Lewis was born in Philadelphia into a prominent and well connected family. He began his artistic studies with Paul Weber when he was only fifteen years old. By 1859, he was elected an associate at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and exhibited works at the Boston Athenaeum (1858 and 1859) and the National Academy of Design (1860). This large canvas depicts a view of a low waterfall along a bend in the Neshaminy Creek, which runs through Bucks County, Pennsylvania, before spilling into the Delaware River. The narrative quality of the composition is enhanced in the foreground by two country figures next to a cart and, in the distance, by workers piling hay in the fields.