Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor

The Delaware & Lehigh Canal National and State Heritage Corridor stretches 165 miles across five counties and some hundred municipalities in eastern Pennsylvania, USA. It follows the historic routes of the Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Lehigh Navigation, Lehigh Canal and the Delaware Canal, from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol. The Corridor's mission is to preserve heritage and conserve green space for public use in Bucks, Carbon, Lehigh, Luzerne, and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania.^[1]

Description

Within the National Heritage Corridor there are more than 100,000 acres (400 km²) of public lands for outdoor recreation, including numerous state, county and local parks.^[2]

The Corridor includes hundreds of historical sites related to a variety of subjects including:

• social development of young America (Leni Lenape settlements)
• the anthracite coal mining era (the Molly Maguires labor movement)
• the Industrial Revolution (Bethlehem Iron & Steel)
• the development of systematic canals (the Lehigh Navigation, Lehigh and Delaware Canals)
• the development of rail transportation (Lehigh Valley Railroad)
• the evolution of natural conservation (John J. Audubon and Bucks County conservation movement)

It also contains sites that can be interpreted to represent the transforming principles that became the foundation of the American Constitution — religious freedom, mutual responsibility between government and the people, and equality.

In 1988, the United States Congress designated the Corridor as nationally significant, in recognition of its nine National Historic Landmarks, six National Recreation Trails, two National Natural Landmarks and hundreds of sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Cities in the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor

• Allentown
• Bethlehem
• Bristol
• Easton
• Jim Thorpe
• New Hope
• White Haven
• Wilkes-Barre

Pennsylvania State Parks in the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor

• Beltzville State Park
• Delaware Canal State Park
• Francis Slocum State Park
• Hickory Run State Park
• Jacobsburg State Park
• Lehigh Gorge State Park
• Nescopeck State Park
• Neshaminy State Park
• Ricketts Glen State Park
• Tyler State Park
• Washington Crossing Historic Park

References

1. ^ Delaware & Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor and State Park: Excerpts from the Management Action Plan, The Delaware & Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor Commission, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1993-04-02, http://www.delawareandlehigh.org/images/library/MAP_Executive_Summary.pdf 
2. ^ Shealey, Tom (2004), D&L Trail, Towns & Culture: The Stone Coal Way: A Guide to Navigating Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor through Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, ISBN 0-9742944-1-1 

External links

• Pennsylvania's Delaware, Lehigh, & Wyoming Valleys — Where America was built
• Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Pennsylvania, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary

• "The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor is both a State Heritage Park and a National Heritage Corridor"