Past Events

A trade network had developed along the Delaware River by 1750, a half century after European settlers began to occupy the middle reaches of the valley. For almost a hundred years thereafter, the river served as the region’s major commercial artery. Dennis Bertland pointed out the boat landings, mill hamlets and market towns with their riverside storehouses, stores, and taverns that served as collection points for the shipment of marketable products shipped downriver to Philadelphia and overseas, and goods brought upriver for local consumers. He also discussed the products transported which included corn, flour, hemp, linseed, logs, and, later, pig iron, castings, preserved pork and beef, distilled liquor, roofing slate and fuel coal.

The speaker is the principal of Dennis Bertland Associates, a historic preservation consulting firm based in Stockton, New Jersey. He has an extensive background in historical research related to the early settlement patterns and architecture of the Delaware Valley. This program on early river trade and settlement along the Delaware River is based on research he conducted for the Knowlton Township Historic Commission, stewards of the Ramsaysburg Homestead, an 18th century property along the river in Warren County, New Jersey.