Moving To Tinicum, PA? Information
Tinicum Township, Bucks County
Just a few miles north of New Hope is historic and mostly rural Tinicum Township. Here the broad, fertile river floodplain meets the steep cliffs of the Palisades. Swaths of woodlands abut farm fields. Tiny 18th and 19th century villages, including Erwinna, Uhlerstown, Ottsville, Smithtown and Sundale, appear at the junctions of old toll roads and long-forgotten ferry crossings.
Once the hunting and fishing grounds of the ancient Lenni Lenape Indians, Tinicum is now home to families with generations-old roots; newer residents who have found the privacy and room to roam, coupled with the up-and-coming and small Palisades School District; many weekenders from New York and Philadelphia who enjoy the rural atmosphere with easy access to restaurants, cultural activities, shopping and recreational attractions, farmers who grow soybeans, corn and hay and perhaps raise a few chickens, sheep, goats or steers; equestrians who enjoy the proximity to the polo matches at Tinicum Park, and a growing contingent of writers and artists and artisans who find a market for their creations in the shops of Doylestown and New Hope .
The area, a part of which has been designated a National Heritage corridor has resisted the large-scale housing developments that are more common in other Bucks County communities. But newer, single-family homes are available. Rolling Hills is a subdivision built between 2004 and 2006 with houses in the 4,000+ sq. ft. range on at least a few acres. In 2009, prices range from $950,000 to $1,800,000 with several lots still available. An older development, Everbreeze, built in the ‘80s features 2200 sq. ft. ranch and colonial-style homes on 1.5 to 2.5 acres with prices in the $350,000-$450,000 range.
Most of the homes in Tinicum Township are one-of-a-kind ranging from estates like the former home of literary legend Dorothy Parker which sold for $2.2 million in 2008 to a modest, 2 bedroom mobile home on a pretty 1.87 acre lot within walking distance of Lake Nockamixon that sold for $150,000 the same year.
Scattered throughout the 31.2 square miles of Tinicum Township are 19th century farmhouses, 1970s bi-levels and ranches, turn of the 20th century river-front bungalows, and a smattering of Victorians, contemporaries, log cabins and converted barns on lots as small as a third of an acre, and as large as 100+ acres.
Camping, hiking and biking opportunities and seasonal white water rafting are among the activities that draw visitors and prospective residents to Tinicum, as do the scenic vistas, historic grist mills and quaint covered bridges and several wonderful parks. State game lands #56 with its 400 acres of pristine forest is a huge attraction for hunters and hikers alike. There is little commercial development, but Tinicum does boast a winery (Sand Castle winery), a few antique shops, nurseries restaurants and Van Sant Glider airport.
For me, the natural beauty of Tinicum - it's narrow, winding roads, the shade of the red shale cliff shadows, the streams, deep enough to swim in, and even the unique fragrance of freshly fallen black walnuts - is a reminder of my childhood summers spent in a cottage in Tinicum. It was a wondrous world for a city kid back then, and remains that way for me today. © Gail Nagele-Hopkins