Lumberville
by Jeffrey Marshall
Did you ever wonder how towns got their names? Lumberton and Lumberville, both in Solebury Township, owe their names to the now forgotten lumber rafting industry. Even after the opening of the Delaware Canal and the Belvidere-Delaware Railroad, the Delaware River remained an important transportation network. One of its major uses was transporting lumber from the northeastern Pennsylvania to markets.
Despite a ordinary sounding name, Lumberville is a truly remarkable hamlet where historic houses, beautiful riverfront views and breathtaking country roads combine to form a place that add to the mystique of Bucks County far and wide. The town’s historic importance is recognized by the fact that it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From the Delaware River, lumber was carted over narrow, winding country roads throughout the region. There are still vestiges of Lumberville’s lumber town heritage. Tinsmans Brothers Inc. is owned and operated by 5th generation brothers Tom and Bill Tinsman. The company proudly proclaims that their store has been serving the community's building needs since 1785. The company is part of a long lumber products tradition and was an important part of Bucks County’s economy in the nineteenth century. The Tinsman family purchased the property that had been operated in succession by George Wall, William and Joseph Dilworth, John E. Kenderdine and Lukens Thomas.
The magnitude of the operations along the Delaware River are revealed in a petition filed by Isaac Pickering to obtain a Tavern License for his hotel in the inland village of Carversville along the road from Lumberville to Doylestown. His 1814 petition stated that “Downstream from the town [Carversville]… on the banks of the Delaware [there were] three saw mills, that on Bulls Island opposite Dilworth’s saw mills there is a grist mill, saw mill and factory, and two ferries in sight of Dilworth’s mill on the Delaware. That from the best calculations we can make there are upwards of two million feet of lumber taken from the different saw mills in a year”. Pickering claimed that ten to twenty teams and other carriages passed along his property daily “to and from the said mills, factories and ferries.”
An early name for the site of Lumberville was called “Temple bar,” probably from a gravel bar in the river. The presence of a gravel bar in the river may have been the reason that the large lumber rafts stopped at the site so as not to risk their investment by crashing their rafts against the bar.
In December 1858, as the rafting run was coming to an end for that year, it was reported, “Nearly 100 rafts came down during the autumn run. Among the number was a mammoth raft shipped by Thomas Barnes 195 feet long, 63 feet wide, and drawing 3-1/2 feet of water. The raft was manned by eight men, and was composed of the following timber: 3,000 railroad ties, 6,000 hoop poles, 35,000 feet of joist, 108,000 feet of wharf timber, 25,000 feet of tie timber, and 10 ship knees. This is the largest raft, drawing more water, than ever before came down the Delaware.”
Lumberville had its own tavern. It is said to have its origins in the mid eighteenth century as a respite for lumbermen and raftsmen at the place initially known as Wall’s Landing. The January 18, 1837 Bucks County Intelligencer included an advertisement for the Rising Sun Tavern operated by Anthony Ely. It was noted as the only tavern in Lumberville. The tavern house was large, measuring 73 by 23 feet by that time. Today the lineal descendent of this early tavern has become another longstanding establishment known as the Black Bass Hotel. The operation was also known as the Lumberville Inn through the centuries. When advertised in 1863 as the estate of Jesse P. Forker, it was described as a commodious stone tavern house, two stories high, [with] four rooms and entry on lower floor, nine chambers on second, good garret and cellar, porch back and front. Tradition states that President Grover Cleveland was among the prominent visitors to the hotel.
Lumberville became the site where the lumber rafts stopped and much of the lumber was processed for use across the county and beyond. A decade before the huge raft floated down the Delaware, a correspondent for the Bucks County Intelligencer reported in May of 1848 that the prior week he went to Lumberville where he “took a peep at the new Saw Mill erected at that place last season, by Lukens Thomas … This mill is built upon the old Dilworth property, and we presume is not surpassed in the county for substantial workmanship and capacity of performance. It is seventy-five feet long by eighteen in width; with a wing attached, fifteen by thirty-six feet, for circular saws and other purposes. The water wheel is twenty-one feet in diameter, and driven by ahead and fall of water of twenty-four feet; which of course gives great power and velocity to the saw. It will cut lumber thirty-six feet in length. The two circular saws are used chiefly for cutting ceiling lath, paling, etc. which they perform in elegant style and with great rapidity… Besides these, there is a turning lathe propelled by the same power, leaving plenty to spare for other machinery”. The reporter concluded that Thomas’ “establishment is destined to do and extensive and profitable business.”
A March 24, 1863 newspaper chronicles other businesses in town. Charles R. Swallow had a frame blacksmith shop and a two-story frame harness-maker shop along River Road and a store, coal yard and wharf adjoining the Delaware Canal and River Rd.
One of the movers and shakers of the town was John E. Kenderdine. Kenderdine owned a distinctive residence known as Laurelton House. The Greek Revival house, which may have been constructed by Lukens Thomas, was advertised as being built in 1856 (1855 in other sources) in the October 6, 1874 edition of the Doylestown Democrat. The November 3, 1874 edition of the Doylestown Democrat stated the house was named by Kenderine’s son Robert who died at Gettysburg.
The shallow hip roof, smaller third story windows, Classic cornice and entrance portico show Greek Revival influences. The house was originally covered with stucco, perhaps even scored to mimic marble block. Laurelton was the home of John E. Kenderdine until his death in 1868. After his death, on November 12, 1868, there was an auction of his real estate. His “mansion house” was described as a large three-story stone building, recently built, measuring 20 by 50 feet; pleasantly situated in the Cuttalossa Valley that was “well calculated for a country residence or summer boarding”.
The house was fitting for wealthy industrialist. The estate sale advertisement showed that in addition to the fine house, Kenderdine owned a window sash factory, planing mill, a bone grinding mill, a drying house for seasoning lumber, a new barn and stable and a tenant house. On another lot he had a four story, merchant, grist and plaster mill with a frame storehouse. Kenderdine’s property extended from the Delaware River and also included a wharf on the canal as well as a lumberyard, coal yard, and saw mill, two stone dwelling houses, a frame Counting House, a frame barn and wagon house.
To continue reading about Historic Lumberville, turn to page 50 in the Winter 2015/16 issue of Bucks County Magazine.