When people hear “Bucks County,” they may automatically think New Hope, maybe Doylestown, but that’s about it. While those may be two of the most-frequented spots in Central Bucks, it’s easy to forget that the county has a variety of activities for every age. No matter which season, there is a diversity of parks, recreational areas, lakes, rivers and small towns where you can slowly unwind or vigorously explore.
One of the best places to go for information on Bucks is visitbuckscounty.com. Complete, easily navigable, very visual and interesting, the site will be your ally when planning any day trip or long weekend. This site is comprehensive and extensive, so don’t forget to bookmark the pages you like.
While you’re there, take note of special events going on — not only where you’re looking to go, but in the area surrounding; there are many towns in rural Pennsylvania with only one road in and another out, so traffic can get contentious when there are special events happening! Plan ahead to keep your getaway as relaxing as possible.
Starting at the top
Our recent excursion included the covered-bridge tour, barn tour and, with another map, a winery tour. The tours add another dimension to your trip, but definitely leave some time in the schedule to get lost — with the county’s many twists and turns, it’s easy to do. The directions on the site and in the brochures are accurate but, especially for city folk, signage along the way can be frightfully difficult to glimpse while navigating the curves and dips.
Choose a general area you’re interested in or pick a couple of specific places you want to hit and use Google Maps to plot directions for those bridges, barns and wineries. A great cluster of all three can be found along the Doylestown-New Hope corridor. I’ll mention a number of them as I go along. For instance, near Newtown is the Rose Bank Winery and in Tyler Park, the Schofield Ford Covered Bridge, built in 1874. They are the closest winery and bridge to Philadelphia. And the New Hope Winery is also on one of the barn tours. Double win!
By the way, if you’re thinking a barn is a barn, you’re missing out. There are many barns that don’t fit into the big red box category. In fact, some are small stone buildings that you may have dismissed as carriage houses or guest cottages.
In Upper Bucks, with over 5,200 square acres, Nockamixon State Park (dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/), or “The Nock” as some call it, is the largest park in Bucks County. It’s close enough for a day trip, big enough for a vacation. There are also three tributaries into the lake, which are great spots to live life on the edge, so to speak. Here, you can boat, sail, hike, picnic, swim, learn about eco-friendliness, fish, wind surf, play disc golf, rent horses, go geocaching or just sit with a book and enjoy the peace and quiet.
The Nock is near Quakertown, a small town that offers a couple of spots that you might find curious enough to wander into town for. For one, you’ll want to stop into McCoole’s at the Historic Red Lion Inn (mccoolesredlioninn.com/) for a libation and an appetizer or maybe even a meal. It was a gathering place during the Fries Rebellion (jamesmannartfarm.com/friesreb1) from 1798-99 and the building has more history as well. It was recently made over and looks phenomenal. They brew several beers on site and you just don’t get fresher than that. The bar menu is generous with options including wings, fries and cheese, crab dip and flatbread pizza. Keep an eye open for a potential new LGBT monthly party here, and what a great space it would be to have it in!
There are several paintings and drawings of Liberty Hall (jamesmannartfarm.com/libel) in the Red Lion Inn. Liberty Hall is diagonally across the intersection from the inn and is the site where the Liberty Bell was harbored during the Revolutionary War to protect it from being captured and used for scrap. A replica of the bell stands out front, in case you’re driving past and do a double take, as we did.
Another nice park, along the northern part of the Delaware River in Bucks, is Tinicum Park, which offers hiking, camping and other adventures. The site is entered from River Road and offers access to the river as well. The Tinicum Arts Festival (tinicumartsfestival.org/) is a popular midsummer event that draws thousands to the great outdoors for the love of art. Other times, bring along the bike or the kayak and get going along the canal or the river for some great exercise and rejuvenation. More on River Road is in the sidebar.
You know they’re there, but you never stop
Washington Crossing State Park (washingtoncrossingpark.org/): You know where it is. You drive past it every time you go to New Hope. And you know in a broad sense what happened there. You know George, the boat and all of that. It’s that spot on River Road where the road double-dips like a roller coaster as you approach the wildflower preserve on the left and a barn and field that has a few sheep in it on the right. (That is the Thompson-Neely Barn, by the way, and it’s on the visitbuckscounty.com barn tour, as is the Van Sandt covered bridge up the road to the west.) And completing the trifecta of bridge, barn and winery here is Crossing Vineyards (crossingvineyards.com/), another spot to grab your bottle for an afternoon in the park. (Note: Many parks have alcohol or container restrictions. Be cognizant of your surroundings.)
That’s at the upper part of WCSP, and there’s another section down river a few miles where you can catch a short history film, tour a barn where Durham boats are being kept up and look into life during colonial times. A Thompson-Neely House & Farmstead Tour is only $6 and quite excellent. Across the bridge is more park space in New Jersey. Combined, the two areas are part of the annual crossing reenactment held Dec. 25.
Back at the busier part of the park, on our weekend we managed to snag two tickets to the annual Brew Fest, held each year on the first weekend of May. With 65 craft breweries offering at least two 4-ounce samples each, it’s no wonder this festival sells out every year. It includes a couple of decent food vendors and live music and, while it only lasts four hours, the environment and fun are worth the investment. Check the website for other special events during the year.
Across from WCSP is the Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve (bhwp.org/). I’ve yet to explore this myself, and it keeps slipping off the list for some reason, but it is home to hundreds of native species and at certain times of the year has special tours and plant sales. They also host a monthly full-moon walk held when weather permits.
Right up the hill is Bowman’s Hill Tower. You might have seen it from the road at one point and then forgotten about it or spotted the sign on the way to or from New Hope and said to yourself, Next time. Make next time the time to check out this 125-foot tower at the top of Bowman’s Hill. The hill is said to have been a likely lookout point for Gen. Washington during the Revolutionary War. The tower was constructed later to commemorate its place in the revolution. A small fee for the elevator ride to the top is worth the vista, the gliding eagles and hawks and the sound of nothing except the wind. On clear days you can see about 15 miles, including the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge to the north.
The final Bowman for now is Bowman’s Tavern (bowmanstavernrestaurant.com/), a local’s favorite, sitting along River Road south of Washington Crossing. I like to sit outside whenever the weather is nice, meaning above 60 degrees and patio seating is available. Burgers, fish and chips, seasonal salads, mac and cheese, calamari and other tavern fare at a really good price might make you want to stop here more often. I’m pretty sure we will!