BOWMAN'S HILL TOWER

'Bowman's Hill Tower', also known as 'Bowman's Tower', is a 125 foot tall stone tower located in Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County Pennsylvania. It is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The tower was built on Bowman's Hill, which is on the dividing line between Upper Makefield and Solebury Township.

Contents

The tower

The park

The name

The Mine

The vistas

The tower

The tower is 125 feet (38 m) tall and its base measures 24 feet (7.32 m) in each direction. It was built of native stone quarried from Bowman's Hill and nearby stone fences. The cut stone used for the window and doorsills and balustrades came from quarries in Lumberville, Pennsylvania and Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Over 2,400 tons of materials were used in its construction, including; 1,200 perch of stone, 517 tons of sand and 225 tons of cement. The base was excavated 15 feet (4.57 m) to build up the foundation. The tower was built by employees of the Washington Crossing Park Commission. Including labor, the tower cost $100,000 to build.
By 1934 the Tower was struck many times by lightning which resulted in the installation of a lightning protection system by the National Lightning Protection Company of St. Louis, Missouri. During the 1930s the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration planted over 28,300 seedlings, and they also created two vistas from the tower to the Delaware River. One on the north side of the hill and the other on the southeast side. A large number of erosion control measures were taken to include the setting of large numbers of rocks and boulders. in the 1980s the tower was extensively restored and an elevator was installed. Previously visitors climbed an open stone spiral staircase to the observation point at the top of the tower. The elevator goes 3/4's of the way to the top and lets out onto a wooden landing. Visitors must then climb a small and narrow 23 step stone spiral staircase to the tower roof. Additionally, there is a parapet over the final stairs that gives the tower its distinctive look.

The park

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania created the Washington Crossing Historic Park in 1917 and then established the Washington Crossing Park Commission to administer and develop the park in 1919. The park also contains the Thompson-Neely House. The Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve is now a self-sufficient non-profit organization operating completely independent from both the park commission and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The name

There is no definitive source for the name Bowman, however there are four main theories:
# The original name was ''Beau Mont'' which was paired with ''Belle Mont'', a similar hill in New Jersey.
# The hill was named for Thomas Bowman, an English merchant who conducted trade up and down the Delaware River in the 1600s.
# the hill was named for a John Bowman, a friend of Jonathan Pidcock, the first settler in the area. Pidcock's farm was located in the northeast end of the hill, from which Revolutionary War soldiers encamped on the farm, then owned by a Robert Thompson. They used the hill a a vantage point in which they could observe British troop movements along the Delaware River.
# Refers to a Doctor John Bowman (possibly the same John Bowman as above), ship's surgeon to Captain Kidd. Dr Bowman was thought to have retired to eastern Pennsylvania after his time at sea and is said to be buried somewhere on the hill. The legend goes on in claiming that pirate treasure may be buried on the hill.
Note: a Burial placard on the hill commemorates a John Pidcock, early settler of the area, and not Dr. Bowman.

The Mine

An accident led to the discovery of an old mine on what had been the farm of
John T. Neeley, two and a half miles below New Hope, the mouth covered
with a large flat stone. The shaft, with an opening through solid rock,
seven feet by four, runs into the hillside about sixty feet, where it
meets a chamber fifteen feet square and eight or ten feet high, with a
pillar in the centre hewn out of solid rock. Here is a shaft about forty
feet deep, and to the right of the chamber is an oblique shaft, about ten
feet wide and from thirty to forty high, which opens further up the hill.
The drift terminates in the solid rock. There are no other evidences of
mining operations, and no minerals found except a few pieces of copper
picked among the debris. There is no tradition as to when, or by whom, the
excavations were made, but it must have been at the early settlement of
the country, for large trees are now growing over the old excavations. Many years ago the late John Ruckman leased the property, and employed an engineer of New York to superintend new excavations. He uncovered the passage and shafts mentioned, but did not
find copper in sufficient quantities to justify working it. The engineer
decided that the original excavations had been made by German miners. The
location is on the west side of Bowman's hill. - ''from THE HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, CHAPTER XVIII, SOLEBURY, by W. W. H. Davis, A.M., 1876 and 1905 editions.''

The vistas

★ To the east, a large American Flag can be seen over an American Revolutionary War cemetery containing the graves of 23 Continental Army soldiers, 22 of them are unknown.

★ The Thompson-Neely House, an 18th century stone farmhouse with a gristmill, located down the hill and across the street (River Road) to the east.

★ To the northeast, the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge connecting New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey, and the Rt 202 bridge.

★ To the south east, Trenton, New Jersey and Morrisville, Pennsylvania.