As early as 1829, Antoine Dutot saw potential for a profitable resort industry at the Delaware Water Gap and began construction of the first Kittatinny House overlooking the Delaware River. After the arrival of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1856, other hostelries of various sizes and appointments followed and were soon filled each summer with happy vacationers from New York City and Philadelphia. Residents of surrounding villages on both sides of the Delaware River also shared the seasonal wealth of this natural playground, yet they still managed to make a living during the rest of the year. River Towns of the Delaware Water Gap salutes the grand hotels, their diminutive alittle sisters, a and the people who ran them or lived in the gap and its neighboring river towns.

As early as 1829, Antoine Dutot saw potential for a profitable resort industry at the Delaware Water Gap and began construction of the first Kittatinny House overlooking the Delaware River. After the arrival of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1856, other hostelries of various sizes and appointments followed and were soon filled each summer with happy vacationers from New York City and Philadelphia. Residents of surrounding villages on both sides of the Delaware River also shared the seasonal wealth of this natural playground, yet they still managed to make a living during the rest of the year. River Towns of the Delaware Water Gap salutes the grand hotels, their diminutive little sisters, and the people who ran them or lived in the gap and its neighboring river towns.

Emerging from the Catskills, the Delaware River winds along the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the Atlantic, offering hundreds of miles of magnificent scenery. Its sparkling waters supported the Lenape tribes growing maize along its banks. English explorers sailed the river in search of the mythical Lake Laconia, believed to be the source of all northeastern rivers. Urban growth pitted railroads, industry and energy companies against protectionists in continuing fights over appropriate use of the river. Hunting, fishing and boating remain vital local traditions passed from one generation to the next. Author Frank H. Moyer charts the life and legacy of the mighty Delaware.

Europeans first settled in what was to become the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA) in the 17th century. By the late 1800s, the Delaware Water Gap had become a popular vacation spot, attracting thousands to the palatial resorts in the mountains. Rural communities thrived in the valley until the 1960s. The DWGNRA was created in 1965 to oversee activities centered around a reservoir that was to be the result of a dam to be built on the Delaware River at Tocks Island. In anticipation of the dam, the government removed residents by purchasing or condemning property. An environmental and political war raged, and the dam was ultimately defeated. Although several historical sites were lost, many survived and a few have been restored. Today the DWGNRA is one of the country's most popular parks. Within its boundaries are rugged and beautiful wilderness, historic landmarks, and the wild and scenic Delaware River.

In 1968, management of the Appalachian Trail shifted from control by an informal alliance of private-citizen volunteers to a designated responsibilty of the National Park Service. To protect it from adverse development, Congress had made the trail part of the national park system and endorsed an unique private/public cooperative management system involving scores of private organizations and public jurisdictions. The volunteers still have the lead role in defining the work, but public agencies have the accountability. This June 1987 history is the inside story of how the pieces of that puzzle were put together, by the chairman of a group of volunteers and state-appointed officials that crafted this model of private/public stewardship of public recreational lands.

The Delaware River has been home to steamboats and canoes, swimmers and fishermen, and shipyards and factories for generations. Recreation and industry have long coexisted along its changing banks. Along the Delaware River presents the Delaware River corridor-from Hancock, New York, in the Catskill Mountains, to the mouth of the Delaware Bay-at the beginning of the twentieth century. Postcards, many nearly a hundred years old, are used to show a river system that both resembles and differs greatly from the one we know today.

River otters, black bears, and red foxes drink from its clear waters. Prickly pear cacti grow from the red shale cliffs that overlook it, while on the river near Bordentown lies the archeological remnants of a sprawling estate built by the former King of Spain, Napoleon’s brother, who lived there for almost twenty years. You might imagine this magical and majestic waterway is located in some faraway land. But in fact, it’s the backbone and lifeblood of the Garden State: the Delaware River. The Other Jersey Shore takes readers on a personal tour of the New Jersey portion of the Delaware River and its surroundings. You will learn about the role that the river played in human history, including Washington’s four crossings of the Delaware during the Revolutionary War. And you will also learn about the ecological history of the river itself, once one of the most polluted waterways in the country and now one of the cleanest, providing drinking water for 17 million people. Michael Aaron Rockland, a long-time New Jersey resident, shows readers his very favorite spots along the Delaware, including the pristine waterfalls and wilderness in the Delaware Water Gap recreation area. Along the way, he shares engrossing stories and surprising facts about the river that literally defines western New Jersey.

The Old Mine Road, considered the first road in America designed for wheeled vehicles, was built three hundred years ago by Dutch settlers for access to the mines of the Minisink country. It began in Kingston, New York, wove through Sussex and Warren counties in New Jersey, and ended near the Delaware Water Gap. Many changes have taken place in these regions since C. G. Hine recorded his observations and printed The Old Mine Road for his friends in 1908. Bulldozers have obliterated much of what he saw as he took his readers along the length of the road, describing the natural beauty of the countryside and relating the history and legends linked with the road and the people who lived on its route. This new printing is a facsimile of the first 1908 edition. Henry Charlton Beck's introduction gives a publishing history of the book and provides a biographical sketch about Hine.