Special to Bucks County Courier Times
You never know what can turn up when you’re doing historical research. I’ve discovered more than a few gems in the nearly eight years I’ve been writing this weekly column. But nothing quite compares to what Patricia Millen recently led historians to find in a dusty basement in North Jersey.
Pat is the founding trustee of a friends support group for Washington’s Crossing State Park in Titusville, N.J. That’s just across the Delaware River bridge from Washington Crossing Historic Park in Upper Makefield. Pat was doing research for a book about George Washington’s famous crossing in 1776 when she stumbled upon a reference to a century-old mural that once hung in a Trenton opera house.
Saved from wrecking ball in Trenton
George Matthews Harding, a World War I and II combat artist, painted the masterpiece. It depicts the Continental Army’s commander-in-chief casting off from the Pennsylvania shore in a boat loaded with oarsmen. Behind them, a long line of soldiers fighting a blizzard assemble ashore to follow. It’s a much different perspective than the iconic painting by Emanuel Leutze. Harding painted his concept in 1921 for the Taylor Opera House, Trenton’s first theater dating to 1867. Such luminaries as Mark Twain, Ethel Barrymore and George M. Cohan are known to have performed there. A bank next door in 1969 acquired it for demolition to put up a parking lot.
Volunteers rushed to save the mural from the wrecking ball. They carefully removed and coated it with wheat paste and Japanese rice paper to preserve it. They rolled it up and inserted it into a cylinder for safe keeping in a basement at Ringwood Manor State Park about 35 miles from New York City. The hope is that it would find a home in a visitors center to open in 1976 at Washington’s Crossing State Park.
Unfortunately no one calculated how the mural would fit. It was too big at 15 feet high and 10 feet long. So it remained in storage.
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Nearly 50 years later Pat Millen became curious. She noticed various references to the mural while doing research for her book “Images of America: Washington Crossing” published last year. She also discovered a black-and-white image of the painting in “History of the George Washington Bicentennial Celebration”, honoring the 200th anniversary of the first president’s birth published in 1932. That led Pat to another article published in 1971 by the American Association of Conservators and Restorers. The story detailed how the mural was rescued and stored away in Ringwood Manor. Was it still there? If so, could it become the centerpiece of a whole new visitors center to open at Washington’s Crossing State Park in 2026 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the celebrated crossing?
Millen posed those questions to park administrators. They reached out to officials at Ringwood Manor who confirmed the masterpiece was in the basement, undisturbed. Officials also confirmed the lofty atrium of the new center would be a perfect home for the canvas.
The mural was transferred to a warehouse where restoration began under Cusworth Conservation of Lambertville, one of the region’s top art restoration companies. An estimated $60,000 is needed to complete the task including framing. Park officials are nearing their goal with contributions from corporations and the public at large.
Why isn't Washington Crossing a national park?
With parks on both sides of the Delaware River, the question arises: Do they work in tandem? Pennsylvania state government operates 478-acre Washington Crossing Historical Park in Upper Makefield. New Jersey state government operates Washington’s Crossing State Park entailing 369 acres in Titusville.
The two do work in unison in planning events whenever possible. Officials meet regularly as the “Ten Crucial Days Round Table” to encourage public visitations. Significant features of the New Jersey park include an astronomical observatory, open air theater, visitors center, hiking trails and picnic pavilions. The Pennsylvania park showcases McConkey’s Ferry Inn dating to the Revolution, a large museum overlooking Washington’s embarkation point, display of Durham boats that carried the army over the river, Bowman’s Tower with a commanding view of the Delaware, a Continental Army cemetery plus hiking trails, picnic grounds and pavilions.
So why aren’t the combined parks a national park?
“I personally love the idea of a single federal park or a bi-state commission but I can’t imagine that in my lifetime,” opined Annette Earling of the Washington Park Association. Joining the two as a national historic park was contemplated in the early 1900s, according to author Peter Osborne. Reportedly both states rejected the idea. Maybe it’s time to reconsider. I’ve been told for a previous column the sites are “too small” for consideration as a national park. I would point out that Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia is a mere 45 acres. Here, the two parks cover nearly 1,000 acres loaded with dramatic, crucial history to the founding of our nation.
Sources include “Images of America: Washington Crossing” by Patricia Millen published in 2022; “Where Washington Once Led” by Peter Osborne published in 2012, and help from Annette Earling, executive director of the Washington Crossing Park Association of New Jersey.
Carl LaVO can be reached at [email protected]
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