The night prior to George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, he is said to have lodged in New Hope. He destroyed the ferry so the British could not follow him, and after the battles of Trenton and Princeton, when British troops were sweeping the area for the American forces, there was no response when they rang for the ferry. The British assumed the town was sympathetic to the Colonial forces and shelled the town. Several of the older structures in the town still claim to have unexploded British ordnance lodged in their roofbeams.