Lambertville, NJ
The Gem of Jersey's West Coast
Lambertville, a town of 3,868 on the Delaware River—Jersey’s west coast—is popular with visitors who walk, jog, bike, or hike along the 60-mile Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, which runs through the heart of town. It’s also popular with antique hunters who come to its two huge, year-round flea markets. Lambertville’s Antiques Dealers Association has more than 100 members, many of whom, like chairman Deloris Verchere, live in town.
Verchere’s home, a school built in 1878, still has a century-old blackboard in its basement.
“Lambertville’s main industry is 40 antique shops, innumerable art galleries, fine restaurants, cozy pubs, and lovely Victorian buildings,” says Verchere, owner of Garden House Antiques. “Because of its geography—the hills, the river, and the canal—Lambertville can’t grow. No urban or suburban sprawl is possible here,” and new construction is rare.
“People tend not to leave, so housing availability is low,” says Steve Stegman, a local realtor. “Today, new communities are developed around a town square or a central business district, something Lambertville has always had. People are tired of being isolated and want to live in a place with a soul, a sense of community, like we have here,” he says.
A city councilman, Stegman finds “quality of life always a big issue, since people move here for it.” Recently, Mayor David DelVecchio and other concerned citizens succeeded in banning truck traffic on Route 29, Lambertville’s one highway.
Since 1991, Stegman has chaired the Shad Festival, held during April’s last weekend. He calls it, “a great event involving many areas of our community—business, art, local nonprofits, and environmentalists. We all keep an eye on the vitality of the Delaware River Valley.” Nearly 100 local artists donate original artwork for a Sunday “Poster Auction,” raising scholarship money for local high school seniors pursuing art careers. “That’s what kept me doing this,” Stegman says proudly.
Amy Coss, co-owner of Sojourner, a handicrafts shop, sits on the scholarships selection committee. “We’ve given away close to $100,000 over 20 years of the Shad Festival,” she says. Coss believes Lambertville owes its strong revival to all the festival volunteers. “Back in the ’70s, buildings were boarded up here. By the ’90s, Lambertville was established, a place to go. A lot of people worked very hard to turn it around.”
Though in the 1960s, shad stopped running in the polluted Delaware. government and citizens groups cleaned the river and the shad returned. “If the river can come back, so can Lambertville,” declared the late Jack Curtin, a businessman. He organized merchant promotions, including the two-day Shad Festival, which brings thousands of people to town, many of whom re-visit.
While in town, they may run into local artist Bob Beck, who enjoys live-action painting. For Lambertville’s 150th anniversary in 1999, the town shut down Union Street for a spaghetti dinner serving 1,000 in a single sitting. “Everyone bought tickets,” Beck says, “competing for best costume or table setting prizes. You don’t see this kind of community event too often. Instead of sitting at a table eating meatballs, I was up on a roof painting The Great American Spaghetti Dinner. I look for the icons, the happenings. I’m ubiquitous in Lambertville—you come around a corner and there I am,” Beck laughs.
It’s no surprise that he, as well as other artists, finds inspiration in Lambertville. Both Coss and Vechere agree about its attractions. “It’s just a beautiful town, architecturally and geographically, set in the Delaware Valley,” says Coss, who loves walking along the canal path.
For Verchere, Lambertville’s atmosphere is what’s so precious. “It’s not overdone; it just is. People say hello to you in the street, whether they know you or not. It’s a very satisfying place to live.”
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