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Lambertville/ By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Some time ago, the New York Times referred to a village of our acquaintance as “on the verge of chic.” The same could be said today for Lambertville. This sleepy New Jersey river town, a product of the Industrial Revolution and the 19th century, languished until lately. It was at the edge of chic, overshadowed by New Hope, Pa., its better-known neighbor across the Delaware River. History, artists and an enduring quaintness gave New Hope the best of everything. But Lambertville? This was the town through which New Yorkers had to pass to get to New Hope. Even that need was obviated after the new Route 202 toll bridge bypassed Lambertville. Time was on Lambertville's side, however. The three A's – arts, authors and antiques – strained New Hope's limits and spilled into Lambertville. They found a receptive host, one untouched by the 20th-century building boom and urban redevelopment. The first restaurant of note opened in 1980; the first B&B in 1983. Next a group of investors turned the old train station into a restaurant and built an adjacent inn-hotel. Suddenly, Lambertville was “in.” Now its main streets are chock-a-block antiques stores and art galleries. It has a wider variety of quality restaurants than does New Hope. Visitors are discovering the advantages of staying in Lambertville – close to New Hope, but without the crowds and hassle. Lambertville has its own identity, that of an emerging town of 3,900 on the way to becoming the little city it calls itself. Since 1994, its Chamber of Commerce has produced annually a helpful brochure to guide tourists. Just up river is Stockton, itself a class act, centered by the old inn with the wishing well immortalized in the song, “There's a Small Hotel.” Beyond is Rosemont, a crossroads hamlet where an old chicken farm is now a complex of business enterprises, one of them advertising the largest selection of handcrafted furniture in the country. Most of the area's riverfront with its parallel Delaware & Raritan Canal has been turned into the longest and narrowest strip of state parkland in the nation. Although Lambertville is on the verge of chic, its
surroundings are about as rural as they get in the nation's most densely
populated state. Material excerpted from Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth, copyright 2006, and from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth, copyright 2003, . Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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