Visit to Bucks County Will Raise Anyone’s Spirits

At the charming Ye Olde Temperance House in Newtown, employees and an occasional guest swear that a ghostly little boy roams the Edward Hicks suite and the Willard Parlor.

Among the believers is receptionist Joanna Lansing, who says that one summer morning, beer suddenly and mysteriously spilled from a keg when only she was around.

At the recently remodeled Logan Inn in nearby New Hope hangs a large oil painting from the 1890s of a former owner’s grandparents. Some claim they’ve noticed the scent of lavender, which the grandmother carried in a sachet, next to the painting, and shadowy figures not seen in the portrait have reportedly shown up in photographs of it.

Just up the Delaware River in Lumberville, a logger named Hans who was stabbed to death during a brawl is said to be the apparition at the venerable 18th-Century Black Bass Hotel. He makes an occasional spectral appearance in the basement tavern and dining room where he was killed, still clad in his heavy woolen jacket.

Children See Ghost

“He is seen mostly by young children, not by their parents,” says manager Everett Volmer. Afterward, “the children behave very well.”

In the picturesque, history-rich Delaware River Valley less than an hour’s drive from Philadelphia, Bucks County is a bucolic, get-away-from-it-all area destination.

Well, not quite away from it all . The home of inviting inns, exceptional restaurants, antiques and idyllic natural scenery, it is also a highly spirited place.

“We’re very proud of our ghosts,” says Adele Gamble, who runs Ghost Tours of New Hope. “How many places can you go and find as many ghosts as we do? It’s really a haunted village, one of the most haunted villages around.”

In October and early November the lantern-lit walking tours are given on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; the charge is $4. Not surprisingly, every Halloween is also a tour night, when large groups of ghost gawkers hit the streets in search of eerie treats. One year 250 revelers, including some in costume, filled five tours.

Blanket of White

October is Bucks County’s busiest season for another colorful reason: the annual autumnal glory. Maple, oak, beech and sycamore leaves, in dazzling shades of scarlet, gold and orange, transform the woods and tree-lined Delaware River into a spectacle of natural fireworks. The peak leaf season is generally the last two weeks of October.

In winter the forests are covered with a blanket of white. Cross-country skiers take to the trails, ice skaters whirl on frozen ponds and the roaring fires of the cozy, romantic inns make them all the more hospitable.

There are other seasonal diversions as well. During fall, summer and spring, a mule-drawn barge glides past Revolutionary-era cottages and artists’ workshops along the Delaware Canal in New Hope. Prices: $6.50 for adults, $3.75 for children.

Or you can take a self-guided tour of Bucks County’s 13 fabled covered bridges along winding country roads.

The 110-foot Bowman’s Hill Tower, which commemorates the lookout where sentries watched for enemy troops during the American Revolution, affords sweeping views of the river valley from April through November. Adults $2, children under 12, 50 cents.

Crossing the Delaware

And on Christmas Day at Washington Crossing 120 volunteers reenact George Washington’s 1776 crossing of the Delaware with his war-weary troops on their way to the pivotal Battle of Trenton.

New Hope, which is often overrun by visitors these days, was originally the preserve of the Lenni-Lenape Indians. It passed into the colonists’ hands as part of Charles II’s land grant to William Penn, and subsequently became a way station along the York Road, the first major link between New York and Philadelphia. This journey once took three days by coach.

Industrial growth came with the mills of the early 1700s. They were destroyed in a fire in 1790, but the grist and lumber mills were rebuilt and called “The New Hope Mills,” from which the town took its name. In more recent times New Hope has been known as the home to artists and actors.

The town’s 18th-Century grist mill has been transformed into the Bucks County Playhouse, where the season lasts from mid-June until early November. Patrons say that apparitions make unscheduled cameo appearances all year.

The Delaware River Valley also hosted a colony of prominent writers seeking respite from New York City in the 1920s and ‘30s. Colligan’s Stockton Inn inspired Moss Hart’s show tune, “There’s a Small Hotel.” Author Budd Schulberg completed his screenplay for “On the Waterfront” while staying at the Black Bass Hotel. And Pearl S. Buck’s country estate outside Doylestown is open for public tours.

Haunting Atmosphere

Such circumstances are said to explain why the area has so many spirits--or tales of them, at least. The many pre-Revolutionary buildings are believed to be prone to harboring an old soul or two, and the resident artists and actors are considered more sensitive to such ephemeral characters.

New Hope and its environs may be haunted but they are not harrowing. These spirits are known to weep or wail or be otherwise troubled--as spirits are wont to be--but they are unfailingly benign. No headless horseman riding tourists out of town is about to trammel the area’s well-deserved reputation for hospitality.

“They’re not going to hurt me because they’re not alive,” reassures Gamble, a 44-year-old mother of two and native of the area. “I am just not fearful. I feel I’m looking into the energy that was left behind by someone or something.”

During a ghost tour one rainy, wind-swept summer’s night, guide Carol Carter recalled that Aaron Burr had hidden in an eave closet of the Coryell House on Main Street (now an apartment building) for three days after his duel with arch-rival Alexander Hamilton.

Burr’s ghost has been seen wandering New Hope at the Mill House on Ferry Street and the nearby Logan Inn, the town’s oldest building.

