NEW HOPE — Over 100 members and guests of the New Hope Historical Society gathered in New Hope on Nov. 14 at Marsha Brown’s Restaurant for the society’s annual meeting and dinner.
The event featured a special tribute to Pamela Minford, a New Hope icon who helped to put New Hope on the map for celebrities and tourists beginning in the mid-1950s.
Ms. Minford arrived in New Hope just as the popularity of the Bucks County Playhouse and the Lambertville Music Circus began to spread across the region. She opened a small antique shop on West Mechanic Street and soon had purchased property across the street for her El Patio restaurant.
When St. John Terrell, of the Music Circus, and Michael Ellis, from the Playhouse, approached her about the urgent need for classy accommodations for the performers who were coming to town, she responded by developing the fabled Hacienda Inn on West Mechanic Street where the Canal Street homes are located today.
Soon local residents were rubbing elbows with the likes of Robert Goulet, Maurice Chevalier, George C. Scott, Helen Hayes, Liberace and many, many more Broadway and Hollywood celebrities.
In fact, Ms. Minford became a close friend to many of them. She sold many of her antiques to Liberace, and “they were such good friends that he invited Pam and her staff to celebrate his 50th birthday when he was performing at the Latin Casino in New Jersey,” said a spokesman.
Maurice Chevalier was a regular visitor, even when he was not performing in the area.
Ms. Minford later developed the Fabulous Fountainhead into a major conference venue for the Bucks County area, and soon owned more than two dozen buildings in New Hope. A Philadelphia newspaper dubbed her “The Howard Hughes of New Hope.”
Ms. Minford was known widely for “her friendly, first class hospitality; and she was widely respected for her continued generous support of local organizations. She was one of the first in town to join the New Hope Historical Society when it was formed in the 1958,” the spokesman said.
Ms. Minford died five years ago, but her generosity continues to help local groups including: Doylestown Hospital, Gilda’s Club, LaSalle Academy, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, The Breathing Room, The Free Library of New Hope and Solebury, The Girl Scouts and the New Hope Historical Society through the Pamela Minford Charitable Foundation that is operated by her dedicated and loving niece, Deborah Minford Dailey.
The foundation has continued as a top sponsor for the New Hope Historical Society’s annual Garden Tour, which will celebrate its 20th year in June and it has sponsored the Historical Society’s publication, “New Hope, Pennsylvania — River Town Passages,” that chronicles the history of Ms. Minford’s New Hope.
The New Hope Historical Society presented Deborah Minford Dailey and the Pamela Minford Charitable Foundation with a print of the Parry Mansion in recognition of their continued support of the society’s activities.

