Lambertville is a compact river city in southwestern Hunterdon County, set against the Delaware River where the Delaware and Raritan Canal meets the waterway. Directly across the river lies New Hope, Pennsylvania, linked by the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge, and the two towns function as a single arts-and-tourism destination even as they remain in separate states. The city's population of about 4,200 gives it a small-town scale, but its dense, walkable core and steady stream of weekend visitors make it feel livelier than its size suggests. The town's history reaches back to colonial ferry crossings. Settled in part as Coryell's Ferry on the route between New York and Philadelphia, the area hosted George Washington's troops, who camped twice at the 1744 Holcombe house. The completion of the Delaware and Raritan Canal in 1834 transformed Lambertville into a canal and industrial town, and it was renamed for John Lambert, a U.S. senator and acting governor of New Jersey. The canal's later abandonment left behind the towpath that is now the centerpiece of the D&R Canal State Park. Today Lambertville is best known as a destination for art and antiques. Its preserved Federal and Victorian houses frame a walkable downtown of galleries, antique shops, and independent restaurants, including the Lambertville Station, a restaurant and inn set in a restored nineteenth-century train station. The city's streets, the canal towpath, and the riverside all draw cyclists, boaters, and day-trippers, while its location near Routes 29 and 202 keeps Philadelphia and the New York metropolitan area within reach. Education is provided by the South Hunterdon Regional School District, which operates Lambertville Public School and the regional middle/high school for the city and neighboring West Amwell Township. This blend of a historic, gallery-lined downtown, an active riverside and towpath, and a full small-district school system is what draws residents to Lambertville as both a destination and a place to live.