Washington Crossing Historic Park is a 500-acre (2 km²) site operated by The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in partnership with the Friends Of Washington Crossing Park. The park is divided into two sections. One section of the park, the "lower park," is headquartered in the village of Washington Crossing located in Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It marks the location of where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the American Revolutionary War.
The lower park includes 13 historic buildings including McConkey's Ferry Inn, where General George Washington and his aides ate dinner and made plans prior to the crossing. Among the historic buildings is a 20th-century barn that houses 5 replica Durham Boats. Durham boats were large, open boats that were used to transport pig iron along the Delaware River at the time of the Revolution and these boats, along with others, were used to transport soldiers, horses, and equipment across the river on the night of December 25–26, 1776. The replica boats are used each Christmas when the famous crossing is re-enacted in the park.
Located 4.5 miles away in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is the park's northern section, the "upper park." It contains the 100-acre (0.4 km²) Bowman's Hill Tower and the Thompson-Neely House, which was used as a military hospital during Washington's encampment in the area, and the graves of an estimated 40 to 60 soldiers who died there. The exact location of the graves is unknown, though they were partially unearthed during the construction of the nearby Delaware Canal in the early 19th century and during other nearby construction projects. Presently there are 23 memorial headstones as a reminder that the area is a gravesite.
The lower park contains a visitor's center; however, it remains temporarily closed pending the completion of renovations that began in July 2011. There is a temporary visitor services station in the large tan modular unit near the intersection of routes 32 & 532 The newly renovated visitor's center is expected to re-open fall 2012.
Read more about Washington Crossing Historic Park: History and Mission of The Park, The Crossing, Famous People in Washington's Crossing of The Delaware
Famous quotes containing the words washington, crossing, historic and/or park:
“... what a strange time it was! Who knew his neighbor? Who was a traitor and who a patriot? The hero of to-day was the suspected of to-morrow.... There were traitors in the most secret council-chambers. Generals, senators, and secretaries looked at each other with suspicious eyes.... It is a great wonder that the city of Washington was not betrayed, burned, destroyed a half-dozen times.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is, all in all, a historic error to believe that the master makes the school; the students make it!”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“The park is filled with night and fog,
The veils are drawn about the world,”
—Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)