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BY ERIC MODEL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY
Gathering around the Christmas tree, singing carols, opening gifts, sipping eggnog with family and special friends. That's how most choose to spend their Christmas.
But there's a unique breed that chooses to do something else on Christmas Day. How about, for example, the group that dresses up as folks did over 230 years ago to travel across the Delaware River as General Gorge Washington might have done.
Since 1954, "George Washington" has led a parade of soldiers before boarding a Durham boat replica and crossing the Delaware.
It takes place at the site General Washington and his men of the Continental Army and militia crossed the river on Christmas night 1776, and then marched to Trenton. There they attacked and defeated Hessian troops quartered in and around the village. This surprise attack and victory set the stage for Washington's subsequent victories at the Second Battle of Trenton and Princeton. The Crossing and the Trenton/Princeton campaign have become known as the Ten Crucial Days — a campaign that saved Washington's army from defeat, allowing him to fight another day and achieve ultimate victory.
At the original crossing, some 2,400 soldiers, 18 cannons and 200 horses were ferried across the cold river. It is this event that Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze immortalized with his famous picture, Washington Crossing the Delaware.
In the yearly re-enactment, some 3,000-5,000 people turn out to watch some 33 boatmen made up of 3 boats each with 8 oarsmen, 2 pole-men and one steering oarsman. There are also some 100 marching soldiers.
One such participant is Chris Blayden of Langhorne Boro, Pennsylvania. A former Pan Am airline captain, these days he is mayor of Langhorne, but on Christmas Day his title is captain of one of the boats crossing the Delaware.
"It started as a family outing some 42 years ago," he related. "We'd stand there freezing as we watched the re-enactment, and then go home to enjoy a turkey dinner. It became a Christmas ritual for us."
A few years in (now 35 years ago), a neighbor participating in the re-enactment convinced Chris to join in, too. He has been there ever since — first as a rower, then as a pole man, and now for the last 5-10 years as a captain.
Blayden is often asked, What keeps him coming back?
"The camaraderie," he replies without hesitating. Blayden especially likes the eclectic nature of his peers - one's a stone cutter, another's an electrician. There have even been two Congressmen.
Asked how they recruit new participants, Blayden answered," They get shanghai-ed like I did. But once you're here, you don't want to leave."
In speaking to this unique bond that ties, Blayden recalls the words of Robert Frost in his poem "Mending Fences." In the poem, Frost speaks of neighbors returning to their property line each year to mend a wall - "There where we do not need a wall."
For Blayden, the re-enactment is a chance to see and say hello to familiar faces in a comfortable setting.
"It's timeless .. surreal,",offered Blayden.
So, Chris Blayden will be out there again in the river ... weather permitting (In recent years two crossings were cancelled because of high winds — "Too bad for that poor George Washington — he never got to go out as he was replaced the next year.")
Actually, Blayden and the other re-enactors are out there two other times before Christmas Day — a boat drill on December 6 and a dress rehearsal on December 13. Visitors were encouraged to watch at those times — as well as on Christmas Day itself.
On Christmas Day, in addition to the crossing itself, as part of the re-enactment General Washington will "address the troops."
Blayden says that folks tend to linger along the banks of the Delaware after the event is done. Some take in the exhibits at the visitors center. Others just pause there and behold this "surreal site" — a special event in a special place.
"It makes for a truly special holiday," a clearly satisfied Blayden sums up.
For information about the site or about the Christmas Day re-enactment, contact: Washington Crossing Historic Park, Box 103, Washington Crossing, Pa. 18977: (215) 493-4076; www.ushistory.org/WashingtonCrossing
But note the recent news that Pennsylvania has closed its Washington Crossing State Park
Eric Model explores the "offbeat, off the beaten path overlooked and forgotten" on SIRIUS-XM Radio and at www.journeysinto.com.
ALSO BY ERIC MODEL
In search of perfect N.J. holiday Main Street that time forgot ...
A New Jersey Turnpike road companion - all about those folks we honor through rest stops
Giving thanks for the Garden State ... and how New Jersey got its nickname
The many ghost towns of New Jersey have something to tell us
Perfect Fall getaway: Uncovering N.J.'s covered bridges
Origin of Manhattan Transfer is part of N.J. history
Labor Day is special in Paterson — home to the American Labor Museum
The story behind New Jersey's original Blue Star Drive
