Hopewell Valley History Project
Preserving Our History
What did our local train stations look like in their heyday? We have five new Pennington and Hopewell train station photos from 1973 that provide a glimpse of the past. These not only provide good views of the station buildings, they also show the additional structures along the tracks that have since been lost – … Continue reading Hopewell & Pennington Train Stations and Buildings – 1973
Explore the forgotten history of the Hopewell Inn, and the people and families who nurtured and reinvigorated it over its almost 150 year history as a part of the town of Hopewell. Douglas Dixon, Hopewell Valley History Project Wed., May 3, 2023, 7 pm – Free and open to the public – Attend in person … Continue reading Talk: The Story of the Hopewell Inn – and the People Who Sustained It
This wonderful bandana with a Hopewell Valley map is by Ann Gross, and dated 1974. The map features our major places, roads, and rivers, and is decorated with fun illustrations of life in the valley, ranging across farms and barns, cows and birds, kids fishing and biking, skiers and golfers and painters, and even two … Continue reading Hopewell Valley Map Scarf by Ann Gross
This painting by Fred Schuster shows the Reading Railroad #602 steam engine travelling past the Hopewell train station. It’s fascinating, because Schuster took some artistic license in rendering the scene, imagining the old steam locomotive in the c1970s scene, and because Schuster is something of a mystery, since we do not have much information about … Continue reading Hopewell Train Station Painting with Steam Engine 602
The February updates to the History Project featured Hopewell schools, plus old phone directories and some more recent history with photos from 2000. (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 291 files in the Archives, including 144 documents and 147 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 3209 … Continue reading February 2023 Update – School Days
Can you picture what our area was like twenty years ago, fifty years ago, a hundred years ago? We actually have a good collection of photographs of important local scenes across the Hopewell Valley around the turn of the century (1900), from postcards and some local photographers, and because local boosters were creating publications to … Continue reading History in Local Photos – 2000 and Today
The January updates to the History Project featured Hopewell school mascots, plus historic photos of “railroad trains and flooded bridges.” (See Site Updates for more.) By the numbers, we finished the month with 290 files in the Archives, including 143 documents and 147 maps and aerials. The Image Gallery now has 3195 files, and the … Continue reading January 2023 Update – School Mascots
Bulldogs, Timber Wolves, Bears, Frogs, All-Stars, and Alligators, oh my! These are the mascots of the schools of our Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Some of the schools use official logos that pretty much ignore the mascots, like Bear Tavern and Toll Gate, while others like Central High and Timberlane and Hopewell go all-in on … Continue reading Hopewell School Mascots – and the Frog
Here are two pairs of images of local scenes of railroad trains and flooded bridges, thanks to family photos from two kind contributors. The first pair show a “Bel-Del” Railroad train near Titusville in the 1940s – and the Washington Crossing bridge during the 1955 flood. The second pair shows a Reading Railroad train at … Continue reading Railroad Trains and Flooded Bridges
by Douglas Dixon Here are some of the highlights of the 2022 additions to the History Project site, with links to more information, plus associated documents, maps, photos, and videos. The purpose of the Hopewell Valley History Project is assemble an archive of reference material in local history, shared online in digital and searchable formats … Continue reading Hopewell History Project – 2022 Highlights
