I am lucky to have friends who are willing to go on quests with me. NJWILDBEAUTY readers know that most of our pilgrimages have to do with nature in general and birds in particular. Others require history. Many involve food. This is a jaunt with superb poet Betty Lies, friend-of-long-standing and co-founder of Princeton’s Cool Women Poets. We needed Christmas one year, and Bordentown unexpectedly provided it, ‘in spades’ Saunter with us… through this town of great significance, always too little appreciated in our time!
The Caboose was always my favorite part of real trains. There was frequently a trainman in that car who waved to me, as though he’d been waiting all day for that very moment…
Trains had a great deal to do with childhood Christmas in Michigan. One year, Santa brought me an intricate Lionel train set, even though there were only daughters in our family. Each year after that, it circled and tooted merrily under the tree. I had forgotten that… regret that we did not weave that in as I raised my own daughters.
ALL ABOARD!
In Bordentown, it’s as though the village itself is wrapped for the Holiday.
Our Favorite Place to Eat — Old-World and Leisurely
In Bordentown, Always Look Up — The Past is Waiting
Beauty of Emptiness, Bordentown Streetcorner
Jester’s — Home of the Hearty Welcome
Historic Mural of Strategic Bordentown – site of lost Revolutionary Battle, Thomas Paine’s only bought property, superbly venerable Quaker Meeting House, home of America’s first sculptress, Clara Barton’s schoolhouse, and both Joseph and Charles Lucien Bonaparte – sent to Point Breeze for its magnificent ‘aspect’ over the Delaware, by Napoleon himself.
PILLAGED AND BURNED BY THE BRITISH IN 1778
LIVING HISTORY
BAUBLES OF YESTERYEAR
CLARA BARTON’S FIRST SCHOOL
FRANCIS AND JOSEPH HOPKINSON HOUSE:
“Revolutionary Patriot, Signer, Member of Congress, Scientist, Artist, Scholar, Statesman, ‘Hail Columbia’,” etc.: LIVING HISTORY
SITE OF THE RIVER LINE TRAIN – FREE BEAUTIFUL RIVERSIDE PARKING FOR ALL-DAY JAUNTS – through Marsh to Trenton or down to Roebling, Burlington, Riverton, Riverside, Camden and even Walt Whitman House and Aquarium…
And, Most Ethereal of All Bordentown’s Gifts: Mother’s Day Festival of the Most Exquisite Iris Ever Anywhere!
