Bowman’s Hill Tower Elevator Repaired
The elevator at Bowman’s Hill Tower is back in action! Visitors can decide to ride the elevator or climb all the way to the top. A favorite destination for Bucks County residents and visitors, Bowman’s Hill Tower rises 125 feet in the air and offers a 15-mile view on a clear day. Operating hours are 10 AM to 4 PM every day, weather permitting. The cost to ride the elevator or climb the stairs to the top is $7 per person. The tower can be included in a $15 combination ticket when visiting other attractions at Washington Crossing Historic Park. The tower is located near Read More
Next Book Club Pick: Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier
The Washington Crossing Historic Park book club wrapped up discussion of David Hackett Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing—so it’s time to start the next book! If you haven’t participated in the park’s free book club yet, now is a great time to jump in. Book club meetings are a fun and engaging way to deepen your knowledge about the Revolutionary War. Starting November 19 at 5:30 PM, the book club will discuss Joseph Plumb Martin’s A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier. Joseph Plumb Martin was a soldier in the Continental Army and Connecticut Militia during the Revolutionary War. For most of the war, he held the rank of Read More
Join the Washington Crossing Fifes and Drums
Aspiring musicians and historians alike are invited to join the ranks of the Washington Crossing Fifes and Drums, a new ensemble that will begin rehearsing in January 2019. Washington Crossing Fifes and Drums will play and perform military duties common to the armies of the American Revolution during special events and programs at Washington Crossing Historic Park. “Fifers and drummers were an integral part of 18th-century military life,” says Jennifer Martin, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. “Establishing this corps allows us to recreate the music of the era and illustrate the role these musicians played in Read More
A Tale of Two Paintings
If you’ve ever visited Washington Crossing Historic Park, you probably noticed that Emanuel Leutze’s iconic painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, is displayed in the Visitor Center Auditorium. But did you know that’s not the original painting? The very first version of the painting was seriously damaged in a fire in 1850 and ultimately destroyed in 1942 during a World War II bombing raid. Thankfully, Leutze painted a second version that was brought to the United States and eventually donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1897. In 1952, the Met loaned the painting to the Washington Crossing Park Commission, which Read More
Robert Thompson’s Time-Worn Gravestone Restored
After driving by the cemetery next to the historic Newtown Presbyterian Church countless times, Kimberly McCarty, the curator at Washington Crossing Historic Park, decided one morning that she was finally going to visit the gravesite of Robert Thompson. His was a name she knew well. Robert Thompson developed the Thompson-Neely House and Farmstead—one of the historic sites operated by the Friends of Washington Crossing Park—into what it is today. The original central section of the house was constructed around 1740 by a miller named John Simpson. A year after he died, his widow, Hannah, married Thompson, whose farming and milling Read More
Book Review: A Proper Sense of Honor
A Proper Sense of Honor: Service and Sacrifice in George Washington’s Army By Caroline Cox (The University of North Carolina Press, 2004), 338 pages, reviewed by David PriceCaroline Cox has produced an illuminating study of life in the Continental Army and how it connected to the broader social dynamics of colonial America in explaining the disparity in the conditions of service between officers and enlisted men. Her tightly wound narrative offers a wide-ranging examination of army life that encompasses such issues as: relations among the ranks, discipline and punishment, medical care, death and burial, and the treatment of prisoners. The Read More
Fall Brewfest Fundraiser Set for October 27
To some, beer and cider drinking are seasonal activities, which makes the woods overlooking the Delaware River an ideal setting for the Washington Crossing Fall Brewfest. Come Saturday, October 27, the surrounding foliage should be a canopy of vivid yellows, oranges and reds. As fallen leaves crunch underfoot, peaty woodsmoke from nearby fires will add a hint of warmth to the crisp air. It’s practically a live-action Pinterest board for craft beer fans. “To enhance that effect, we intentionally sell fewer tickets than we do for the Spring Brewfest,” says Glenn Blakely, Fall Brewfest co-organizer and a member of the Friends of Washington Crossing Read More
An Evening with Nathaniel Philbrick
New York Times bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick will appear at Washington Crossing Historic Park on Wednesday, October 17, at 7:30 PM for a lecture, Q&A, and signing of his new book, In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown. Tickets are available only online (click here). Sales will close on Sunday, October 7, and tickets will not be sold at the door. Philbrick’s latest reprises the protagonists of his last Revolutionary War book in a recounting of the events leading up to the colonists’ victory at the Battle of Yorktown, with an emphasis on naval and military strategy. “The author Read More