A February 18 view of the  Delaware River and its historic Milanville Eddy – facing south from our 1901 Milanville Bridge. Skinners Falls lie around a bend masked by trees on a PA ridge (right center).

From the 1770s until World War I thousands of log rafts floated past when spring freshets helped crews to navigate dangerous rapids at the falls – their timber ticketed for Philadelphia ship yards, or mills at Trenton and other industrial towns.

In early spring, local men waded in to build rafts from huge logs stored in a nearby field. The calmest water, ice-covered above, was perfect for this job. Or for upstream crews to tie up when seeking a meal or overnight bunk in close-by Milanville.