Name of interviewee: Will Rivinus
Date of birth/age at interview: 1928/86
Interviewer: Jack Donohue
Interview date: December 9, 2014
Interview location: Rivinus home
Interview length: 53 minutes
Time span discussed: Revolution Era until 2014
Summary: Will leads us on a journey from Smithfield to Washington Crossing with stops at restaurants, taverns, pubs, and inns that were one of the Bucks County’s many attractions. A number are not only still going strong but also date their origins to the pre-Revolutionary War era. Of particular note is how these buildings evolved over the years into different functions, and although a number are derelict at the interview time, several of them remain iconic roadside landmarks.
Time markers:
00:00 – introduction
00:50 – 1965 book Early Taverns of Bucks County, first foray into the old transportation routes and restaurants of Bucks County
02:18 – bars and restaurants in area nearer his house north of New Hope Will
03:25 – the Cat and Fiddle, Smithtown, tea room
04:20 – the Mountainside Inn, Pt. Pleasant, hotel
05:35 – the Golden Pheasant, formerly Jacob Oberacker’s Tavern, above Point Pleasant, 5 cent beers in the 1950s
07:27 – Miles of Mules charity drive
07:57 – the Gobblers, Point Pleasant, destroyed in floods of 2004 to 2006
10:10 – the Black Bass, Lumberville, anglophile’s delight with royal memorabilia
15:48 – 1740 House, Lumberville, need membership now
17:00 – Carversville Inn, Carversville, retains antique furnishings
17:43 – Cuttalossa Inn, across the road from the Hard Times Tavern;
21:11 – Colligan’s Stockton Inn, Stockton, NJ
22:10 – Centre Bridge Inn, Centre Bridge, burned 1961, rebuilt in Georgian style
27:26 – Hotel du Village, Phillips Mill
28:20 – Le Bonne Auberge, New Hope’s Village 2, in the original farm house on the land
29:29 – The Logan Inn, New Hope, named for Indian who adopted the name Logan
32:26 – The Playhouse Inn, New Hope, designed by architect Don Hedges
33:38 – the Canal House, New Hope, built of tar paper
37:11 – the Tow Path House, New Hope, location of the metal sign that became the trademark of the FODC
37:58 – Havana, once Granny Neal’s home, reputed to be Aaron Burr’s first stop the day he killed Alexander Hamilton
39:04 – Odette’s, the River House, New Hope, often flooded, possibly rebuilding
41:14 – Hamilton’s Grill Room, Lambertville, creation of Jimmy Hamilton, former set designer
42:33 – the River’s Edge, Lambertville, on the river north of the bridge, owned by Ann Matthews who played Stella Dallas on radio
44:40 – Lambertville Station, Lambertville, 7 restaurant rooms, kitchen in a railroad freight car
46:40 – the Cock & Bull, Peddler’s Village, initially a chicken coop
48:17 – the Golden Plough (Buttonwood), Lahaska, once a simpler bar
49:05 – the General Green Inn, Buckingham, now Edna’s Antique Shop, meeting place for the Revolutionary War “Associators,” limestone caves under the inn; nothing has changed inside for possibly a century
51:26 – the Washington Crossing Inn, Washington Crossing, popular spot in the 1950s when it was a beer house
Will Rivinus recording 1, auto show.
Will Rivinus recording 2, floods.
Will Rivinus recording 3, authored books.
Will Rivinus recording 4, FODC.
Will Rivinus recording 6, Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor
