May 14, 2023
Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve
Our daughter planned another day of adventuring for us on Mother's Day. The day was expected to be warm and sunny so we took advantage of the good weather, loaded up our car and headed toward New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve is located in Bucks County south of New Hope. A fee is charged for entrance. The preserve encompasses 134 acres including forests, meadows, steep hillsides, creeks, ponds and wetlands. There are 4.5 miles of trails winding through the property. There is a wide central pathway through the preserve with narrow trails branching off it in all directions. We had no trouble following the trails in our sneakers, however strollers and wheelchairs would be impossible to use on the very narrow trails.
We saw a lot of flowers along the trails. Of course, I had to stop and take photos of them as we meandered along the pathways.
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 | | Miami mist |
 | | Star of Bethlehem |
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 | | Sweet root |
 | | Fire Pink |
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 | | Golden zizia |
 | | Lambs' noses |
 | | American meadow anemone |
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 | | Green-and-gold |
 | | Sage |
 | | Spiderwort |
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 | | Big leaf magnolia |
 | | Fleabane |
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 | | Dewberry |
 | | Bluestar |
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 | | Forest phlox |
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 | | Yellow lady slipper |
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Our granddaughters enjoyed the wildlife we found at a picturesque pond in the preserve.
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 | | New Pond |
 | | Another frog in the pond |
 | | This one was about 5 inches across |
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 | | Frog peeking at us |
 | | This turtle was about the size of a half dollar! |
 | | Another tiny turtle |
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 | | This guy had his eye on the baby turtles |
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Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve received two thumbs up from each of us. We'd like to return again during a different time of year to explore more of the trails and see some different wildflowers.
Below is a link to Walter Zolna's excellent YouTube video about his trip to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve. His videos are short and his photography is excellent. We highly recommend taking a look!
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| Bowman's Hill Tower |
Our next stop was the Bowman's Hill Tower, just a short drive from the Wildflower Preserve. The tower was built as a historic shrine commemorating Washington's crossing of the Delaware during the Revolutionary War. Local lore also states the hill may have been the lookout point for Washington's troops watching for enemy activity on the Delaware River, although that hasn't been proven. The tower stands 125 feet tall and from the top there are wonderful views of the countryside. Don't let the dates etched in the stone above the tower entrance fool you (1776-1930). The tower was built in 1929-31. There is an elevator that goes three-quarters of the way to the top, but it wasn't working when we were there. We climbed the spiral stairway to the top. Warning: it gets extremely narrow and dark at the very top!
The tower is part of Washington Crossing Historic Park, and there is a fee to climb it. The view from the top was very nice, but the $7.00 per person cost was too high in our opinion.
 | | View to the south |
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 | | View to the north |
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After eating our lunch at the tower, we drove further south to our final stop of the day.
Washington Crossing Historic Park is part of Pennsylvania's state park system, so the first thing we did was get our Passport Books stamped. The settlement here was known as Taylorsville during the war and there were several historic buildings on the grounds. The only building open was the barn in which the boats used to reenact George Washington's Revolutionary War crossing of the Delaware were displayed.
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 | | George Washington Monument |
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 | | Artist painting along the Delaware River |
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 | | Crossing Monument |
 | | Replica of Taylorsville's Blacksmith Shop |
 | | Durham Boat Barn |
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 | | Hibbs House |
 | | Frye House |
 | | Boats used in the reenactment |
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 | | McConkey's Ferry Inn |
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 | | Taylorsville General Store |
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None of the buildings were open during our visit, so we walked the grounds and peered into some of the windows before heading back to our car and going home.
Washington Crossing Historic Park is a very family-friendly place to visit, although it would have been more interesting if some of the buildings had been open. It's possible they are open for special events throughout the year. There is another area of the park with more historical buildings which we didn't have time to visit this time around. We each gave the park a thumbs up.
* All Photos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *
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