Washington Crossing, NJ & PA (9/16/2020)

Wednesday, September 16, 2020
We are starting our family-visits trek, but taking it slow with stops along the way.

Bensalem, PA: St Elizabeth's Convent (1892) was founded by
Katharine Drexel who started the religious order of the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People

St Katharine Drexel was the first saint born in the United States, and the second American to be canonized (after St Elizabeth Ann Seton who was born in New York City before there was a United States). When she entered religious life, Philadelphia society was shocked that Katharine would give up her "seven million dollar" inheritance. In actuality, she used her inheritance to found the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and establish 145 missions, 50 schools for African Americans, and 12 schools for Native Americans, as well as Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic college in the United States.

The remains of St Katharine Drexel were entombed here as a National Shrine, but in 2018 they were moved to the Cathedral Basilica of Sts Peter & Paul in Philadelphia. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament then sold the property for development.

Yardley, PA: Garden of Reflection has a steel girder
from the former World Trade Center Towers in NYC

The Garden of Reflection (2006) memorializes all the victims of
the 9/11 tragedy, including those from Pennsylvania, Bucks County,
and Makefield Township, and the 42 PA children who lost a parent

The names of all the victims of 9/11 are etched on glass panels

Twin fountains are backed by a railing with the names of
18 residents from Bucks County who died on 9/11

The map of the Garden of Reflection

Titusville, NJ: Washington Crossing State Park:
Johnson Ferry House (1740) was likely used by George Washington
and his staff as his Continental troops were carried across
the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776

Kitchen Garden of the Johnson Ferry House (KSS)

Hmm, the outhouse next to the kitchen garden!

We are crossing the Delaware on a very narrow bridge (1904)!

The Delaware River about where it was crossed by
General Washington and 2,400 troops

Washington Crossing, PA: Washington Crossing Historic Park
with flags of the colonies

Statue (1916) of George Washington at a spot
believed to be where the General stood to
observe the crossing of his troops

Stone marker (1895) at the spot where Washington
crossed the Delaware before his surprise attack on
the Hessian/British troops in Trenton, NJ

Hibbs House (1828), a tenant residence that would house
a worker and his family, his shop and an apprentice;
Hibbs was a carpenter in what was Taylorsville

Hibbs House Garden

Blacksmith Shop (replica of 1830 blacksmith shop in Taylorsville)

Frye House (1828, for the blacksmith and his family)

Durham Boat Barn 

Replica Durham boats, like those that carried Washington
and his troops across the Delaware, were used to carry
pig iron or iron ore and bulk trade goods to Philadelphia,
and manufactured goods back to settlements upriver

The icehouse of McConkey's Ferry Inn

McConkey's Ferry Inn (1792 - only basement kitchen remains,
1790) was heavily guarded in 1776, and it is said that
General Washington ate dinner here and wrote letters

The ferry was used to transport artillery, horses, and carriages across the river for the historic crossing.

Mahlon K Taylor House (1816-1817) was the residence
of a wealthy merchant who established Taylorsville

Taylorsville houses (c 1828) were built just before the
Delaware Canal was constructed, and included a general store
with a post office where Mahlon Taylor was the postmaster

Washington Crossing Inn (in an 1817 residence)

Washington Crossing the Delaware (1776, by Larry Vincent Grubb,
Frank Arena, and Woolery's Stone Co) was presented to the
Washington Crossing Foundation by Bedford, IN, in 1776 in
honor of the United States Bicentennial

The near-life-size sculpture is fashioned after the famous painting (1851, by Emanuel Leutze) of George Washington crossing the Delaware River.

Bowman's Tower (1929-1931) is located
on a spot believed to have been used as a lookout
by General Washington's troops

Thompson-Neely Camelback Bridge, one of six bridges along
the Delaware Canal that "retains its authentic structure"

You can barely see the post of the next
nesting box in a meadow along the Delaware Canal;
these were definitely at least 300-feet apart!

Washington Crossing Historic Park Soldiers' Graves (KSS)

An unknown number (40-60) of Continental soldiers died during
the December 1776 encampment in Bucks County; the location
of the graves is also unknown, although some remains were
found when the Delaware Canal was being constructed

22 gravestones are inscribed 'Unknown Soldier'

Memorial stone with plaque (1929)

The only known soldier was Captain James Moore

Delaware Canal (1832) was a 60-mile section of
the Pennsylvania Canal, which ran from Bristol to Easton, PA

Thompson-Neely Grist Mill (1875, on the site of 1829 mill) (KSS)

Grist Mill remnants (KSS)

Thompson-Neely Farmhouse (1740 center section, 1757 2-story
addition on the west side [L in photo], 1766 second story added
to center section, 1788 2-story addition on the east side [R in photo])

The Thompson-Neely house was used as a temporary regimental army hospital during the winter encampment in 1776/1777. One soldier who recovered here from serious injury in the First Battle of Trenton was James Monroe, later to become the fifth president of the United States.

Thompson-Neely Farmstead outbuildings include
a privy and ice house

Thompson-Neely Barn

One of the resident goats; the sheep we saw as we drove to
the Thompson-Neely Farmstead had disappeared (KSS)

Next: New Hope, PA and Frenchtown, NJ.