New Hope, PA Locations Locator Map and Directory

The primary industry of New Hope is tourism. On weekends the streets are crowded with tourists visiting the many restaurants, antique shops, art galleries, or just strolling along the river and the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal.

The Bucks County Playhouse is located in New Hope and features a constant stream of plays and musical productions. It is located in an attractive historic building. New Hope was a popular spot for Broadway shows to be tested and fine tuned. Many notable stage actors bought weekend homes in the area. The area grew to become a popular gay resort in the 1950s and today New Hope still has an active and large gay community. A common joke among locals is that the town has no hardware store, but it does have three gay bars.

New Hope is also a terminal point on the New Hope & Ivyland Railroad. On weekends, an excursion gives tourists a ride on the railroad through scenic Bucks County.

New Hope was in the news in 1983 when NBC network anchorwoman Jessica Savitch and her boyfriend drowned after their car overturned into the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal . The canal passes by Odette's Restaurant, where the couple had dined on a rainy evening and visibility was poor.

Union Camp Corporation had a bag production facility in New Hope until the late 1980s. It employed around one hundred people total and was located uphill from the New Hope Ivyland railroad. The former factory complex has been recycled as a series of shops and businesses aimed at the teeming tourist industry. The most notable new business is the Triumph microbrewery and restaurant (to keep up with River Horse brewery in the former corn curl/Original Trenton Cracker factory across the Delaware river in Lambertville NJ).