Go back in time to Trenton, 1781

In late August/early September 1781, thousands of soldiers and their followers along with cannon, wagons, oxen, and horses were in camps in and around Trenton, then a town of about 500 residents.

These were the armies of Generals Washington and Rochambeau on their march from New England to confront the British at Yorktown where they achieved victory, securing America’s independence.

Visit the Trent House to Experience Army & Town Life
in Those Turbulent Times

August 23, 2025 – 10 am to 4 pm
Free for All – Families & Children Welcome

THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Learn about army life from:
Soldiers of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment
General Rochambeau & Captain Lauberdiere of the French Army
A Continental Army surgeon

Hear the music of fifes and drums

Sample herbal teas that Patriotic ladies served
Make a favorite dessert of the time – “Berry Fool”
Visit a blacksmith at his forge
Watch petticoats being sewn by hand
See what was grown in kitchen gardens
Learn about pottery making of the time

CHILDREN CAN COMPLETE A SCAVENGER HUNT FOR PRIZES

SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES

10:20 am in the Visitor Center
Talk on colonial containers, pottery, & silver
David Bosted

10:40 am in the Visitor Center
Preview of poster of the route from Princeton to Trenton & the crossing of the Delaware
David Bosted and John Gummere

11:30 am in the Visitor Center

General Rochambeau Exercises the Troops:The French in Rhode Island
Norman Desmarais

12:45 pm in the Courtyard

Remembering Algernon Ward, Jr.
Historian and Re-enactor

1:15 pm in the Historic House

Talk with General Rochambeau & his aide-de-camp Captain Lauberdiere as they discuss plans after crossing the Delaware

2:15 pm in the Visitor Center

Mapping the March through New Jersey: Then and Today
Paul Larson

Buy a book and have it signed by author Norman Desmarais

Copies of these books will be available:

The Guide to the American Revolutionary War in New Jersey: Battles, Raids, and Skirmishes
The Road to Yorktown : The French Campaigns in the American Revolution, 1780-1783
America’s First Ally: France in the Revolutionary War

Journal of a French Quartermaster on the March to Yorktown June 16—October 6, 1781 Washington’s Engineer: Louis Duportail and the Creation of an Army Corps

The Guide to the American Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina: Battles, Raids, and Skirmishes

The 1719 William Trent House is in the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area and on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail.

Stop at the Welcome Table to get your program or your National Park Service passport stamped.

This annual event – now in year 5 – is a collaboration among the 1719 William Trent House Museum, the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Lawrence Historical Society, the Old Barracks Museum, and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association-NJ.

The post Travel Back to Trenton’s Past With the William Trent House Museum first appeared on TrentonDaily.