Home

Tours of the lower park and the Thompson-Neely House are available Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $5 each. Bowman’s Hill Tower is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $5. A discounted combination ticket for all three locations is available for $9. Tickets may be purchased at any of the three locations.

For tours larger than 15 people, call 215-493-4076 to make a reservation. Complimentary tickets are provided to active duty military personnel and children under the age of four. Individuals with disabilities who need special assistance or accommodations should call 215-493-4076.

Restrooms are available at the temporary Visitor Center.

Upcoming Events

December 11 at 1 pm

Annual Delaware River Crossings: Dress Rehearsal

Location: Washington Crossing, Rt. 532 and River Road
Fees: $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and children ages 10-18, and free for children under age 10

(see below for more information about the events on this day)

December 25 at 1 pm

Christmas Day Crossing

Location: Washington Crossing, Rt. 532 and River Road
Fees: Free

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. — Each December, thousands of people gather on the banks of the Delaware to watch the reenactment of George Washington’s daring 1776 river crossing. During the event, visitors watch as reenactors in Continental military dress listen to an inspiring speech by Washington and then row across the river in three replica Durham boats.

This year’s reenactment is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Christmas Day. Those who cannot attend on Christmas can watch a full dress rehearsal on Dec. 11 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (actual crossing at 1 p.m.). Cost to attend the dress rehearsal is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and children age 10-18, and free for children under age 10. Proceeds support future crossings.

“During the dress rehearsal, the troops cross the river in uniform just as they do on Christmas Day, plus additional activities and demonstrations take place throughout the historic village,” says John Godzieba, president of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park and current General Washington interpreter. “It’s a wonderful family event.”

Washington Crossing Park is located at the intersection of Rts. 32 and 532. Individuals with disabilities who need special assistance or accommodations to participate in this event should call 215-493-4076.

This program is sponsored by the non-profit Friends of Washington Crossing Park and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. To learn more about upcoming events in the park, follow the Friends of Washington Crossing Park on Facebook.

Be a Friend to the Park

Help the Friends of Washington Crossing Park by donating or volunteering!

Washington Crossing

From this site, General George Washington and men of the Continental Army and militia crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 and marched to Trenton, New Jersey.

There they attacked and defeated Hessian troops quartered in and around the village.

This surprise attack and victory set the stage for Washington's subsequent victories at the Second Battle of Trenton and Princeton.

The Crossing and the Trenton/Princeton campaign have become known as the Ten Crucial Days — a campaign that saved Washington's army from defeat, allowing them to fight another day and achieve ultimate victory.

What did they see? Gusts of breath billowing from the nostrils of agitated horses being loaded this dawn onto ferry boats. Ice floes clogging the Delaware and the river's choppy water churning past.

What could they hear? The poles of Glover's Marblehead sailors penetrating the water with frigid splashing and oar-thwacks as they maneuvered the Durham boats across the inky river. They heard Colonel Knox's booming voice giving orders, rising above the confusion, as to how the assembled 2400 troops, cannons and equines should be shuttled across the Delaware.

What did these soldiers think about? About getting across this cold-cloaked river? About attacking Hessians, those fierce European soldiers allied with the British to help stanch this revolt? Did they think it was remotely possible that this plan of Washington's would work? To make a nocturnal river crossing, covertly entering New Jersey, march 9 miles, and attacking these Hessians at a Trenton outpost? Did they think that as night faded to daybreak that their chances of a successful surprise attack would fade as well? Did they think about their families at home this Christmas Day? Did they think about their farms and friends and villages? Slouching into these Durham boats, did they think what they were doing would change the world?

Washington's army needed a victory. Enlistments were soon to expire. The soldiers' and the country's morale were low. Winter was upon them and they needed to end the campaign season on a positive note after surviving through a summer and fall filled with agonizing failures. This was the moment, a turning point, a crossroads. Would the army survive to fight another season? Would this bring new hope or was it the end of a Revolution?

From the time of the crossing of the Delaware River to within the next ten days, the fate of the colonies was changed. The army survived and grew stronger. The British and Hessians almost instantly saw their enemies, these "rebellious farmers," turn into a formidable foe. And it all began here, by the McKonkey Ferry Inn, when a small band crossed a tempestuous river, because they could see, hear, and conceive a new future.