The Gutter Guys

Yardley was founded by William Yardley, who immigrated to America in July, 1682 with his family. He made an agreement with William Penn, before leaving England, to buy 500 acres for ten pounds. A survey was completed in October 1682, and the area William Yardley settled was called "Prospect Farm." It was located just outside of the present Yardley Borough. William Yardley died in 1693, and his family in 1702-1703, possibly of smallpox. The family's burial plots are located in slate hill cemetery, one of the oldest Quaker burial grounds in the state. During the American Civil War, Yardley was a station for the Underground Railroad, an escape route for slaves. Known hiding places were under the eaves of the Continental Hotel (now the Continental Tavern), in bins of warehouses on the Delaware Canal (completed in 1862), and at the General Store (now Worthington Insurance). At Lakeside, the yellow house facing Lake Afton on N. Main St., one brick-walled cellar room is also thought to have been a hiding place. Yardley Borough was incorporated on March 4, 1895.