 |  |  |  |  |  |
| | | | | |
  | |||||
After a busy few weeks touring New Jersey, the Boomerang Box is crossing the Delaware River, and heading to Yardley, Pennsylvania. Yardley is a town located just northeast of Philadelphia. See if you can find Philadelphia, Yardley, and the Delaware River on a map.
You might not be surprised to learn that Yardley was founded by a person named Yardley: William Yardley to be exact! Mr. Yardley moved to America from England in 1682. He settled on 500 acres of land, which he had bought from William Penn - the founder of Pennsylvania - for ten English pounds. (An acre is about the size of a football field, so he bought a lot of land!) After Mr. Yardley died, his nephew, Thomas, moved to America and started a ferry service from the family's land. Thomas Yardley's ferry went back and forth across the Delaware River. Since roads weren't too good in those days and there weren't yet any trains, this ferry crossing the river was an important transportation link between the towns in the area. Yardley stayed a pretty quiet place for another 100 years or so. But then, in the 1800s, the little village began to grow. People in the town used water from the river to provide power for a sawmill, a flour mill, and several other factories. People in Yardley also used the river more and more to transport themselves and their goods. They built a canal, called the Delaware Canal, which ran along the river. Mule teams walking on a 'towpath' beside the canal would pull barges through the water. During the Civil War, Yardley's mills provided food to the Union Army. Yardley was also a stop on the famous 'Underground Railroad' that slaves followed to reach freedom. The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad. Instead, it was a series of hiding places in people's basements or attics that slaves could use as they fled north. After the Civil War, Yardley got a real railroad. The Reading Railroad arrived in 1876. For a while, people in Yardley could transport their goods either by canal or by rail. But the fast railroad proved to be too much competition for the canal, and the canal closed in 1931. Today, Yardley is still a thriving town. Students in Yardley are looking forward to seeing Boomerang Box Jr. and welcoming Jr. to this town that has been trading goods for hundreds of years! Study Question: A famous person crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776. Who was he and why did he cross the river? What should you expect from a Boomerang Box Jr. visit? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|