Sunlight falling through the trees in the Cintra clearing, New Hope, Pennsylvania

Save our historic
open space in
New Hope

Photograph of Cintra by New Hope Resident Gary Karlsrud

What's at Stake

5 Acres & 200 Years of History Now Face
17 Luxury Townhouses

Traffic

Dozens of extra cars on Bridge Street across from the school

Density

Years of construction then permanent noise and congestion

Flooding

Straining wells, sending stormwater downhill, and forever reshaping the topography

5 Acres, Gone

Five acres of historic open space, carved into luxury lots

None of this is inevitable. Add your name and Save Cintra Woods

Community members marching with signs across the bridge in New Hope, Pennsylvania

What You Can Do

It Takes a Village.

Add your name, get the updates, and show up when it counts. This is how we'll protect our open land.

Sign the petition

01

Sign & share the petition

Show the borough and the new owner how many people stand behind this land.
02

Show up at borough meetings

Decisions about Cintra Woods happen in public. Presence matters.
03

Join the mailing list

Be first to hear about hearings, deadlines, and ways to help.

Why It Matters

Cintra & the Making of New Hope

1816 William Maris helped create the commercial heart of New Hope, then built Cintra as his home, inspired by a palace in Portugal.

William Maris was a Philadelphia industrialist who helped turn a river crossing into a thriving town.

Around 1816, on a trip to Portugal, Maris saw the palace at Sintra and adapted its plan for his own home on West Bridge Street.

“Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?”, 1838. The emblem of the women’s abolitionist movement.

Why It Matters

Sanctuary on Bridge Street

1830s–1986 For 150 years, Cintra welcomed those who were marginalized by society, politics, or the laws of the day.⁶

1830s The Underground Railroad

Henry Lee freed himself from slavery in Maryland and made his way to New Hope, where he found refuge at Cintra, then the home of Ruth Paxson Ely.

1830s–60s A women's abolitionist network

The Paxson family was active in the Buckingham Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was one of only a handful of all-women anti-slavery societies in the country.

1973–86 An open life, a national legacy

Why It Matters

40 Years of Historic Protection — Gone

2022–2025 A promised restoration ignored, the mansion demolished, and the estate quietly stripped of its protections.

In 2022, disregarding a petition with hundreds of local signatures,⁹ the New Hope Borough Council approved the demolition of the 200-year-old Cintra mansion.

2026 A renewed threat. 17 Luxury Townhouses proposed to replace two centuries of New Hope's history

Developer Peter Edwardson and architect Ralph Fey propose the development of 17 luxury townhouses, this time without the protection of historic designation.

Why It Matters

Reshaping the Future of New Hope

For two centuries Cintra has been a cornerstone defining the history of New Hope.

New Hope and Lambertville deserve more than another luxury development erasing our history.

Why It Matters

Cintra & the Making
of New Hope

1816 William Maris helped create the commercial heart of New Hope, then built Cintra as his home, inspired by a palace in Portugal.

William Maris was a Philadelphia industrialist who helped turn a river crossing into a thriving town. He constructed cotton, woolen, and flax mills on Aquetong Creek, built the Brick Hotel and the Delaware House at Main and Bridge, and partnered with Benjamin Parry and Lewis Coryell on the Union Mills — buildings that still form much of New Hope's historic commercial core today.¹

Around 1816, on a trip to Portugal, Maris saw the palace at Sintra and adapted its plan for his own home on West Bridge Street: a fieldstone house with a central octagonal hub flanked by two matching wings. He named it Cintra, and planted the grounds with specimen trees — several of which still stand on the five acres that remain of the estate and in the properties of surrounding homes. In 1834, Cintra passed to the Ely family, who held it for more than a century, during which time it became central to two of the era's most consequential social movements.²

Why It Matters

Sanctuary on
Bridge Street

1830s–1986 For 150 years, Cintra welcomed those who were marginalized by society, politics, or the laws of the day.⁶

1830s The Underground Railroad

Henry Lee freed himself from slavery in Maryland and made his way to New Hope, where he found refuge at Cintra, then the home of Ruth Paxson Ely. He lived and worked on the estate for years, keeping his past hidden until 1840, when it was finally safe to reveal it. From there he worked for families across town and became New Hope's town crier, living out his days as a free man.³

