‘History has to come to life’: Washington Crossing hosts annual historic reenactment

In addition to the reenactment, Sunday’s event will include presentations on the officers and women who served as nurses, musket firing demonstrations, artillery demonstrations and a range of kids’ activities.

Organizers also seek to make history come alive by including a wider representation of what life was like during the era, beyond the battlefields, Martin said.

The historic village onsite will include the traditional bakery, Half Crown Bakehouse, and feature a blacksmith workshop, as well as blacksmithing demonstrations.

“For us, history has to come to life,” Martin said. “These were real people, and we want to bring these stories to life in a way that’s very immersive and resonates with many different audiences, and that’s why we’re so interested in trying to create diverse interpretation in all different aspects, both military and civilian, to draw people in to get a more comprehensive understanding of what took place here, Christmas night, 1776, and how, not just the generals again, but average people lived.”

Although many of the thousands who attend the reenactment and the park’s annual 800,000 visitors come from across the country and throughout the world, the park and the reenactment have an important significance to local residents in Bucks County.

For Murphy, being a reenactor is rewarding because of his roots in the region.

“I really like the connections of the history of the town that I grew up in, and the places that I knew when I was growing up, and how the events that took place here are where I grew up,” he said. “And I know all the names of the towns and the people and the things, and that’s a really special part of it, to be able to give back to your community that you grew up in by learning about this and sharing it.”

Martin also grew up nearby in Princeton, New Jersey, where her love of Revolutionary War history was sparked on Princeton Battlefield. She can recall seeing the reenactment from the Jersey side of the river as a child. Many of the attendees are also from the surrounding area and have grown up seeing the reenactment and celebrating that part of their history, she said.

“I think that for people in this community, they’re really proud to live somewhere that has this national recognition,” Martin said, noting that the influx of out-of-town visitors also has a “positive impact on the local economy.”

The shared history, Martin said, is all the more important to remember in the aftermath of a heated election cycle in a county that was virtually split between the two candidates.

“I believe that history really fosters this sense of community and identity among people,” she said. “These shared principles, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, I think that these things really bind us as a nation. And I think that now more than ever, especially with some of these polarized and political times that we’re in, that we have to remember the sacrifices that these men made to give us the life and the country that we have today … We came together many, many times over throughout the course of history, and I think that we can all continue to do that.”