"Part of the battle on Jan. 3, 1777, was waged on 22 acres of gently sloping farmland now owned by the Institute for Advanced Study. The institute--an independent, private research institution that counted physicist Albert Einstein among its faculty--is adjacent to the 85-acre Princeton Battlefield State Park. "But that section of the battlefield was never incorporated into the state park, and the institute is reviving a plan to build housing for 15 families on eight of the 22 acres. That has Hurwitz, president of the Princeton Battlefield Society, and the society's activists ready for battle." -- http://www.nj.com/timesoftrenton/st...ews-10/1186656374167530.xml&coll=5&thispage=1 I visited the park almost exactly 2 years ago. I'm surprised at this sentence from the article: "The main map stand placed by the battlefield flagpole in 1964 fell apart piece by piece in recent years and only its crumbling bricks remain." A map stand (not "the main map stand"?) was certainly intact and a good, detailed map illustrating the battle's tactical movements was on it and perfectly readable in August 2005. If that was the main map stand, I wonder what happened in the intervening 2 years. It's a nice park with nice surroundings, but yes, it needs a lot more interpretive signage.
I was just at Princeton Battlefield about a week ago and was appalled at the condition of the battlefield map. And you're right, it was perfectly readable two years ago. I took a close look at it and to me it looked like the glass or plexiglass that was covering the map was destroyed. Water got in and disintegrated the map. There are battlefield markers and maps on the field, but only near the Clarke House, which is where the colonials were. There's not much on the side of the British side of the battlefield where the monument is. What I was disappointed in most was when I tried to get into the museum in the Clarke House, it was locked. Yet, according to the posted hours it was supposed to be open. Linda
