Join the Old Barracks Museum and the 1719 William Trent House online on Saturday, December 26 for a series of virtual events that celebrate Trenton’s role in the American Revolution. From 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., the historical organizations will pair up to present six different educational events that can be enjoyed by all ages.
The event-filled day will kick off at 12:00 p.m. with ‘The Trouble with Trenton Virtual Puppet Show.’ Children will be able to experience a visual storytelling of Washington’s victory at the Battle of Trenton. The show will be presented by Tuckers’ Tales Puppet Theatre.
This program is made possible, in part, by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through funding from the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
At 1:00 p.m., participants can tune into the celebration of Hogmanay, a traditional Scottish celebration of the New Year. Annually, the Trent House Museum recognizes the heritage of William Trent, who immigrated to the English colonies from Scotland in the late 1600s, with their own version of the celebration.
This year’s program will feature a concert of Scottish music that American colonists would have heard around the time of the Revolutionary War. Among the selections will be favorites of George Washington and his family, played on recorder and harpsichord by John Burkhalter and Donovan Klotzbeacher of the Practitioners of Musick.
In the following hour, at 2:00 p.m., Asher Lurie, Chief of Historical Interpretation, will be presenting the ‘The Real Story of the Battle of Trenton’. Lurie will share the detailed history of the Battle of Trenton as it really happened, on the day of the First Battle of Trenton.
Following that event, Algernon Ward Jr. of Trenton will provide a presentation on the topic of “Blacks at The Battles of Trenton” at 3:00 p.m. This event will explore the roles of African Americans in the operation of The Old Barracks as a home for soldiers and a military hospital.
Two hours later, at 5:00 p.m., author and historian Larry Kidder will discus his new book “Revolutionary Princeton, 1774-1783: The Biography of an American Town in the Heart of a Civil War”. This book details the lives of Princetonians who lived in the town during the Revolutionary War, and continues the histories detailed in Mr. Kidder’s other works: “Crossroads of the Revolution: Trenton 1774-1783” and “Ten Crucial Days: Washington’s VIsion for Victory Unfolds”. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. Books can be purchased at barracks.org.
Later, at 7:00 p.m., participants will have the opportunity to hear from another author and historian, Don Hagist, as he discusses his new book “Noble Volunteers: The British Soldiers Who Fought the American Revolution.” His book brings life to these soldiers, describing the training, experiences and outcomes of British soldiers who fought during the Revolution.
Drawing on thousands of military records and other primary sources in British, American, and Canadian archives and the writings of dozens of officers and soldiers, Noble Volunteers shows how a peacetime army responded to the onset of war, how professional soldiers adapted quickly and effectively to become tactically dominant, and what became of the thousands of career soldiers once the war was over. The presentation will also be followed by a Q&A session and books can be purchased at barracks.org as well.
Due to COVID-19, the annual Battle of Trenton Reenactments and other Patriots Week events will not be able to take place. Both the Old Barracks Museum and the 1719 William Trent House look forward to 2021 when they can once again celebrate together.
Please visit www.barracks.org and www.williamtrenthouse.org for full details and links to these virtual events.