Limeport
Village and shipping station in Solebury Township near the pipeline pumping station of the Atlantic Richfield Company between Philips Mill and Center Bridge on the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal and on River Road (Route 326) [today, Route 32]. As this was a shipping point for vast quantities of lime, it was appropriately named. More than fifty years ago [late 19th century] a large limestone quarry and several kilns were operated here, giving employment to a number of hands. For half a century after the opening of the canal it was the center of much activity. An ample, well-built wharf was much used by other shippers besides limeburners. It was known from recitals in old deeds that the pioneer settlers of Buckingham and Solebury knew about the value of lime beneath the soil they were clearing for cultivation. In a deed made in 1703 by Lawrence Pearson granting to his brother Enoch a tract of land in Buckingham Township, the grantor reserves and excepts "the privilege to get limestone from the within granted premises for the use of said Lawrence and his children, their heirs and assigns forever." Limeport marks the eastern extremity of a narrow belt of limestone rock extending from the Delaware River for six miles to a point beyond Buckingham, where it disappears beneath the overlapping red shale. At one time almost the whole belt was worked, and for the greater part of the nineteenth century quarrying and burning lime was a profitable industry. [1]
- MacReynolds, George, Place Names in Bucks County, 1942, Bucks County Historical Society, Doylestown, PA.
Nearby Neighborhoods
Street Names
River Road
