Washington Crossing Historical Park {A Pennsylvania Field Trip Idea}

Washington Crossing is about 1.5 hours from Lancaster County, and marks the spot where George Washington led his troops to cross the Delaware River on Christmas Eve. It was a surprise attack, and smart move that won Washington his first victory in the Revolutionary War.

The entire Washington Crossing Historic Park offers more than 500 acres of American History and natural beauty. Most notably, the park preserves the site where George Washington crossed the Delaware River and turned the tide of the Revolutionary War.

You can visit this site any time of the year, but in December, they do a reenactment of the Washington Crossing, in the boats made to match the originals and now stored in the boat house, which you will see on your tour.

Washington Crossing Historic Village Tour

Guided tours are offered Wednesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM. The grounds are open dawn to dusk for free self-guided tours. The Bowman’s Hill Tower is is also available for admission, however it is currently closed for COVID-19 pandemic.

You may however, still enjoy the historic village tour, in the heart of Washington Crossing Historic Park. You start by visiting the stone that marks the approximate spot where Washington crossed the river.

You then walk by some beautiful old buildings, and a garden, as well as the blacksmith shop and Frye house—a tenant home built in the 1800s, in an attempt to attract tradesmen to the village.

Next is the boat house, and this is really neat! You get to see the Durham Boat, which hauled cargo. When Washington’s men used them to cross, they all were standing for the trip—possible because they have flat bottoms. Did you know it took them 10 hours to cross the river due to the weather conditions and the sheer number of 2000 soldiers that needed to cross? Washington actually thought his plan was ruined, as he expected it to take much less time than that!

They use these boats in the Washington Reenactment every December (and by the way they are planning a special celebration for six years from now, in 2026—to mark the 250th anniversary of the crossing!)

One thing I didn’t realize, was that after Washington crossed the river, he had to march his troops down along the river to Trenton, NJ, where the battle actually took place. He organized a distraction by his other soldiers who were down across the river from Trenton, and a Hessian soldier actually later found the secret note in one of the American soldiers pockets.

The next stop on the tour is McConkey’s Ferry Inn. This 18th century inn and tavern, served as a guard post during the Continental Army’s encampment in Bucks County. According to tradition, this is where Washington and his aides ate their dinner prior to the crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Day.

On the tour, they explain that the original structure when Washington was there, was most likely a log cabin and just half of the house you see today.

Even with COVID restrictions, your tour does take you through the inn, and you get to see what it was like inside. The inn continued to serve its purpose for many more decades.

We found the kitchen a unique part of the tour, as our guide explained how they managed to feed all these people without any grocery stores, and how the kitchen was used.

Just outside the house, is the ice box. An in-ground structure where ice blocks and cold things were kept.

The tour is then completed, but you have time to walk the grounds at your own pace and look at the Delaware River (which was much smaller an shallower than I expected).

Watch These Videos Before You Visit

Did you know that Frugal Lancaster has a YouTube channel, featuring videos of local field trips, playgrounds and more? Here’s our video from our Washington Crossing visit:

The Washington Crossing Historical Park also has some excellent 76 second videos. We watched them before our visit, and found it really helpful to get an idea of where we were going and to start the discussions before we arrived. Here is the first of the 6-7 videos:

Additionally, you can watch these longer clips to give you some background and prepare for your visit.