A neighbor in Bucks County
Owen
New Hope · Bucks Buzz · 12 years
Owen paints boats in the garage when the kids are at school. He used to do it for money. Now he does it because a hull in the driveway is a good excuse not to check a phone. He and his wife moved to New Hope for the river and stayed for the towpath.
He writes about the river towns the way someone who walks them in January writes about them. The shops that still feel like they belong to the people who live here. The lock that ices over. The weekday morning when you can have the canal to yourself.
The letters are for the person who bought a house off the main drag and wonders if the town is only a weekend. He likes telling them it is not.
What Owen likes to do
Painting in the garage, weekday towpath walks with a thermos, and teaching the kids to skip stones below the lock.
Favorites around New Hope
Personal picks, not partners. None of these places asked to be here.
- Coffee
- The little place by the canal lock. He takes it to go and walks south until the cup is empty.
- A walk
- The Delaware Canal towpath south of town on a weekday morning. You will have it to yourself.
- The market
- Rice's Market, early, before the weekend crowd. He goes for hardware and comes home with a story.
- A diner booth
- The diner north of town after a cold walk, when the windows are steamed and nobody is checking the time.
- An event they never miss
- The first warm Sunday on the towpath. The whole river town comes out as if someone rang a bell.
What Owen loves writing about
- Out and about
- Makers and markets
- Local history
The river is the main street. Everything else is a side trip.
Owen, New Hope