Delaware River Greenway Partnership (DRGP) sponsors an illustrated lecture by historic preservation consultant Dennis Bertland on “Delaware River Settlement and Commerce during the Pre-Canal Era,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, at the ACME Screening Room of the Pittore Justice Center, 25 S. Union St., Lambertville, N.J.
By 1750, a half century after European settlers began to occupy the middle reaches of the valley, a trade network had developed along the Delaware River. For almost 100 years thereafter, the river served as the region’s major commercial artery.
Dennis Bertland will point out the boat landings, mill hamlets and market towns with their riverside storehouses, stores and taverns that served as collection points for the shipment of marketable products shipped downriver to Philadelphia and overseas, as well as goods brought upriver for local consumers.
He will also discuss the products transported, which included corn, flour, hemp, linseed, logs, and, later, pig iron, castings, preserved pork and beef, distilled liquor, roofing slate and coal for fuel.
Bertland is the principal of Dennis Bertland Associates, a historic preservation consulting firm based in Stockton, N.J. He has an extensive background in historical research related to the early settlement patterns and architecture of the Delaware Valley. This program is based on research he conducted for the Knowlton Township Historic Commission, stewards of the Ramsaysburg Homestead, an 18th century property along the river in Warren County, N.J.
The talk is one in a series sponsored by DRGP on different aspects of the cultural and natural heritage of the Delaware River and is open to the public, free of charge. Visit
delawarerivergreenwaypartnership.org.
