The Delaware River Greenway Partnership (DRGP) hosts a virtual history lecture at 7 p.m. Monday, May 24.
New Jersey historian and illustrator Hal Taylor will present, “The Delaware River: An Illustrated History.” The program is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required on the DRGP website.
Taylor will present an illustrated travelogue tracing more than 300 miles and 400 years of Delaware River history.
See the country’s oldest resort in Cape May, the Delaware Bay and its fabled oyster industry, forts that span the Revolutionary War to WWII, the commercial importance of Burlington, Bordentown, and Trenton, (including the canals and the railroads), along with scenic old river towns including New Hope and Lambertville.
Continue on to the era of the Delaware Water Gap grand hotels and the tragic tale of the Tock’s Island fiasco to wind up with a search for the source of the Delaware.
Taylor has spent over 30 years as a graphic artist. He now devotes all of his efforts into combining a love of history with illustration, while struggling with the newfound discipline of writing. He began a career as a typographer setting phototype into the wee hours for advertising agencies and design studios. Later, he used this experience to teach at Drexel University.
His first book, “The Illustrated Delaware River: The History of a Great American River,” is an illustrated historical guide filled with 140 original drawings and paintings following the entire length of the river.
His second effort, “Before Penn: An Illustrated History of the Delaware River Colonies, 1609-1682,” tells the story of the struggle among the most powerful nations of Europe for control of the Delaware Valley, years before William Penn’s acquisition of Pennsylvania.
A third book, “Artifacts,” is a new volume of Delaware Valley history featuring hoagies, hats, highways, bridges, trains, historic trees, dinosaurs, and much more. Learn more about his books at haltaylorillustration.com/.
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