History & local legend
Joseph Pickett was a self-taught painter and shopkeeper who lived and worked on West Mechanic Street in New Hope. His general store occupied the building at 15–19 West Mechanic, with living quarters above and space for his painting toward the rear. He died in 1918, before his art gained its wider reputation.
A local ghost story concerns a woman and her son who saw an unfamiliar man in their bedroom. They searched their apartment but could find no intruder. Later, at an exhibition at Phillips’ Mill, the boy recognized the visitor in a picture of Pickett. Other accounts describe the painter at work outdoors behind the house in the early morning.
Pickett’s connection to the neighborhood survives in his art as well. Manchester Valley shows the nearby schoolhouse, railway and houses along Mechanic Street.
Sources
- Delaware County Ghosthunters, 2004 Pickett House account, bedroom, art exhibit and painter at work
- New Hope Historical Society, interviews and archival research at 15–19 West Mechanic Street, including one tenant’s account
- Museum of Modern Art, Joseph Pickett’s Manchester Valley, c. 1914–18
- OpenStreetMap, No. 15 West Mechanic Street at the canal
