75 North Main Street - "Turtle Soup"

The Paxson Estate was sold to developers in the 1890s, leading to the development of North Main Street. The 75 North Main Street property was acquired by next-door neighbors Joseph and Sadie Smith who erected the home in 1933. After two subsequent sales, Sherry Baker became the owner in 1973, and continues to this day.

It is somewhat similar in style to other Victorian homes on North Main Street. However, it was built approximately 30-40 years later than those Stick-style homes with different features.  A wrap-around porch exists on two sides of this corner property and features a porch swing loved by the owner’s young grandchild. The porch was lengthened and a new addition was added to the rear of the property in 1987 resulting in the loss of a separate rear porch. The addition houses a first-floor office and an expanded second-floor master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. Many original features still exist including wooden columns on either side of a broad entrance between the living room and dining room.  Another upstairs bathroom features a soaking tub and Anaglypta thickly embossed ceiling. 

Ms. Baker has added wallpaper in the kitchen and other rooms, including the reproduction of a 16th-century wallpaper pattern in the master bedroom suite. The attic yoga and meditation studio are reached by a wooden staircase with curved sycamore branch railings. An outhouse rescued from demolition in Philadelphia now serves as a garden shed in the backyard. The owner had the exterior stucco painted yellow reminding her of her Southern roots. 


Water plays an important part in the history of many New Hope structures, and 75 North Main Street is no exception as related in an interview and tour with Ms. Baker. An artesian spring arises behind this property and at one point was routed underground into a swale in the basement. A previous owner, Mr. Lewis, loved turtle soup. The swale would be filled to about one foot deep, and turtles would be placed there until they were ready for use in soup.­­ That spring now drains directly into the Delaware River via a storm drain. 


Multiple Delaware River floods reached this house, in spite of its relative distance from the Delaware on the west side of Main Street. The 1955 flood reached above the first-floor windows. The next highest flood was in 2005, and it filled the basement to within an inch of reaching the first-floor planks. The basement ceiling beams were old enough that they did not warp. The owner was not home and was unreachable at the time of another flood in 2004. Friendly neighbors broke into the house and removed items to lessen the damage.


Prominent local artist Joseph Crilley’s oil painting of the home hangs in the dining room. Works by Solebury resident, Richard Zinn,  also hangs on the walls. Outdoors at the corner of the front yard is a Steven Snyder sculpture consisting of several small stones sitting on a pedestal, aptly named “Library.” Bucks County woodworker of note, Phillip Lloyd Powell, lived next door and kept Ms. Baker supplied with tools.

Many thanks to Sherry Baker for sharing her home with us as we continue to explore the history of New Hope through its buildings and its current residents. 


The Parry Mansion Museum Archives Team is a team of passionate and energetic volunteers who bring diverse, professional backgrounds to advance our archives with programs such as this monthly series “Beyond the Door,” and individual and community research request fulfillment and so much more. Many thanks to the Archives Team!

Beyond The Door

January 17, 2025
Buttonwood Street in New Hope is just one block north on Chestnut Street from Bridge Street. This article will focus on one home on Buttonwood, but also remark on other interesting properties nearby. The subject home on Buttonwood was once a stable located on the Bridge Street property now known as the Wedgwood Inn Bed and Breakfast. The inn is clearly visible from Buttonwood Street. At a recent visit to the property on Buttonwood the current owner related that the stable was built in 1833, and at least partially supporting that assertion was the hand-hewn post and beam construction found under the walls during modern renovations. Such construction was most common from the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries. As stated in our earlier "Beyond the Door" article about the Wedgwood Inn, the building now housing the inn was constructed in 1870 on the stone foundation of an earlier "old hip-roof" house built in 1720. The Buttonwood property owner says the stable was moved to its current location in the 1940's or 1950's and then was used by a blacksmith, and later an upholsterer. In 1958 it was converted to a home. If the stable dates to 1833, it must have been present during the time of both the original 1720 house as well as the still extant 1870 building now housing the Wedgwood Inn. 
October 30, 2024
Situated directly across Main Street from New Hope Historical Society’s Parry Mansion is one of the oldest surviving buildings in New Hope, now housing several commercial ventures including Farley’s Bookshop. The New Hope Historical Society (NHHS) archives include a copy of Margaret Bye Richie’s extensive and well-documented review of historic buildings in New Hope for her 1987 academic dissertation in the University of Pennsylvania Department of American Civilization. In it, she noted that the northern portion of the building was built circa 1748 and was represented on Benjamin Parry’s 1798 map as “No. 21”, while the southern portion was built circa 1830 near the time of the canal construction. Her 1980’s conversation with local architect Donald Hedges quoted him that in 1940 a sign stating “Parry’s General Store” still hung on the building. The Parry Store was likely the first provisions store in New Hope. 
August 2, 2024
New Hope Historical Society archives volunteers recently met with Ernie Bowman at the historic home he shares with his wife Dee Dee at 116 New Street. This home is the south side of a stone double house that was built facing east over 200 years ago, before the construction of the Delaware Canal which now borders the home in its backyard. After the canal was built and New Street was constructed the front door was changed to the west side of the house facing New Street. Due to the slope of the land towards the canal, the original second floor became the first floor entering from New Street. The original first floor was transformed into an above-ground basement with an outdoor entrance facing the canal. Ernie Bowman believes prior to the canal being built by 1834, that the future towpath near the house may have been used as a carriage path. New Hope Historical Society archives files indicate the house was likely built by Joshua Vansant. When Ernie and Dee Dee purchased the home in 1982, much of the original woodwork inside the home was intact and to this day has never been significantly altered. Although the 1983 nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places for the “New Hope Village District” lists the house as being built in 1805, during renovations of the now basement level, a penny from 1817 was discovered under the floor, perhaps indicating that as the date of construction. 
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