Being an entrepreneur, Coryell opened a tavern to accommodate travelers who used his ferry. Coryell owned 1,016 acres at the time of his death in 1748. Initially divided between his four sons, most of the land stayed in the family through the eighteenth century. The settlement became known as Coryell’s Ferry; a name it shared with New Hope by the Revolutionary War period.
To finish reading this article about Lambertville, turn to page 78 in the Summer 2014 issue of Bucks County Magazine.