Yardley's Ferry - Road Network Information
[Revised 8-27-2010]

Details of the Yardley Ferry operation, ferry houses, ferry landings, and ferry roads appear to have been almost totally forgotten by the end of the 1800s. Almost no information was provided in writings by Battle 1887, Davis 1905, or Fackenthal 1927. The Yardley Ferry seems to be the one ferry on the lower Delaware River about which almost nothing was known, and it remained so until the 1990s.

Virtually all the ferry locations on the Yardley side have now been found, and a timeline established showing how the Yardley Ferry developed. There were two separate ferry operations on the Pennsylvania side of the river, with a transition from one to the other occurring during the period 1775-1794. One [of these] was served by the 1721 Ferry Road entering the north side of Yardley and terminating at the river near the center of Yardley. The other was served by the 1763 Ferry Road entering the south side of Yardley and terminating at the river near the lower Borough Line. [At least by 1794 the Yardley Ferry operation near the railroad had been abandoned, and there was a ferry operated by Richard Green directly across from Afton Avenue - LHH 8-19-2010]

Faden's Military Map of the Trenton-Princeton Campaign, published in London 1777 (Library of Congress)***   titled "Plan of Operation of General Washington against the King's troops in New Jersey." The map shows Ferry Road on the Pennsylvania side in the original 1721 configuration, and the river crossing as a dotted line on roughly 60 degrees angle in the downstream direction. On the Jersey side it shows two roads diverging outward in the form of a "V" with the left upriver side of the "V" shown perpendicular to the river. It has been observed by local historians that the way this road is shown "doesn't look right." The lower road diverges from the same landing, on a sharp 30-degree angle with the river, and crosses the creek (Gould's Creek), and looks like Lower Ferry Road. The Fadon map does not show a ferry operation near the location of today's railroad bridge.

The 1882 Ewing Township Map shows an unnamed road now known as Lower Ferry Road. This map shows the next road upstream, Birmingham Road, passing through Greensburg more or less straight to the river, on a line about 4,000 feet above the original ferry site just above today's Lower Ferry Road. Another unnamed road now known as Upper Ferry Road is located opposite the upper end of Yardley Borough.

1833 Road Survey Map:   Dr. Carlos E. Godfrey analyzed the question of which highways were traversed during Washington's March to Trenton. His presentation to the Trenton Historical Society dated 1924 includes a map of the road network based on a survey made in 1833, accurately showing the roads to the ferry as it existed in 1833, but not showing any ferry at the longstanding ferry location near the railroad variously known as Heath's Ferry, Gould's Ferry, Howell's Ferry, and Yardley's Ferry. This ferry operation was known as    Howell's Ferry    as of Dec 13, 1764.

The missing ingredient in both the 1833 survey map and the 1777 Fadon map was the 1763-1794 Ferry Road which crossed the Delaware Canal in the vicinity of Lock #5, and it's precursor road which served New Jersey's Heath's Ferry at it's landing on the Pennsylvania side.

A copy of "Washington's march to Trenton on Christmas Night in 1776" by Dr. Carlos E. Godfrey, Published by The Trenton Historical Society 1924, analyzes the routes of march question, and concludes the two division did separate at Bear Tavern, with the left division marching down Scotch Road. The 15-pg publication was obtained from New Jersey State Library, Trenton, New Jersey, and is made available here as a PDF file, Washington's March to Trenton

Recently I became aware of the work of Charles P. Wilber in a booklet titled Washington Crossing State Park, New Jersey, published by the Division of Forest and Parks Department of Conservation and Development, State of New Jersey. On page 2 there is a map prepared when the park was created.  [LHH 8-27-2010]

Bear Tavern Road - Archeological Study - Bear Tavern Road Over Jacobs Creek, Hopewell Township, Mercer County, NJ, Phase IA Archeological Study for Mercer County, by John Milner Associates, Inc., Philadelphia, PA

Robert Erskine Chronology Worksheet    Circumstances surrounding 1779 Erskine survey and sketch of Howell's Ferry

Washington's Crossing  by David Hackett Fischer, Oxford University Press, 2004

Monuments

Some years ago Florence White, Lower Makefield historian, asked if it was timely to erect a monument to identify ferry locations. I answered that we should wait for investigators in New Jersey to work out the details of the road locations and ferry operations for the years 1690 to 1840 on their side of the river. [LHH 8-19-2010]

Our investigation and findings on the Pennsylvania side are summarized at    Linford R. Craven's Yardley Site  ... under topics named "Letters" and "Maps." Most of the documentation is contained in our Yardley Ferry Chronology. The rest of the site is mostly devoted to early photographs of Yardley.  LHH 10-15-2001