Home Care In Washington Crossing, PA

The Independence Seaport Museum is creating the interactive piece, which will debut as part of America's 250th anniversary.

WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA — To honor America’s 250th anniversary, the Friends of Washington Crossing Park and the Independence Seaport Museum (ISM) are partnering to construct a full-scale, 40-foot replica of a Durham boat — the same type of vessel General George Washington and his troops used to cross the icy Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776.

The project will feature public programs and hands-on experiences leading up to the 2026 unveiling of the replica boat — an interactive centerpiece for Washington Crossing Historic Park’s tours, events, and educational programs.

“This project brings the bold spirit of Washington’s crossing to life in an unforgettable way,” said Jennifer Martin, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. “By combining historic craftsmanship with immersive interpretation, we’re not only honoring the past — we’re creating new opportunities for visitors of all ages to connect with the story of the American Revolution.”

The initiative, known as The Durham Boat Project, will culminate in May 2026 with the launch and unveiling of the completed boat at Washington Crossing Historic Park’s Durham Boat Barn. The project is being brought to life thanks to the generous support of The McLean Contributionship, Connelly Foundation, Albert W. Bader Foundation, Chris and Mary Jane Beck, and Gordon and Barbara Heiser.

The construction of the Durham Boat replica is underway at the Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.

“The Seaport Boat Shop at Independence Seaport Museum is excited to partner with Friends of Washington Crossing Park to replicate the 40-foot Durham boat in celebration of the country’sSemiquincentennial,” says Dave Dormond, director of the Seaport boat shop and waterfront operations. “This vessel symbolizes not only the effort and determination of those who fought for independence but also the skills and craftsmanship of local shipwrights who strived to build a stronger and more prosperous Philadelphia through its connection to the Delaware River.”

The replica boat is being built at ISM’s Seaport Boat Shop in Philadelphia using traditional materials and techniques wherever possible.

The completed Durham boat will be permanently installed along a new interpretive trail at Washington Crossing Historic Park, designed in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and 106 Group, leaders in cultural heritage planning.

The hands-on, ADA-accessible exhibit will allow visitors to climb aboard the boat and immerse themselves in the story of the soldiers who crossed the Delaware in a bold bid for American independence.

Once in place, the replica will become a dynamic centerpiece of the park’s interpretive programming, including field trips, reenactments, and guided tours. It will serve as a key element of the park’s Colonial Days and new "Rescuing the Revolution" field trip program, presented in partnership with Americana Corner’s Preserving America initiative. Each year, more than 10,000 schoolchildren will have the opportunity to engage directly with the boat, don period clothing, and participate in activities that bring Revolutionary history to life.

Throughout the construction process, the Friends of Washington Crossing and the Seaport Museum will also host pop-up events at key milestones, allowing visitors to lend a hand and contribute to this historic build.

Whether you’re a history buff, student, family, or curious explorer, the Durham Boat Project offers a rare chance to witness — and even participate in — the making of a monumental piece of American history — one plank at a time.

The Independence Seaport Museum invites the public to follow the progress of the project on social media or by visiting the shop on the second Sunday of each month for one of its Table Saw Talks, where updates on the Durham Boat reconstruction are shared with visitors and locals. The next talk is August 10.

The Friends of Washington Crossing Park shares the powerful story of General George Washington’s daring crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas Night 1776 and interprets its ongoing impact on world history for both today’s citizens and future generations.

Through its fundraising and the generous support of donors and members, the organization is able to maintain and sustain the significant historic site and welcome thousands of schoolchildren, families, individuals and groups every year.

In partnership with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Friends offer guided interpretive tours and educational programming at the park. The group also holds a number of annual events, several fundraisers and more. Visit washingtoncrossingpark.org/ to learn more.

Proceeds from the weekend event will benefit the historic park and its programming throughout the year.

WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA — The public is invited to attend Wine on the Waterfront on Saturday, July 26, from 3 to 7 p.m. at 1112 River Road in Washington Crossing.

The highly anticipated event, presented by the Friends of Washington Crossing HIstoric Park, returns for its eighth year, taking place on the scenic banks of the Delaware River and featuring picnic fare paired with wine samples from top local vineyards and live jazz.

