A Walk in the Park

The other day I went for a walk in Washington Crossing State Park.

There is quite a bit going on there in preparation for the celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the United States – the Latin word is Semiquincentennial (or Bisesquicentennial, the Sestercentennial, America250 or the Quarter Millennium). Looking back to the last big anniversary, I have to admit that Bicentennial was way easier to say!

There are construction and restoration projects going on – so some parts of the park are not as peaceful as they usually are. The construction is for a new Museum and Visitor’s Center and the landscape restoration is in response to the damage caused by ash borers.

Washington Crossing’s paved loop road is my go-to hike when I want a walk, but it’s been rainy and I just don’t want to slog thru a muddy trail. The paved loop road is a good option – it’s got hills and scenery and history.

Sometimes I like to hike across the bridge into Pennsylvania, but the pedestrian bridge across River Road is closed due to the construction, so I didn’t this time. The NJ park is much bigger (3.5K acres) then the PA park (500 acres), but MCLS has passes for the Pennsylvania Washington Crossing Historic Park and Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve as part of the Museum Pass Program. You can always park in the lot by the Ferry House and walk across the bridge or be brave, fold in your side mirrors, and drive across that tiny little bridge (can you tell I find it nerve-wracking?).

When things aren’t soggy, there are a lot of other trails to follow.

Map: https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/maps/washingtoncrossing-area.pdf

If you really want to cover a lot of ground, you can head out toward Church Pond, cross Church Road, and continue your hike in Baldpate Mountain - part of the Mercer County Park System.

On all my hikes I like to take occasional breaks to stop and identify the birds I am hearing. I am not good at spotting them in the trees, but the Merlin app from Cornell is a great way to get an idea of who is singing to you. I also take lots of pictures of plants and trees for later identification – I’m more interested in moving than stopping to do a full ID.

Most days I forget about the history that gives the park its name – Washington’s Crossing. That the events in that huge picture at the Met took place right here! That this is the place where the 9-mile hike to the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton began! With the anniversary coming up, it is a good time to remember.

An excellent book about the period is:

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson.

This is the first book in a trilogy – the second book has just released.

There are many, many books on the revolutionary period in the library collection: take some time for a good browse through the 973.3 section.

 

If, like me, you are visiting the park for the fresh air and trees and not the history, you might want to check out the bird, tree & plant identification books.

Birds of New Jersey Field Guide by Stan Tekiela

Browse: 598.0…

Trees by Todd Telander

Browse: 582.16

 

 

 

 

Whatever your interests you can’t go wrong with a walk in the park!

-Meg, West Windsor Branch