The story of the two Jugtowns in Bucks County's storied history
How does a settlement known as Jugtown become a place called Eddington?
My interest in the Bensalem neighborhood came after writing about a different Jugtown that once existed in Tinicum. “Jugtown Resort” was a place to unwind for weary boatmen who hauled anthracite from Easton to Bristol on the Delaware Canal in the 19th century. The retreat was atop a palisades cliff overlooking both the canal and the Delaware River. You had to travel down the hill on Jugtown Hill Road, cross over the canal to River Road, then head down river about a mile to the bridge to Frenchtown, N.J. where booze could be purchased. As historian George MacReynolds explained in 1942, “Jugs were a necessity in olden times, as it was a far call from Jugtown to the nearest tavern when liquid joy was needed for a frolic.”
It’s likely Eddington began life in the very same fashion: too far from a tavern. Libation had to be lugged back to the neighborhood in large jugs to fuel local frivolity. It was only natural to call the village Jugtown, a “thick settlement” at the three-way intersection of the Bristol and Frankford turnpikes (today’s Old Route 13) and Old Dunks Ferry Road. With surging commerce, Jugtown residents keened for a different name. They adopted Dunksville to honor Dunken Williams. He ran a very busy ferry service to New Jersey at the end of Dunks Ferry Road. It gained notoriety in the American Revolution for what happened the night of Christmas 1776. George Washington was counting on half his Continental Army – 2,700 soldiers and 18 artillery pieces – to cross over the river to New Jersey from the ferry landing, then attack Trenton from the south. However a blizzard, floating ice and stiff currents thwarted the effort. Nevertheless, Washington and the other half of his army succeeded in crossing the Delaware from Upper Makefield and won the Battle of Trenton to save the Revolution.
About 75 years later, Dunksville became a more descriptive Oakgrove. Yet another town name lingered just up the road on Bristol Pike. It traces to Richard Gibbs who arrived in 1746 from Wiltshire, England to teach school in Bensalem. Rich’s brother in England passed away and left him a fortune about the time Rich became county sheriff in 1771. With the Revolution underway, Rich was an ardent supporter. Informed Congress was unable to raise sufficient funds to support the Continental Army, he loaned much of his inheritance, never repaid. With cash he had left, he purchased a sizeable estate just off Bristol Pike. He called it Eddington after the same place in England where Alfred the Great defeated an invading Danish army in 878. Great Al was also king of Wessex and promoted education and literacy during his 28-year rule. It was a legacy much admired by Richard Gibbs.
By the middle of the 19th century Oakgrove – the former Jugtown and Dunksville – became Eddington. Estates with distinctive mansions blossomed on the river front from Neshaminy Creek to the upper edge of Andalusia. Each had a moniker: Ackley Place, Bellespoir, the Clock House, Mount Pleasant, Brander, Heart’s Dale, Sarobia and Riverview. Legends were born. For instance, Mount Pleasant was owned by Benjamin Franklin’s daughter Sally Bache and it is there ol’ Ben reportedly installed the first of his famous lightning rods that were to go on to protect buildings and ships at sea from lightning strikes. The Clock House featured an unusual second-floor window resembling a large clock. When timber for ship masts from upriver forests floated by on massive rafts at night, the illuminated window warned rafters of shoreline rocks.
Today, some of those mansions, a few churches and other historic buildings remain. But congested highways plus industrial and commercial development have so altered the landscape the past has been left behind.
Sources include “Place Names in Bucks County Pennsylvania” by George MacReynolds published in 1942, and “Traveling Through Bensalem: 1692-1984" published in 1984 by the Historical Society of Bensalem Township.
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com. A second printing of his “Bucks County Adventures” coffee table book is now available at bookstores in Doylestown, Lahaska, Newtown and online.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: This Bensalem locality had many name changes before settling on Eddington
