In a sense, Bristol lucked out. That’s what crossed my mind as I followed a winding trail between Otter Creek’s tidal basin and the municipal parking lot. The basin once was the terminus of the Delaware Canal when it opened in 1832 and made Bristol a busy coal shipping port. As I walked past several historical markers, I was mindful of Albright Zimmerman’s detailed history of the canal. He pays close attention to a 19th century civil engineer who gave Atlanta its name and designed Pennsylvania’s famous Horseshoe Curve rail line. J. Edgar Thomson also mapped out a plan to exten...