Maxwell’s Field has been saved from development. Per the American Battlefield Trust, “The Institute for Advanced Study and the American Battlefield Trust have closed on the Trust’s $4 million purchase of 14.85 acres associated with the 1777 Battle of Princeton. The land, adjacent to the current Princeton Battlefield State Park, will be preserved while enabling the Institute to complete construction of new housing for its faculty on its campus.”
This newly acquired land will eventually be conveyed to the State of New Jersey as an addition to the existing Princeton Battlefield State Park. Also per the trust, this “includes approximately two-thirds of the Maxwell’s Field property, along with an additional 1.12-acre tract north of the property that has been identified by historians as a key part of the battlefield.”
So now for all time visitors will be able to see the field where George Washington and the Continental Army bested the vaunted British Army. The Battles of Princeton and Trenton mark a historical turning point in the America’s fight for liberty.
“This landscape is a precious reminder of America’s struggle to create a democratic republic dedicated to ordinary people’s liberty,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson, who taught U.S. history at Princeton University for 42 years. “Of all the sites that figured in George Washington’s ‘Ten Crucial Days’ campaign, it is the only one that survives for people to see, understand and appreciate today.”
The President of the Princeton Battlefield Society, Jerry Hurwitz said, “The land purchase brings to fruition decades of work to preserve the Princeton battlefield and honor the men who fought on this land 240 years ago.”
I am glad that the Institute for Advanced Study was able to see that by destroying Maxwell’s Field that it would be a desecration of a very significant historical site, one that helped to determine whether the United States would break free from Great Britain or not.
Back in December 2015 I wrote about this, “The Princeton Battlefield is being Desecrated!” And now I am glad to have conveyed to you my readers that all is now well in Princeton, at least at the battlefield!
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