Tickets are $17.76 for designated drivers and $45 for general admission with proceeds supporting the park’s programming.

“Wine on the Waterfront is more than just an afternoon of great wine and music — it’s a celebration of community and a vital way to support historical and educational programs at the park,” said Jennifer Martin, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. “Every ticket sold helps preserve the culture, history, and stories that make this place special.”

(Washington Crossing Historic Park)

Attendees must be at least 21 to attend. All tickets grant access to a private event area along the Delaware River waterfront next to the historic Hibbs House Kitchen Garden.

Home to a variety of 18th-century flowers, herbs, and plants frequented by native pollinators, it's the ultimate backdrop for a summer picnic. Attendees are invited to set up blankets, chairs, tents, and umbrellas in the grass to savor food brought from home or purchased from on-site vendors.

Returning favorites include Goodnoe Farm Ice Cream and Local Harvest Pizza, while Brenner Board Bliss and Pretty Bird Coffee will make their debut.

Jazz music will be provided by the Keith Chasin Trio, which has performed at the park many times before, plus special guest vocalist and saxophonist, Ravi Seenarine. Led by pianist Keith Chasin, the group showcases Keith’s dynamic style and deep-rooted passion for jazz.

Based in Philadelphia, Chasin has performed at prestigious venues including The Kimmel Center, Birdland, and Lincoln Center, and his work is regularly featured on WRTI 90.1FM. Despite his young age, he has already collaborated with jazz greats such as Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano, Sean Jones, and Rene Marie, earning a reputation as a rising voice in today’s jazz scene.

General admission tickets include a complimentary wine glass and one ounce wine samples. Bishop Estate, Crossing Vineyards, Cyrenity Sips, Grace Winery, Mount Bethel Farms, Rebel Hive, Sand Castle, and Unionville Vineyards are returning in 2025. They’ll be joined by A’Dello Vineyard & Winery, Blue Mountain Vineyards & Cellars, and J&P, who are new this year.

For the first time, attendees will have the opportunity to purchase cocktails and slushies. Wine will also be available for purchase by the glass, bottle, and case, to enjoy onsite or take home.

Wine on the Waterfront is presented by the Friends of Washington Crossing Park, the nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich history of the park and its 500 acres — home to the iconic site where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War.

Proceeds from the event support year-round educational programming and traditions like the annual Christmas Day Crossing Reenactment, Memorial Day Ceremony, Independence Day Celebration, and more. The event is generously sponsored by Crown Holdings Incorporated.

Around-the-clock restriction needed for sidewalk repairs at bridge's Pennsylvania approach, bridge commission says.

WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA — A planned uninterrupted closure of the pedestrian walkway at the Washington Crossing toll-supported bridge is scheduled to begin at approximately 7 a.m. on Monday, July 21, and end by 5 p.m. on Friday, July 25, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission announced this week.

The walkway closure will allow a commission contractor to partially replace portions of the bridge’s Pennsylvania approach sidewalk and railings. The work will involve removal of existing concrete sidewalk sections, excavation, and formwork for new concrete sidewalk slabs. The railing work will entail removal, resetting and replacement of railing and posts.

The approach sidewalk segment had been damaged by an Amazon tractor-trailer that attempted to unlawfully cross the 120-year-old weight-restricted narrow-laned bridge during early morning hours of March 3, 2023. The truck became lodged beneath the bridge’s sign gantry on the Pennsylvania approach. The collision twisted the overhead sign structure and damaged its supports down to the anchorages on each side of the bridge’s Pennsylvania abutment. The approach sidewalk and railings extend atop wingwalls off the abutment at the location.

One dividend of the upcoming walkway closure is that it should allow commission maintenance personnel to expedite remaining replacement of the bridge walkway’s worn and weathered wooden planks. Plank replacement work has been taking place intermittently at the bridge since early June. To date, wooden plank replacement has been completed on four of the bridge’s six spans.

The scheduled uninterrupted walkway closure is subject to change due to weather, emergencies, and other factors. The two closest pedestrian river crossings are at the Scudder Falls (I-295) Toll Bridge 2-1/2 miles to the south and the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge 6.9 miles to the north.

