Back to Trenton, October 2016.
The first two pictures of the Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes Bridge) were taken on the spring 2016 Lincoln Highway trip. It is also known as the “Trenton Makes Bridge” because of the huge lettering on the south side reading “TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES” (originally installed in 1935). One can see some of the lettering in the first picture and in the vintage postcard to the left.
Back in the spring I did not stop in Trenton; it just seemed too dodgy. Maybe the problem was that the routing through Trenton on the Lincoln Highway was through a very challenged part of the city. Also, I had been warned a few times to be very careful there and preferably to skip it. Anyway, on a weekend drive later in the year en route to Philadelphia and again on the Lincoln Highway I decided to give Trenton another chance. The balance of the set is from then.
I am not going to sugarcoat it: the photos are a little deceptive in that they make Trenton look a lot nicer than it really is. Indeed, there are many historic sites and some attractive parts of the city but one has to seek them out and know where to go.
In the Battle of Trenton in December 1776 (after Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware north of what is now the city of Trenton) Washington and his troops won an important victory over the Hessians. From there they began their march to Princeton. Hence the two Washington monuments in Trenton. The first, the Trenton Battle Monument (1893), has Washington on a column 150 feet (46 m) tall. The next following picture is of the two bronze Continental Army soldiers guarding the entrance to the monument. Unfortunately, it is in a somewhat questionable part of the city. I did not feel very safe there and did not stay long.
The gold domed New Jersey capitol building is impressive. The second Washington memorial (1876) is a rather imposing marble statue of Washington crossing the Delaware river in the very attractive Mill Hill Historic District. While I was there I drove over to Cadwalader Park (a Frederick Law Olmsted design, 1891) which seemed to be a lovely park but I just did a drive-through. The area around the park is lovely with some beautiful historic homes. The house in the park is called is Ellarslie, an Italianate mansion built in 1848 that now houses Trenton’s City Museum.
One of things one notices in these pictures is that there are no people. That is because on the weekend day I took a lot of these much of the city seemed to be eerily deserted. I mean, the streets were just about empty. There was little traffic. It was as as if there had been some evacuation order. Very odd. The historic Old Barracks museum was closed when I was there. The William Trent House Museum was closed. Everything seemed to be closed.
The final photos are from the Pennsylvania side looking towards New Jersey at the Calhoun Street Bridge (1884) after I made my exit.
