The Village of Bevans
Delaware Water Gap Nat’l Recreation Area
Dutchman Peter Van Nests, first Sandyston Surveyor of Highways, settled here around 1767 at the intersection of rural roads that he had surveyed. The community, Peters Valley, became one of several small villages that supported nearby farms through the late 1800s.
The village grew with the general store, which opened in 1830, and the Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1838. In time, houses and shops lined the roads of the village, now called Hen’s Foot Corners to describe its crossroads. The village finally adopted the name Bevans when the Bevans Family established a post office here around 1880.
Like other rural communities in the nation, Bevans declined after 1900. Summer vacationers then discovered the place, filling its hotel and briefly shoring the village up, but by 1950 few year-round residents remained.
In 1965, Bevans became part of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Within a few years, it was re-born as an artist community, Peters Valley Craft Center.
Marker is at the intersection of Old Mine Road and Walpack Road N, on the left when traveling north on Old Mine Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
