Visiting Princeton Battlefield State Park

Earlier today, I posted a blog entry about the visit to the Red Mills Museum Village in Clinton, New Jersey, which my girlfriend and I visited earlier today. So it seemed like a fitting time to post a blog entry a recent visit to another historical site in New Jersey that I made, roughly two or so weeks ago, on another stunningly beautiful, Indian Summer day. 

I had gone past Princeton Battlefield several times over the years. Probably at least five or six times, in fact, and possibly more. Yet, I had never actually stopped and taken a closer look. 

Having passed by it so many times, it felt like it was high time that this time on what was a beautiful, Indian Summer day. I actually stop and visit on the way back. Time was not so much an issue on this particular day as other times when I passed by this place. So that decided me. I would go and attend to my business, but then on the way back, I would stop and finally visit.  

And I’m glad that I did.  

Visiting historical places that date back to this country’s Revolutionary War days always brings me back to my teenage years. Back then, I had acquired a particular fascination with this particular chapter of American history. Also, I had read that a third of the battles of the Revolutionary War had taken place right here in the Garden State. That felt like an amazing statistic, and I was not sure that it could be real. Perhaps what contributed to it not feeling real was that I never actually saw most of the places where such history had taken place.  

That, however, has changed since. Back then, the only two places in New Jersey that I can specifically remember having visited which played a role back then was Ringwood Manor and Washington’s Headquarters in Morristown. But even there, I had seen some more sites in Morristown, including the site where a spy was captured during the Revolutionary War (in the town greens), as well as the statue of Thomas Paine, which actually is quite a bit outside of the downtown area.  

While I have not been to all of the sites yet – the site of the Battle of Monmouth stands out as a glaring absence, for example – I have now seen more places that, previously, I had only read about and seen pictures of. Places like Dey Mansion in Wayne, New Jersey. The site of the Battle of Connecticut Farms, in Union. The site of the Battle of Spanktown, in Rahway, the town where I used to work. The Barracks in Trenton, close to the State House. And the site of the famous duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, where Hamilton was fatally wounded, even though this happened some years after the American Revolution, but which still feels related, since it involved some of the main guys involved. And yes, I had visited the town of Princeton, which has historical roots to the days of the Revolution. Nassau Hall, the center of the campus at Princeton, used to almost be the equivalent of what the Capitol Building in Washington is now these days, as the Continental Congress met there.  

Now, it was time to visit the actual place where the Battle of Princeton had taken place, back on January 3, 1777. This battle, which came shortly after Washington crossed the Delaware and then defeated the British at Trenton, was also a victory for the rebellious colonists. A small string of victories like this helped to boost morale tremendously in the winter of 1776-77. 

Below are the pictures which I took during the visit, which seemed worth sharing here.

Enjoy!