Philly Boat Builder Makes Re-Enactment Possible
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was looking pretty bleak for this year's annual Christmas Day re-enactment of Washington Crossing the Delaware River in Bucks County.
But a group of student boat builders from Philadelphia has come to the rescue.
This is the 65th anniversary of the re-enactment of Washington and his troops crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 to surprise Hessian troops camped in Trenton.
But Joseph Capone, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park, says the Delaware River water level is too low to risk launching the replica wooden boats.
Enter a group called Philadelphia Waterborne which teaches young people to build small rowboats. They heard the crossing might be scuttled by river conditions.
"Where we are here at Washington Crossing. It's way too low and these boats, although they're much smaller - certainly don't hold as many individuals as a Durham boat would carry," he says.
Capone says the group is lending the re-enactors six boats for the event.
"You need one person to be the rower and so we're probably thinking we're only going to be able to get two or three people in each boat," Capone says. "And, that's okay as long as one of those people is George Washington."