State officials told Upper Makefield residents Tuesday that new testing near a pipeline leak showing "elevated" levels of certain toxic chemicals is surprising and needs to be investigated.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials made these comments during a town hall meeting about the Sunoco pipeline leak discovered in January under a neighborhood near Washington Crossing. Sunoco and its parent company Energy Transfer's efforts so far to determine how big the fuel leak is and where the fuel is currently sitting are not good enough, DEP officials said, and if the pipeline company doesn't sufficiently define the leak, the state will consider additional enforcement action.

"They need to do better,” said David Brown, an environmental cleanup manager for DEP. "The rate of work has been unsatisfying."

The town hall also illuminated discrepancies between what DEP said Energy Transfer reported to them and what residents say they have experienced.

Residents at the meeting said they're frustrated that the pipeline company has stopped testing some wells every month, even though the size of the leak hasn't been confirmed. The jet fuel can move around the watershed, DEP and pipeline company officials have said, and some residents said their wells that previously tested negative for jet fuel-related chemicals are now testing positive.

Naomi Robinson, who lives about six houses away from where the jet fuel leaked, said Tuesday night that her well has tested clear for months, but recently started testing positive for toluene, a fuel component. Energy Transfer has now stopped testing her well on a monthly basis, Robinson said.

DEP's order to Energy Transfer only requires that they test the wells quarterly, Brown said, because the water filters installed after the leak will block fuel-related poisons in the meantime.

Residents also said that their water has recently started testing positive for chemicals that used to be part of gasoline but were legally phased out decades ago, like lead. Although lead can be found in ground water for other reasons, the Washington Crossing-area neighbors wondered if the recovery wells the pipeline company is using to clean up the leak is stirring up chemicals underground that may have run through the area decades ago.

Terry Dearden, who lives half a mile from the leak, said her water testing previously showed "zero" lead, but that recent tests have showed increasing levels of lead for her and her neighbors. Energy Transfer has since stopped testing her water for lead, Dearden said.

"I was not aware they had stopped analyzing for that in some homes,” Brown said.

The pipeline company has recently started conducting new tests, known as sub-slab sampling, to check for toxic vapor, Brown said. All six tests done so far at homes near the pipeline have shown “fairly elevated levels," Brown said — a mysterious finding that requires further investigation, because previous air tests indoors did not show elevated levels.

One of the chemicals found in vapor, Brown said, was 1,2-dichloroethene, which is no longer used in fuel, so it's unclear whether the finding is related to the pipeline.

"This is a new result," Brown said.

Residents pointed out that although the pipeline company has released information about the jet fuel that was recently flowing through the pipeline, it has not released a complete list of every chemical pumped through the line during its lifetime, and it's still unclear how long the pipeline was leaking.

"We shouldn’t just be looking for jet fuel," local resident Kim Smith said.

Brown also confirmed that he's not aware that the pipeline company has ever tested the leaked product in order to verify what chemicals are actually in it.

The pipeline company is in the process of drilling recovery wells to remove the fuel, Brown said, but told DEP that they've had trouble getting permission from homeowners to access their properties.

"Nobody has been asked,” residents shouted from the crowd. Several residents said that their neighborhood has responded promptly to requests in the past, and that the company's assertion that residents are preventing them from drilling the wells is untrue. One resident whose property is needed for a recovery well said in May that they'd grant access, attendees said.

In response to residents demanding that DEP modify its order or issue a new one that would force Energy Transfer and Sunoco to do more, Brown said that the agency wants to make requests instead of orders because the pipeline company can appeal formal orders, which would delay the process further.

"We want to see where this goes,” Brown said.

But attendees questioned why DEP expects the company to comply with requests voluntarily, citing the slow progress on defining the leak, which residents and DEP officials said is crucial to moving forward with cleanup. Energy Transfer was also criminally charged for repeatedly ignoring environmental regulations at a different site in 2022.

"We are not dealing with a good actor here," said state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10 of Lower Makefield. "They have not done the right thing from day 1."

DEP still hasn't responded to a June letter from Santarsiero and state Rep. Perry Warren, D-31 of Newtown, asking DEP to take more enforcement actions, Santarsiero said.

"I'm irritated,” Santarsiero said. "There needs to be an enforcement action.”

