Bucks County is buying 3 1/2 acres of land stretching for more than 600 feet along the Neshaminy Creek in Northampton Township. The site off Bridgetown Pike has been occupied since 1956 by the Valley Stream Inn, a once-popular restaurant known for its crab cakes.  The property was flooded many times over the inn’s 55-year history, and it closed for good last September after being flooded twice in two weeks, thanks to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

The county is using a $230,000 federal grant to buy the property, tear down the building and leave the land as open space.  It’s part of a long-term plan to protect the Neshaminy Creek and reduce flooding along its banks, from New Britain Township to where it flows into the Delaware River at the Bensalem-Bristol Township border.