Carter describes Burr as tall, his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, clad in a white ruffled shirt, brown cutaway coat and white silk stockings.

“Everybody who’s seen him mentions his coal-burning eyes, dark and shining,” she reports, solemnly.

Another tour mainstay is the handsome stone Parry Mansion, across from the Logan Inn. Now a museum, it was originally the home of Benjamin Parry, who owned the town’s grist and lumber mills in the late 18th Century. Five generations of his family inhabited the Georgian mansion over three centuries.

And according to local lore, still do, spiritually speaking. A medicinal smell in one room recalls the family member who practiced dentistry there. A scholarly looking, balding apparition in his late 50s, wearing a string tie, has been seen in the front parlor. And a sickly little girl’s haunting cries have been heard in a corner bedroom.

Shadow-Filled Inn

But one doesn’t need to take the tour to discover Bucks County spirits. Visit an inn, or a restaurant in a historic building, and you’re likely to hear a ghost story or two.

The shadow-filled Inn at Phillips Mill, just north of New Hope on Route 32, was built at a bend in the road in 1756. It’s justifiably renowned for its fine food in small, romantic dining areas and individually decorated rooms. And, yes, also for an old-fashioned permanent resident, according to Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey, author of “Ghosts in the Valley.”

“I was walking up the stairs to the second floor,” a one-time guest recalls in Jeffrey’s book, “when suddenly a figure rounded the curve and started down towards me. She was dressed in a long black skirt and a white cambric waist with a high collar. Her hair was piled high in the fashion of the turn of the century. . . .”

“In a short time I felt the brush of her long skirts against my legs as she pushed calmly past. It was uncanny. When I turned and looked down after her, there was no one in sight.”

But don’t be spooked if not everyone is so breathless to share their tales of the great beyond. Take Jean-Pierre Tardy, chef and owner of Jean-Pierre’s, a much-acclaimed French restaurant in Newtown. It’s in a building dating to 1747, the second-oldest in town; it once served as a holding area for prisoners.

“I could tell you about the ghost,” Tardy offers in his French accent as the aroma of grilling fish fills the air, “but it might scare away customers.”

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Bucks County is about 1 1/2 hours from New York City by car and less than an hour from Philadelphia.

Ghost tours are given on Saturdays at 8 p.m. from June until September, and on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. during October and the first two weekends in November. Cost is $4 per person, $6 for private tours.

For more information, contact Ghost Tours of New Hope at (215) 862-5880.

Recommended accommodations:

The Black Bass Hotel, Route 32, Lumberville, Pa. 18933, (215) 297-5815. Built in the 1740s and overlooking the Delaware in secluded Lumberville, the hotel offers seven rooms with shared baths and three suites. Rates: $55 to $175. The original owners were Tories, and the hotel boasts an extensive collection of British Royal Family memorabilia.

“We’re the only inn in America that advertises that Washington never slept here,” boasts manager Everett Volmer. But Calvin Klein, Liza Minnelli, Malcolm Forbes and assorted royalty have. The Inn at Phillips Mill, Route 32, New Hope, Pa. 18938, (215) 862-2984.

Set in a converted 18th-Century stone barn, the inn has four rooms and a suite, each with a private bath ($68-$78). On weekends a cottage is also available. ($125).

The Hotel Du Village, Route 32 and Phillips Mill Road, New Hope, Pa. 18938, (215) 862-9911. Set on the spacious grounds of a former preparatory school, the hotel has 19 rooms, all with private baths ($75-$90). It also has a tennis court and swimming pool.

The Old Hunterdon House, 12 Bridge St., Frenchtown, N.J. 08825, (201) 996-3632. Sitting across the Delaware from Bucks County, this is a bed and breakfast in a three-story brick Victorian. Afternoon tea and evening cordials complement five charmingly restored rooms and two suites ($68-$95).

The Black Bass Hotel, the Inn at Phillips Mill and the Hotel Du Village all pride themselves on their cooking and atmosphere-filled dining.

Additional dining recommendations:

The Carversville Inn, Carversville and Aquetong Roads, Carversville, Pa., (215) 297-0900. This 1813 inn is strictly a restaurant serving regional American cuisine. Crab cakes and grilled fish are favorites. Dinner for two: $65-$75, without wine. Reservations recommended.

Jean-Pierre’s, 101 S. State St., Newtown, Pa., (215) 968-6201. Classic French food in elegant surroundings. Lamb, veal with tomato and tarragon and lobster puff pastry are popular. Dinner for two: $70-$80. Reservations recommended for weekends.

The Frenchtown Inn, Bridge Street, Frenchtown. Across from the Old Hunterdon House, this inn is also exclusively a restaurant serving modern French cuisine in a polished oak setting. Dinner for two: $80-$90. Reservations requested.

Cakes & Catering Inc., Main and Bridge streets, Stockton, N.J., (609) 397-8033. French-trained chef Claude Pottier and his wife Mary Thorwarth, a baker, run a cozy restaurant and take-out business. Specialties include fish, stews, cold soups and salads. Dinner for two: $40-$45.

Thomas Sweet, Route 32, New Hope. Top it all off with homemade ice cream. Cones for two: $2.50.