U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick called for the EPA to intervene earlier this month, citing the "lack of information" from DEP after months of outreach.

Energy Transfer, which did not send a representative to the Tuesday meeting, said they're following the rules.

"Our work is progressing under the oversight of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in accordance with the Act 2 regulations, which we will continue to meet and exceed where possible as part of our response to this release," a spokesperson said.

DEP has asked Energy Transfer to hold another in-person meeting, Brown said, and one is planned for early fall.

Jess Rohan can be reached at [email protected].

An Upper Makefield woman photographed a "Frankenfish" last Wednesday while walking along the Delaware Canal Towpath in Washington Crossing.

WASHINGTON CROSSING, PA — Just days before a northern snakehead fish was caught in the Neshaminy Creek in Bensalem, another was spotted - and photographed - swimming in the Delaware Canal at Washington Crossing Historic Park.

Just minutes after posting a story about a snakehead caught by a Bucks County fisherman in Bensalem, Patch learned that days earlier a Washington Crossing resident had photographed one swimming in the historic Delaware Canal.

The dangerously invasive fish — sometimes called a "Frankenfish" — can move across land and live for days out of water. One was captured recently in Chester County, prompting warnings from game officials and conservationists.

That fish, a northern snakehead, was pulled out of the Schuylkill River near Black Rock Sanctuary in Chester County in early June.

Upper Makefield resident Judy Greger told Patch that she was out enjoying a nature walk last Wednesday when she spotted the long, snakelike fish in the shallow water of the canal near Route 532 and Taylorsville Road.

The dangerously invasive fish — sometimes called a "Frankenfish" — photographed by Judy Greger of Upper Makefield.

The dangerously invasive fish — sometimes called a "Frankenfish" — photographed by Judy Greger of Upper Makefield.

“It was pretty hard not to miss," said Greger. "What I didn't realize was that it was an invasive species. At first I thought it was a snake, but it never put its head above the water. I knew it had to be a fish but I couldn't image what kind of fish it was."

Greger found out later what it was after she sent the photos to a group of friends who she said "know a lot more about nature than I do."

So what did she think when she found out it was a Frankenfish?

"I think nature is amazing. I feel bad, though, that it's invasive and it can eat birds. You do have to wonder how it got here."

Greger, who has been taking nature photos along the towpath and canal since she retired from a corporate job at Macy's, said by far the Frankenfish is the most unusual thing she has captured with her camera on her walks along the canal.

"I'm out there 3 or 4 days a week and I always find something that catches me by surprise," she said.

Natives of various parts of Asia and Africa, snakeheads are distinctive among nonnative invasive species in that they can move across both water and land.

Snakeheads are long, torpedo-shaped fish that grow to very large sizes: up to 33 inches long, and around 20 pounds, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Their diet is indiscriminate, and they feed on a variety of other freshwater fish, amphibians, some crustaceans, and small mammals they encounter in the water or during their forays on land. They've even been known to devour birds.

And due to their overall strength and the size of their teeth, they can eat prey up to about a third of their substantial body size.

Anglers who catch a snakehead "must immediately kill the fish onsite" to limit its population and spread, officials said.

Pennsylvania law prohibits both the possession and sale of live snakeheads, and fishermen who catch snakeheads are urged to contact the game commission to report the location and date.

Beyond simply outcompeting native fish who share the top of the aquatic food chain, snakeheads disturb the balance of the ecosystem wherever they take hold in Pennsylvania and along the eastern seaboard of the United States. They pose a significant threat to the populations of largemouth bass, in addition to imported fish like carp and stocked fish like trout.

The first appearance of the species in the United States was in California in 1997. They appeared in the mid-Atlantic in a Maryland pond in 2002. Since then, they've been confirmed in six states altogether: Maryland and California, as well as Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

They first appeared in the Keystone State when an angler pulled one from Meadow Lake in Philadelphia in 2004.

A "maze" of interconnected tributaries and tidal sloughs run to and from Meadow Lake, and environmental authorities in the state believe snakeheads to be present both elsewhere in the lower Schuylkill River and the Delaware River, in addition to the lower Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Reservoir.

To report a northern snakehead in Pennsylvania, contact the Pennsylvania Game Commission at 814-359-5163 or complete this form.