Helms Cover Tavern
Helms Cove Tavern
24 East Maple St.
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This house is a private residence.
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A naval battle occurred on the Delaware River on May 8 and 9, 1776. Two British warships, the Roebuck and the Liverpool, fought over a dozen smaller American ships. Most of the American vessels were a type called row galleys, because they were propelled by oars being rowed, rather than sails. [1]
Job Whitall of Red Bank, located about 20 miles upriver from here, wrote in his diary on May 8, "I heard a cannonading with the rowgallies & a manawar or two which lasted three hours or better." [2]
(Job's spelling has been left uncorrected and unmodernized.)
According to legend, Helms Cove Tavern, which stands less than two-tenths of a mile from the Delaware River, was hit by a cannonball from the British ship Roebuck during the battle. The building was built in 1732.
In a 2007 interview, local historian Donna Federanko-Stout stated that, "It was reported that the home bore the mark of the cannonball under the south window of the second story." There are claims that the cannon ball was saved. However, if the cannon ball still exists, its current location is unknown. According to Federanko-Stout, "Some say the ball is somewhere in Maryland after a (Helms descendant) took it there."[3]
