We are pleased to now have the Pennington Historic Walking Tour Guide (PDF), prepared by the Pennington Historic Sites Committee around 1990 as part of establishing the Pennington Crossroads historic district.
== Read the Pennington Historic Walking Tour Guide ==
The brochure features 31 buildings in the historic district, starting at Railroad place and West Franklin, and continuing along North Main, West Delaware, South Main, Eglantine, and then ending on East Delaware. And there are bonus side trips for additional history and buildings.
Each entry includes a photograph, estimated construction date, and a description of the architecture. As the booklet notes, “While only two or three 18th century buildings remain, many of the buildings constructed in the first half of the 19th century continued the stylistic traditions of the 18th. The buildings in this guide represent those buildings as well as a variety of other architectural styles from the Victorian era and early 20th century.”
This, and another over 100 pamphlets are available in the Pamphlet Collection (separate site), which includes scans of leaflets and pamphlets distributed by local municipalities and organizations. The interface for viewing the pamphlets has been updated to make it easier to search, and to select only the categories and/or towns of interest – see the About page for more.
For an interactive approach to the Walking Tour, see the Pennington History & Walking Tour site (separate site), which is based on this brochure. The site was originally developed by Joe Sinniger, and is now archived and hosted on this site. Joe also added pages for other homes marked by historical signage, additional noteworthy buildings, historical postcard images, and a history of Pennington.
Thanks to Jack Koeppel for providing the brochure to scan.
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Why is 30 west delaware ave. not included in this tour? It was built in 1843 as the Wiley/Frisbie house and is on the pennington historical society registry. Yes in the last three years it was redone with the approval of the historical society.
This is my families house and we are the contributors of the Frisbie Glass Plate Photo Collection!!
Dwayne: Thanks for the feedback. This work was done around 1990, and I have no idea why the property was not included. Some of the people involved in the HVHS meeting on Historic Preservation in Hopewell Valley may know – Sun. Sept. 20 – https://www.hopewellvalleyhistory.org/programs.html
Do you have the sources for the Pennington walking tour? I live at 132 South Main and the most recent walking tour stated the house was built in 1790, everything else I have seen says 1820. I love my house and am hoping to learn more!
Elise:
The booklet was put together by the Pennington Historic Sites Committee around 1990.
Conveniently, the Hopewell Valley Historical Society is hosting a meeting on Historic Preservation in Hopewell Valley on Sun. Sept. 20, that can introduce you to some of the people who are involved in historical Pennington – https://www.hopewellvalleyhistory.org/programs.html
To do more research using the History Project site:
– See if your house is in the other House Tour booklets in the Pamphlet Collection, under House-Tours in Pennington
https://hopewell-history.org/collections/index.html?category=House-Tours&town=PennBoro
– See the sources listed in the Hopewell Valley Places page for Pennington
https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/hopewell-valley-places/#PennBoro
— Does it appear in the historic maps?
https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/maps-pennington-boro/
— Is it discussed in any of the Pennington Cultural Resource Surveys?
https://hopewellhistoryproject.org/2020/01/22/hopewell-area-cultural-resource-surveys/
–> Yes – It’s listed in the table in the 2016 Survey: Smith Jay’s Tavern, 1824-1825, ID 1108-1323
https://data.hopewell-history.org/hvhist/Hopewell-History/Hw-Books-Historic/2016-Hw-Cultural-Survey-Pennington-NJHPO_289.pdf
–> Yes – There’s a write-up in the 1985 survey – p 383 – 384
https://data.hopewell-history.org/hvhist/Hopewell-History/Hw-Books-Historic/1985-Hw-Cultural-Survey-Pennington-NJHPO_116.pdf
“May be last remaining tavern stand in village. In 1825 Smith Jay applied for a tavern license for his newly built house. In 1828 he was bankrupt and his tavern passed to Edmund Burroughs.”
(see also the references for where it appears on maps)
Thank you for all the info! I appreciate your quick response.
Smith Jay applied for a tavern license in the 1820`s and the application states it is a newly constructed house. The house built in the 1790’s is more likely one further south on the street as part of a 70+ acre farm