Tyler State Park; Neshaminy Creek Dam
- The Wicked Swamp Rabbit
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 15 hours ago
In Bucks County, PA there is a beloved state park the Neshaminy Creek runs though and spills over a dam in all of its beauty and fury. This is Tyler State park where a recent tragedy unfolded when a park Resource Ranger tipped over in his kayak at the dam, not to be found until days later by rescue and recovery teams.
While reading comments on social media during the search it became evident this is another one of Pennsylvania's dangerous dams. Several people were sharing stories of near death experiences at this dam, prompting us to take a closer look at it. This is what we found.
As an intro to the Neshaminy we first consulted Wikipedia:
Neshaminy Creek is a 40.7-mile-long (65.5Â km)[1] stream that runs entirely through Bucks County, Pennsylvania, rising south of the borough of Chalfont, where its north and west branches join. Neshaminy Creek flows southeast toward Bristol Township and Bensalem Township to its confluence with the Delaware River.
The name "Neshaminy" originates with the Lenni Lenape and is thought to mean "place where we drink twice".[2] This phenomenon refers to a section of the creek known as the Neshaminy Palisades, where the course of the water slows and changes direction at almost a right angle, nearly forcing the water back upon itself. These palisades are located in Dark Hollow Park,[3] operated by the county.
Downloadable map from pa.gov that includes Neshaminy Creek and the Neshaminy Weir Damn.
There are multiple dams along the Neshaminy, our focus will be the one which took the life of a Tyler State Park Resource Ranger. Neshaminy Weir Dam. Research is showing that there has been opposition to dams on the Neshaminy since day one, going back in time hundreds of years. Research is also showing that Neshaminy Weir dam has finally been marked as a priority for removal by the Nature Conservancy. Not because it's dangerous, but for fish. You can view their restoration roadmap here. They have marked the Neshaminy Weir dam as a tier 1 priority.
Whatever gets the job done. We don't care about the reason why it's finally being removed, we just care that someone is pushing to make it happen. We have long known these century old dams across the state of Pennsylvania are death traps.
With our focus being the weir dam we are going to hone in on articles and photos from the recent drowning of Alec Campbell.
You see the line systems set up, the boats, the man power - but none of it could have even been enough for the force of the water going over the dam.
Like we posted about in our dock street dam blog, it is so hard to escape the never ending recirculating hydraulic cycle the rushing water creates.
With ALL of this there isn't much left to say other than these dams are dangerous. If you fall in the water near one the chances of you dying are extremely high. Stay away from them. Write to your legislators to get them removed. There is no excuse for incidents like this to continue happening. We have long since moved past the industrial age when these dams were being used for their original intent. Even centuries ago when these dams were being built there were many opposed to them.
Let's make change happen. The dams in Pennsylvania waterways need to go.
27 dams were removed last year in PA, let's do even better this year.
Please sign the petition to urge the appropriate authorities to remove the Neshaminy Weir dam.
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