Foul Rift

Overview

Life at the rapids

Foul Rift is a riverside settlement about two miles south of Belvidere, named for the rapids just upstream, where the Delaware drops over limestone ledges. Wikipedia calls the rapids the most dangerous on the Delaware, and a county history of 1911 said the same of its quarter mile. Its first known resident deeded an acre for a wharf in 1744, and for about a hundred years Durham boats loaded pig iron there from the Oxford furnace for the run to Philadelphia. In 1814 William Sherlock built the Rifton Mills to use the falling water; they burned in 1856 and were never rebuilt.

By 1911 campers were gathering every summer on the sandy beach at the foot of the rift. The camps turned into cottages, and the cottages into year-round rentals on a narrow strip between the railroad and the river, reached through a tunnel under the tracks. The Star-Ledger described a close community with river Olympics and Halloween rounds on garden tractors, under the cooling towers of the Martins Creek power plant across the river in Pennsylvania.

The river ended it. A flood after Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 brought eviction notices, and a worse one followed seven months later. Two dozen cottages were lost between 2004 and 2006, and in October 2008 PPL Corp., which owned the last four, was about to tear them down. The company's spokesman cited the flood risk and failing sewers. Houses still line Foul Rift Road inland, and in 2024 the riverside lots changed hands.

Timeline

Wharf, mills, cottages

1. 1716A survey by John Reading calls the spot "a rocky falls in the Delaware River." William Penn has land surveyed to himself on both banks for its water power.
2. 1740Penn's heirs sell 1,735 acres, from the foot of Foul Rift to Hutchison's, to Jacobus Vanetta, who divides it with his brothers. In 1744 Johannes Vannatto, the earliest inhabitant the county history names, deeds an acre for a wharf.
3. 1769A map gives the rapids the name Foul Rift.
4. 1787–1790Nicholas Dupuy clears a channel through the rift for his grain boats, and Major Hoops of Belvidere widens it.
5. 1700s–1800sFor about a hundred years, Durham boats load pig iron from the Oxford furnace at the Foul Rift wharf for Philadelphia.
6. 1802John I. Blair, later a railroad builder and one of the richest men of his century, is born in a log cabin near the big spring.
7. 1814William Sherlock builds the Rifton Mills to use the rift's water power.
8. 1856Fire destroys the mills, rebuilt in 1836 and then owned by Sherrerd & Company. They are never rebuilt again.
9. 1911A county history describes a summer colony of campers on the sandy beach at the foot of the rift, and a carnival on the river.
10. 1900sThe camps grow into summer cottages and then year-round rentals on land beyond the railroad underpass.
11. Sep 2004–2006A flood tied to Hurricane Ivan brings eviction notices; a worse flood follows seven months later. Two dozen cottages are lost between 2004 and 2006.
12. Oct 2008The residents hold a farewell party. PPL Corp., which owns the last four cottages, is about to knock them down.
13. May 2024By New Jersey's parcel records, the riverside lots change hands in one recorded sale. The new owner's address is that of the State Agriculture Development Committee, the state's farmland-preservation agency.

Site map

Where the cottages stood

The 1997 USGS sheet shows the colony at its height: rows of small buildings along the river between the railroad and the water, north and south of where Foul Rift Road passes under the tracks. The 1943 and 1953 sheets show only a few buildings on the New Jersey bank, so most of the cottages came after the 1950s. On today's aerial imagery the strip is mostly wooded and the cottage rows are gone, and the Martins Creek plant fills the Pennsylvania bank opposite.

Foul Rift isn't empty. New Jersey's parcel records, updated in 2026, list more than a dozen house lots along Foul Rift Road within about half a mile, including two near the river north of the underpass and one on South Foul Rift Road. The riverside lots where the cottages stood are listed as vacant land or farmland. All of them changed hands in one recorded sale on May 16, 2024, and carry an owner address at the State Agriculture Development Committee. The records don't name the owner, and we found nothing on public access.

We found no first-hand account of what is left on the bank. The newest views we have are two January 2026 photos of Foul Rift Road at its railroad crossings, and no visit video newer than 2022.

Historic maps

Foul Rift on USGS maps, 1891–1997

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

18911:62,50019431:31,68019531:24,00019971:24,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Belvidere is the closest town, about 10 minutes north. From Manhattan the route takes I-280 and I-80 west, then county roads south past Hope. Both end on Foul Rift Road.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Foul Rift in photos

The railroad underpass on Foul Rift Road that led to the cottages, with a Posted sign at right, January 2026Cottage rows on the riverbank at Foul Rift on the 1997 USGS sheetThe Martins Creek power plant across the Delaware, in a photo titled Foul Rift Road, March 2014Foul Rift Road's one-lane bridge over the railroad, with the power plant beyond the trees, January 2026

Visitor reports

Been to Foul Rift?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Foul Rift

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our New Jersey index.

• Waterloo Village19.5 mi NE · Sussex
• Millbrook20.0 mi N · Warren
• Walpack Center27.1 mi NE · Sussex
• Hibernia33.1 mi E · Morris
• Feltville38.1 mi E · Union
• Raritan Landing39.2 mi SE · Middlesex
• Monksville47.2 mi NE · Passaic
• Long Pond Ironworks47.3 mi NE · Passaic

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Foul Rift, New Jersey", retrieved October 2026: location, the 1740 purchase from Penn's heirs, the mills, the cottage floods and 2008 removal, coordinates.
2. Wikipedia, "Foul Rift" (the rapids), retrieved October 2026: Class II, river miles 196.3 to 196.7, the limestone ledges, danger at high water.
3. Mike Frassinelli, "Residents of Foul Rift bid farewell to a sweet life," The Star-Ledger (October 5, 2008; read from the Internet Archive copy of June 12, 2018): the community, the 2004 and 2005 floods, two dozen cottages lost, PPL's ownership and removal of the last four, the railroad culvert.
4. George Wyckoff Cummins, History of Warren County, New Jersey (1911), pp. 117, 161–162 and 213–215, read from the Internet Archive text: the 1716 survey, the 1769 name, the 1740 sale by Penn's heirs, Vannatto and the wharf, Durham boats, channel clearing, the summer colony, John I. Blair's birth, Rifton Mills and their 1836 rebuilding.
5. NJ Office of GIS, Parcels and MOD-IV Composite of New Jersey (layer last edited August 2026), queried October 2026: house lots along Foul Rift Road, the riverside lots' land classes, their shared May 16, 2024 deed date and owner address. Owner names are not published in this layer.
6. NJ State Agriculture Development Committee, "Directions", read October 2026: its office at 200 Riverview Plaza and mailing address PO Box 330, Trenton, matching the owner address on the riverside lots.
7. Wikimedia Commons, Foul Rift Road photos by Mr. Matté (January 3, 2026): the one-lane underpass and bridge, and the Posted sign in frame.
8. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The railroad underpass on Foul Rift Road that led to the cottages, with a Posted sign at right, January 2026: Mr. Matté, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Cottage rows on the riverbank at Foul Rift on the 1997 USGS sheet: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
• The Martins Creek power plant across the Delaware, in a photo titled Foul Rift Road, March 2014: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
• Foul Rift Road's one-lane bridge over the railroad, with the power plant beyond the trees, January 2026: Mr. Matté, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Delaware Water Gap 1891, 1:62,500; Belvidere 1943, 1:31,680; Belvidere 1953, 1:24,000; Belvidere 1997, 1:24,000.