In addition to the reenactment, Sunday’s event will include presentations about the officers and women who served as nurses, musket firing demonstrations, artillery demonstrations and a range of activities for children.

Organizers are also trying to make history more vivid by offering a more comprehensive depiction of life during that time beyond the battlefields, Martin said.

The historic on-site village will include the traditional bakery Half Crown Bakehouse and will feature a blacksmith workshop and blacksmith demonstrations.

“For us, history has to come alive,” Martin said. “These were real people, and we want to bring these stories to life in a way that is very powerful and resonates with many different audiences. That’s why we’re so interested in creating a diverse interpretation of all aspects, both military and civilian, to get people to have a fuller understanding of what took place here on Christmas Night 1776 and how not only the generals but also the average citizens lived.”

Although many of the thousands who attend the reenactment and the park’s 800,000 annual visitors come from across the country and around the world, the park and the reenactment have important meaning for local residents in Bucks County.

For Murphy, being a reenactor is rewarding because of his roots in the region.

“I like the connections between the history of the city I grew up in and the places I knew growing up, and how the events that took place here reflect the place of my childhood,” he said. “And I know all the names of the towns and the people and the things, and that’s something really special about being able to give back to the community you grew up in by learning about it and passing it on.”

Martin also grew up near Princeton, New Jersey, where her love of Revolutionary War history was sparked at the Princeton Battlefield. She remembers watching the reenactment from the Jersey side of the river as a child. Many of the participants also come from the area and grew up reenacting and celebrating this part of their history, she said.

“I think people in this community are really proud to live in a place that has this national recognition,” Martin said, noting that the influx of visitors from out of town also has a “positive impact on the local one.” Economy”. ”

The shared history is even more important, Martin said, after a heated election cycle in a county virtually split between the two candidates.

“I think history really fosters that sense of community and identity for people,” she said. “Those shared principles, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, I think those things really bind us together as a nation.” And I think that now more than ever, especially in these polarized and political times where we we are in, need to remember the sacrifices that these men made to give us the life and the country that we have today… We have come We have worked together many, many times throughout history and I think that “We can all continue to do this.”