As noted in a previous entry, a trail surfacing and trailhead redesign project is underway on the Weissport section of the D&L Trail.  On Friday, September 12, members of the community, the D&L, and local government, including Rep. Keith McCall, inspected the new trail surface, which runs from the Weissport trailhead two miles north to the Packerton trestle.  Because work will continue on the trailhead, the section will only be open on weekends during the fall.  We’ll keep you updated as construction continues! 

During September, the South Bethlehem Historical Society, with the help of the D&L and other partners, will host a series of events celebrating the works of photographer Walker Evans. Evans is best known for his photo, “Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1935,” taken from St. Michael’s Cemetery on East Fourth Street in South Bethlehem.

Prints of this photo and others documenting America’s experience in the Great Depression are currently featured in an exhibit at Time Zones Global Goodies and Framing Gallery that will remain open throughout September.  A reception marked the opening of the exhibit on September 5. 

Later in the month, noted photographer and Evans scholar Rodger Kingston will give the keynote address, “Walker Evans in the Lehigh Valley,” at the South Bethlehem Historical Society’s Annual Meeting on September 25. Guided tours of St. Michael’s cemetery will be provided prior to the meeting.  Afterwards, the society will host a reception at Time Zones, providing an opportunity to view the Evans exhibit and ask Kingston questions.

On September 27, to conclude the month’s activities, Kingston will lead “Footsteps of Walker Evans,” a trolley tour of sites photographed by Evans in Easton and Bethlehem.

For times and other details, please visit the calendar at Save Our Steel, or contact Amey Senape at Amey@DelawareandLehigh.org.

Artist Billy Selesnick has returned to New Hope to restore the most extensive of the many murals that he painted around town in the 1990′s. The five Delaware Canal murals, located at 145 South Main Street adjacent to the Locktender’s House and Canal Boat Ride Landing, have weathered over the 16 years since they were created and their historical scenes have lost their vibrancy.

During the last two weeks in August, Selesnick used his talents to bring the murals back to life, but he also enlivened the south end of New Hope by demonstrating his techniques and talents for the town’s summer visitors. Selesnick, who now lives in Palm Beach, Florida, said, “I’m really excited to be back, working and seeing my family and old friends.”

The restoration of the Canal murals is being sponsored by the Friends of the Delaware Canal, the non-profit organization that fostered their creation when a shop, called the Basket Case, burned to the ground in 1992 leaving a gap in the streetscape.  Eventually, the Friends decided to create a series of murals to fill the void.

The project, which serves the dual purpose of illustrating both the history of the Delaware Canal and the rich arts tradition of New Hope and Bucks County, was originally funded by a grant from the McLean Contributionship. The current restoration is being supported by grants from the PA Parks and Forests Foundation and the D&L. To close a small funding gap, contributions are being sought from the public. To support the Canal Mural Restoration project, donors may send contributions to Friends of the Delaware Canal, 145 South Main Street, New Hope, PA 18938.

To learn more about the Friends of the Delaware Canal, one of the D&L’s most important partners, visit www.fodc.org.

An update from D&L Outreach Coordinator Dennis Scholl: 

My job as manager of the volunteer D&L Trail Tenders became even more rewarding this past week as I watched a dedicated crew of 10 Lehigh Valley Chapter volunteers build a native plant trail adjacent to the D&L Trail at the Sand Island model site in Bethlehem. This is a site the LV Tenders have been working on for 15 months. The completion of the trail and next week’s planting of nearly 2,000 native plants is the culmination of a lot of hard work. I watched 74-year-old Gerry Weiner of Nazareth and fellow retirees Joe Felker, John Cook, Ken Baatz, Charlie Derr and Gary Ritter plot the trail and secure the ties to the ground with lengths of rebar. It was hot and sweaty work, but no one complained a bit. The only break anyone took was to sip water. People using the trail yelled “thank you!” Those two words never grew old on anyone.

“The epitome of volunteerism”

A fellow from Bethlehem who bikes the trail every day stopped by on Tuesday morning and spent the next three days working with us. He was a great help. He even brought a flexible ladder that we propped up against trees to cut dead vines we couldn’t reach otherwise. On Thursday, a Lehigh University student stopped to ask if he could volunteer an hour of his time. We put him to work right away. He said he’d be back. I believe him.

I guess it’s just very heart-warming to see people come together to reach a goal. Our goal at Sand Island was to create a site where the public could be educated about the negative effects of invasive plants on the environment. Since most of the D&L Trail in the Lehigh Valley is bordered by an invasive jungle, we could have chosen a site anywhere. But we settled on 500 feet of real estate where Monocacy Creek enters the Lehigh River at the eastern tip of Sand Island.

On June 24, 2007, the Lehigh Valley Trail Tenders held their first cleanup. A dedicated core group formed and people worked throughout the winter. The City of Bethlehem took notice and responded very positively to our requests for help. They hauled out cut brush, brought backhoes to move logs that littered the site, had a large colony of Japanese knotweed sprayed, and donated 40 cubic yards of wood chips for our trail. Next week the city is bringing compost so our plants get a good dose of nitrogen to kick start their life in a new home. The whole project has been one of cooperation: volunteers with volunteers, and volunteers with municipal government.

An invitation to visit

I hope you have a moment to visit our site. If you’ve never been there before, you’ll be impressed by the very picturesque view of the Lehigh River and old Bethlehem Steel plant on the other side. Imagine not being able to see the river or the steel plant because they were obscured by a solid wall of green. That’s what the site was like before the Trail Tenders took charge. Why, it was even hard to get a breeze along the trail because the plants were so thick. Not anymore.

By the end of fall, our Learning Center will be complete and we’ll be offering history and nature programs. Next spring, the site will be alive with plants that haven’t been present there since the Lehigh Canal was built in 1827. And all of this is due to a chapter of volunteers who set forth on a common goal and pursued it with a very vigilant work ethic. To me, it’s the epitome of volunteerism. I hope it catches on elsewhere along the D&L Trail. Heaven knows there’s plenty of room for more projects.

This week marks the first time that the D&L is undertaking two large trail projects simultaneously. The projects are representative of the recent wave of trail improvements that have opened and transformed many segments of the D&L Trail during the past few years.

The first project is a continuation of the work being done on the trail and trailhead in the area of Lehigh Gap Nature Center in Lehigh County. The end result will be a newly paved entrance road and parking lot, with the D&L Trail running parallel. The Lehigh Gap area will be a centerpiece of the trail, and this project will ensure that all trail users have easy and safe access.

The second project will improve the Weissport trailhead, by redesigning and repaving the parking lot, and stabilize the Lehigh Canal, by replacing the eroded, earthen bank with durable, laid stone. This is a very heavily-used section of the D&L Trail, and we are looking forward to improving visitors’ experience.