August 2025

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 SCAVANGER 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.

Your gift connects voices of the past and present

with voices of the future

Checks: Trent House Association, P.O. Box 77234, Trenton, NJ 08628

Online: By clicking the box or scanning the QR code

 The William Trent House Museum is a National Historic Landmark in the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area and on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. The Museum is dedicated to sharing the authentic history of the house, property, and people with our communities, connecting the past with today and tomorrow. Owned by the City of Trenton, it is operated by the Trent House Association, which is supported by the generosity of its members and donors; by grants from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission with funding from the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey Arts & Culture Renewal Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation; the Bunbury Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation; and by contributions from NJM Group and Orion General Contractors. For more information, visit https://williamtrenthouse.org.