It includes 28 acres, which is the area of the original town as laid out in 1697 and is bounded by the Delaware River, and Lincoln, Pond, Cedar, and Mill Streets.

A Quaker settlement soon grew near the ferry, and in 1697 residents petitioned the Provincial Council to establish the community as the third town in the Pennsylvania Colony.

From the 1780s to the 1820s Bath Springs, just north of the original town, became a famous spa and large residences were built by wealthy Philadelphians and New Yorkers.

About 1855 the boom ended as the canal gained access to the Delaware River to the north at New Hope, allowing traffic to New York to bypass Bristol.

Following the Civil War to town's economy recovered as mills and factories were built along the canal, which provided both water power and transportation.