Inside the new Washington Crossing State Park Museum & Visitor Center, construction crews completed one of the project’s most symbolic milestones this week.
Nearly 60 years after it disappeared into storage when Trenton’s Taylor Opera House was demolished, George Matthews Harding’s massive 1921 mural depicting General George Washington’s Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River now hangs inside the museum that will eventually welcome visitors from around the world.
For those watching the project take shape over the past several years, the mural’s arrival marks a turning point.
The building is no longer simply under construction.
It is becoming a museum.
The mural was originally expected to be unveiled during a special preview event this week leading into Independence Day celebrations. But with dangerous heat forecast across the region, New Jersey State Parks postponed the ceremony, opting instead to wait until the building is fully complete and ready to showcase the entire visitor experience.
“Due to extreme heat forecast for today, New Jersey State Parks decided to postpone the ribbon cutting for the Washington Crossing State Park Museum & Visitor Center until the fall, when all exhibits will be complete, in place and the building will be ready to welcome visitors with its full range of features,” the DEP said.
Rather than opening the building for a single-day preview, officials said they want visitors’ first experience to include the museum’s completed immersive exhibits, restored artwork and interactive displays.
A Building Entering Its Final Chapter
While the public waits a little longer, construction inside and outside the building continues at a remarkable pace.
Museum display cases are now being installed, allowing exhibit crews to begin placing Revolutionary War artifacts and interpretive displays throughout the galleries.
The restored Harding mural has become the centerpiece of the building’s main flex gallery, where it will greet visitors upon entering.
To protect the historic work while construction continues, crews have placed a protective covering over the painting until the museum officially opens later this year.
Meanwhile, exhibits tracing the Revolutionary War from 1775 through 1783 continue taking shape, including displays highlighting the Ten Crucial Days campaign, the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, and General George Washington’s famous Christmas night crossing.
The centerpiece of the visitor experience will be the museum’s “Crossing Theater,” where visitors will stand aboard a replica Durham boat as a 4-D presentation recreates Washington’s crossing around them.
Outside, the transformation is equally dramatic.
Crews recently planted 3,750 native perennials and grasses and 1,000 bulbs across the building’s green roof, designed to naturally manage stormwater while providing habitat for pollinators and allowing the structure to blend into the surrounding landscape.
Another 8,200 native perennials, grasses and shrubs, along with 23 trees, have been planted throughout the grounds.
More Than Just a Building
Construction on a project of this size was never expected to be simple.
The museum’s sweeping curved concrete walls follow the original 1925 Howard B. Fiske landscape plan for Washington Crossing State Park, creating engineering and construction challenges unlike those found in a conventional building.
Last winter’s prolonged cold and snow added additional complications.
Because much of the structure is concrete, crews were required to heat work areas so concrete could be properly poured and cured during freezing temperatures.
State officials noted that delays are common on complex construction projects and contingency funding was included from the outset to account for those realities.
Watching History Take Shape
For Washington Crossing Park Association Executive Director Annette Earling, the construction delays have become easier to understand as the building has taken shape.
“I have been in the building a lot lately,” Earling said. “As someone who originally thought the design gave ‘flying saucer crashed into a hilltop’ vibes, I’m now fully reformed. Every view is stunning. Every angle delivers another architectural mic drop.”
“At that point I stopped asking, ‘Why is this taking so long?’ and started thinking, ‘Michelangelo probably missed a few deadlines too. It’ll be done in its own time, and it’ll be a work of art that will bring people from all over the world.'”
Now, she says, each visit reveals another milestone.
“All of the crews are working so hard in and around that museum,” Earling said. “It’s a constant beehive of activity in there. Every time I go up, there are mobs of workers working, planting, constructing, and cleaning.”
She points to the green roof, the interior wood finishes, the mosaic work, the restored Harding mural and even the cubbies being built for schoolchildren visiting on field trips.
“It’s been incredible to watch the future take shape.”
Looking Toward the 250th Anniversary
Although an official opening date has not yet been announced, New Jersey State Parks expects to welcome visitors before the 250th anniversary of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River on Dec. 25.
Officials say the completed museum will become New Jersey’s signature contribution to the nation’s semiquincentennial, combining traditional museum interpretation with immersive technology to tell the story of one of the Revolutionary War’s defining moments.
For visitors celebrating Independence Day this weekend, there will still be opportunities to experience the evolving site.
Living history programming, including readings of the Declaration of Independence, will take place throughout Washington Crossing State Park from 1 to 4 p.m., while the Blawenburg Band will perform Saturday evening in the new outdoor amphitheater adjacent to the visitor center. And fireworks will be over the river sponsored by Pennsylvania’s historic site.
The museum itself will remain closed a little longer.
But with the Harding mural now hanging in its permanent home, exhibits beginning to fill the galleries and thousands of native plants taking root across the landscape, the once-empty building is rapidly becoming the visitor center generations of Americans will soon experience.
