Newtown Borough Cuts The Ribbon On Patriots Park
NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Using a giant pair of scissors, Newtown Borough Councilor Julia Woldorf joined three youngsters on Sunday afternoon in cutting the ribbon on the town’s newest park.
As raindrops fell from the sky, Patriots Park at the corner of Court and Mercer streets officially opened to the public as a medley of American anthems, performed by members of the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County, filled the air.
Designed by landscape architect Nancy Minick of NAM Planning and Design and constructed by Gasper Landscape and Construction, the new passive recreation park includes a handicapped accessible walking path, trellises, arbors, fences, trees, bushes, seasonal plantings, park benches, and a grassy open area for play and relaxation.
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“When you walk around the park note that its design reflects the style of Colonial gardens which would have included plants native to America as well as those brought over from England,” Newtown Borough Councilor Julia Woldorf told park visitors. “Colonial gardens were generally small spaces with well-defined paths and garden bed edges.”
State Senator Steve Santarsiero with Newtown Borough Councilor Julia Woldorf at the opening of Patriots Park. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
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State Rep. Perry Warren and former Newtown Borough Council President Tara Grunde-McLaughlin at the opening of Patriots Park. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Inside the new Patriots Park at Mercer and Court streets. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
Musicians with the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County provided the music for the park opening. (Jeff Werner/Patch)
In designing the park, Minick said it was important to select plants and materials that fit in with the historic nature of the site.
She also purposely selected plantings that would bloom at various times of the year to provide continual color in the park.
“I’m thrilled with how it turned out,” said Chris Toselli of Gasper, which managed the construction of the new park.
“It really fits in with the town. It looks like it’s been here for years. And in a good way, it doesn’t stand out;” said Toselli. “The fence is brand new and white, but the rest of it looks like it’s been here for years and years.”
Woldorf said in addition to providing open space in the heart of town, the park preserves an important piece of the town’s past reaching back to before the Revolution.
“While this may be Newtown Borough’s newest park, this land reflects over 350 years of Newtown history,” she said. “The Bird In Hand, the building on the front lot, was built in 1686 making it the oldest frame building in Pennsylvania. It was a tavern and hotel until 1858. Through the years it has also housed a quartermasters house and a jail for the Hessian soldiers who Washington captured while crossing the Delaware. Over the years it has also been a bakery, a grocery, a tin shop, a barbershop, a post office, residences and governmental and professional offices.”
The property was also part of the original six squares purchased in 1725 by the county creating the foundation for how the town would be developed as the county seat.
In addition, the land was the site of a 1778 skirmish during the Revolutionary War when Loyalists raided the Bird-In-Hand and stole 2,000 square yards of woolen felt that was to be made into uniforms for Washington’s Army. During the skirmish, five Patriots were killed, four were wounded, 11 were taken prisoner, and 2,000 yards of cloth were destroyed or taken
Newtown Borough purchased the property in 2019 to turn it into a park, to save the land from development and to preserve some green space in the borough.
Woldorf spearheaded the park project for the borough, obtaining the grants that paid for the land and development of the park and then oversaw the design and implementation of the project.
Funding for Patriots Park was provided by grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund; the Bucks County Municipal Open Space Program; the PECO Green Region Open Space Program; and local donors.
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