Tom McGee's Blog

Once an antiques mecca, it’s get­ting a lot more yup­pi­fied the last few years. Not so much as it’s sib­ling across the bridge, New Hope, but it’s def­i­nitely showing.

LF and I vis­ited Sat­ur­day. It sits right on the Delaware River, and the old D&R Canal runs right through it. The rail­road once car­ried pas­sen­gers up and down the river through the one-thriving mill towns. Now it’s either over­grown or turned into gar­den space.

We took a stroll across the bridge to Penn­syl­va­nia and had some­thing to eat in New Hope.

I love this shop.

They spe­cial­ize in arts & crafts era pieces, with lots of nice Stick­ley fur­nish­ings on dis­play in a very clean and ele­gantly arranged space. The store steps down three tiers until at the back it opens to a dra­matic vista of the river. I seri­ously wanted that chan­de­lier hang­ing over the back win­dow, but it was sev­eral thou­sand dol­lars out­side my price range.

I remem­bered this place from a few years ago when he was over in New Hope. I bought an arts & crafts-inspired door­mat from them, which was about all I could afford, which still makes me happy when I walk through the front door. The owner was very gen­er­ous with his time, and offered to review any pho­tos I could send him of a piece I have at home with a ques­tion­able provenance.

Creep­ing yup­pi­fi­ca­tion aside, Lam­bertville is a lovely town to walk around in. The nar­row streets have beau­ti­fully restored early 19^th cen­tury row­houses with col­or­ful gar­dens. Lots of restau­rants and casual shops to wan­der into (two book­stores!), and of course right on the beau­ti­ful Delaware River with its wide views.