1830s–60s A women's abolitionist network

The Paxson family was active in the Buckingham Female Anti-Slavery Society, which was one of only a handful of all-women anti-slavery societies in the country, and one of just three female societies (alongside Philadelphia and one in Massachusetts) to send delegates to a major 1838 anti-slavery convention in Philadelphia. Barred from voting and from men's societies, these women organized petitions and boycotts, refusing cotton and sugar produced by enslaved labor — early organizing that later fed directly into the suffrage movement.⁴

1973–86 An open life, a national legacy

At a time when New Hope was one of the few places in America where gay men and lesbians could live openly, antiques dealer Joseph Stanley and his partner Dewey Lee Curtis bought Cintra and built a life together — in business and in full view — until Curtis's death in 1986. They turned the estate into Joseph Stanley Antiques, a respected showroom for 18th-century English furniture. In 1977, Curtis founded the Decorative Arts Trust, which grew to 630 members within its first year across 42 states, Canada, and England, and remains a national nonprofit funding scholarships and preservation work today.⁵

Why It Matters

40 Years of
Historic Protection
— Gone

2022–2025 A promised restoration ignored, the mansion demolished, and the estate quietly stripped of its protections.

In 2022, disregarding a petition with hundreds of local signatures,⁹ the New Hope Borough Council approved the demolition of the 200-year-old Cintra mansion.⁸

In October 2025, after Bob Hillier's plan to develop 29 apartments and condos was opposed by local residents, the historic Cintra property was sold off-market to developer and builder Peter Edwardson without public listing or announcement. Two months later Cintra was removed from the National Register of Historic Places despite historic structures still remaining on the property; 40 years of federal recognition gone.⁷

2026 A renewed threat. 17 Luxury Townhouses proposed to replace two centuries of New Hope's history

Developer Peter Edwardson and architect Ralph Fey propose the development of 17 luxury townhouses, this time without the protection of historic designation. The five acres anchoring the entrance to New Hope's historic district — and directly across from the New Hope–Solebury schools — are now in danger of becoming a high-density development the borough's own zoning was written to prevent.¹⁰

Apartment and Condo Rendering, Studio Hillier

Why It Matters

Reshaping the
Future of New Hope

For two centuries Cintra has been a cornerstone defining the history of New Hope — the vision of an industrialist who helped establish the town's economic relevance, a new beginning for a man who escaped slavery and created a life of freedom and prosperity, a crucible for women fighting against injustice and building a movement that helped win the vote, and a base for a couple who helped define the cultural landscape and launch an international arts institution.

New Hope and Lambertville deserve more than another luxury development erasing our history. Cintra Woods should remain intact and unharmed, allowing it to keep giving back to the community it has helped shape for generations. The historic specimen trees William Maris planted are still standing, natural habitats for our local wildlife are still present, and open space still exists in the heart of New Hope. That's worth celebrating. The land should be open to the public and protected as greenspace, a natural stormwater buffer for the Aquetong Creek, and a place recognized for its role in New Hope's story.

Photograph of Cintra by New Hope Resident Gary Karlsrud

Join Us

Join the mailing list

Be first to hear about hearings, deadlines, and ways to help.

Join the mailing list

Your donation preserves New Hope's history.

Your gift funds awareness, preservation efforts, and stewardship of the land. We'll show you exactly where it goes.

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Donate

Save our historicopen space inNew Hope

5 Acres & 200 Years of History Now Face17 Luxury Townhouses

Traffic

Density

Flooding

5 Acres, Gone

It Takes a Village.

Sign & share the petition

Show up at borough meetings

Join the mailing list

Cintra & the Making of New Hope

Cintra & the Makingof New Hope

Sanctuary onBridge Street

40 Years ofHistoric Protection— Gone

Reshaping theFuture of New Hope

Join the mailing list

Your donation preserves New Hope's history.

Save our historic
open space in
New Hope

5 Acres & 200 Years of History Now Face
17 Luxury Townhouses

Cintra & the Making
of New Hope

Sanctuary on
Bridge Street

40 Years of
Historic Protection
— Gone

Reshaping the
Future of New Hope