This is hike #24 ("The Princeton Woods") in
Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest Hiking Adventures (1st edition).
The basic hike described is a 3.5-mile loop in and around Princeton Battlefield State Park. But it was such a beautiful day we did every suggested side trip in
the itinerary which brought the total distance for us to nearly 6 miles.
It's an amazingly varied trek which visits several sites on and around the field where the Battle of Princeton was fought in January, 1777. There's the Mercer tree (or at least the remaining stump, since the tree toppled in 2000) under which General Hugh Mercer died of battle wounds; the Thomas Clarke house (built in 1772) at the top of the battlefield; the Quaker Meeting house and burial ground where the remains of Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, are buried; the path that George Washington took from Trenton; and the Ionic Colonnade which memorializes the 500 American and British soldiers who died in the battle, in front of the grave site where many of them were buried. And there's more. The hike not only passes through the beautiful woods around the battlefield but also around the world reknowed Institute of Advanced Study where Einstein, Von Neumann, Oppenheimer, Panofsky, and Goedel taught at one time or another. In fact, on the drive to the park we passed 112 Mercer Street, where Einstein lived from 1936 until he died in 1955. Of course I had to pull over and get a photo that!
|
Einstein's house at 112 Mercer Street |
Princeton Battlefield |
|
Interpretive sign |
Clarke House |
Very old growth near Clarke House |
Path to Clarke House |
View of battlefield from Clarke House |
Back of Clarke House |
On front porch |
Outbuilding |
|
Front of Clarke House |
Beautiful trees ... |
... in front of Clarke House |
|
Marker at intersection |
Beautiful path |
Marker for Washington's march |
|
Porch of Quaker Meeting House |
Cemetery ... |
... at Quaker Meeting House |
Gate |
Inside Meeting House |
|
|
Shagbark Hickory |
First view of Stony Brook |
Photographing something or other |
|
|
|
Path along Stony Brook |
At the swinging bridge |
Laura getting on |
On the swinging bridge |
Like Indiana Jones! |
[Photo by Laura] |
Gorgeous Stony Brook |
Reflections |
|
|
D & R Canal path looking north |
D & R Canal path looking south |
The D & R Canal |
Back to the bridge |
Look at that sag |
|
View from under the bridge |
Wildlife blind |
Overlooking swamp |
|
|
Surprised deer |
|
Southern end of Olden Lane |
House on Olden Lane |
Fuld Hall (IAS) |
Fuld Hall (IAS) |
Flowers on edge of ... |
... Princeton Battlefield |
Our lunch spot overlooking battlefield |
Laura is a tiny speck on the field |
A descendent of the Mercer Tree |
The Mercer Tree once stood here |
View of Battlefield looking south |
The Ionic Colonnade |
|
Grave site |
|
|
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |