2022 Self Guided Walking
Tour of Historic Bordentown City

1. Old City Hall

11 Crosswicks St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

Built in 1888, the building originally housed city government offices, the police station and jail, the Delaware Fire Company, a courtroom, and its chambers. The opulent clock tower contains a Seth Thomas Clock that was manufactured in the clock-making town of Thomaston, CT. Inside Old City Hall the former jail cells reveal graffiti from prisoners long ago . The structure is used for events, lectures, and other special occasions.

2. Clara Barton Schoolhouse

109 E Burlington St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

The Clara Barton Schoolhouse is a 1-1/2 story brick building probably built around 1798 and moved to this site in 1839. The Bordentown Historical Society has been the steward of this treasure since 2005. When Clara Barton began teaching in 1852, the building was described as “dilapidated” and repairs were undertaken during that time. On her first day as a teacher, the class size consisted of 6 male students. Within 3 months, the class size expanded and a larger space was needed. By the fall of 1853, a new school was built. After believing that she would be chosen as principal, Clara was distraught that the school board chose a male teacher instead. Suffered from anxiety and depression, she left her position a few months later and moved to Washington, DC to regain her health. It was there that she became prominent in her quest for women’s rights, nursed soldiers during the Civil War, and founded the American Red Cross.

3. Gilder House

178 County Rd 528, Bordentown, NJ 08505

Built ca. 1788-1802 by Samuel Rogers with early 19th century additions, the vernacular Gilder House is one of the oldest structures within the Bordentown Historic District. Richard Watson Gilder, the editor of Century magazine, was born and raised in a family that was known for their great accomplishments in the world of literature, music, and exploration. Known as Bellevue, this farmhouse served as an academy for refined female students from 1842 until 1882. Now owned by the city of Bordentown, the house remains a historic landmark as well as gateway to the city and Gilder Park.

4. Powell Monument

52 E Burlington St Bordentown, NJ 08505

This granite obelisk commemorates William F. Powell, eminent black educator and U. S. Minister to Haiti from 1897 to 1905. Beginning his career in 1869, Powell came to Bordentown in 1875, serving as principal of School #2, a school for the town’s African American children. He left in 1881 when he interrupted his career as an educator for the employment as a bookkeeper in the Fourth Auditor’s Office of the United States Treasury. He resumed being as educator in 1884 when he became superintendent of schools in the fourth district of Camden, NJ.

5. Old Friends Meeting House

302 Farnsworth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ 08505

The Friends Meeting House was developed on a plot of land given to the Society of Friends, where they established a place of worship in 1740. Prominent worshippers included America’s first sculptress, Patience Wright; the Borden family; and Susan Waters, famous portrait artist and painter of rural farm scenes with animals. Known as the oldest meeting house in Burlington County on its original foundation, formal services ended in 1904. Today the Bordentown Historical Society maintains its base of operation from this historic site.

6. Former Hook and Ladder Company

8 Walnut St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

This former firehouse was built following a fire that destroyed the city’s Baptist church on Church Street in 1885. Its year of construction can be seen in the stone above its windows. In 1970, local artist, Juanita Crosby, converted the structure into an art studio known as the Firehouse Gallery. In 1994, it was purchased by Eric Gibbons, who converted the gallery into living space. From 1994 through 2004, rotating group and solo art exhibitions were held monthly until the structure was sold again in 2019.

7. Christ Church Burial Ground

130 Prince St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

Some of the most influential early families of Bordentown are buried here. The earliest identifiable stone marker dates from 1740, although there are earlier gravestones that lack identification. Notable burials include: Joseph Hopkinson (1770 – 1842), the son of Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Ann Borden, granddaughter of the namesake of Bordentown is buried here. The graves of his parents are marked with small American flags at the Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a Federal district judge, a New Jersey state legislator and a member of Pennsylvania’s 1837 Constitutional Convention. Also, he wrote the lyrics for America’s first national anthem, “Hail Columbia”. This song is still held in high regard as the march for the Vice President of the United States and former Presidents except when they are accompanied by the President of the United States.

Joseph Borden, Sr. (1687 – 1765) was the enterprising man for whom our town is named. He was the father of Colonel Joseph Borden and grandfather of Captain Joseph Borden. Arriving from Monmouth County in 1717, he founded the third overland stage business in the state that transported people and freight from Bordentown to the Raritan Bay where ferry boats waited. Borden also had ferry boats sail up and down the Delaware River to Philadelphia and back.

Joseph Kirkbride ( 1731- 1803) was a colonel in the Bucks County militia during the American Revolution. He was one of several plotters that conceived a plan to blow up British warships harbored in Philadelphia. Known as “The Battle of the Kegs,” the endeavor was a modest success but greater as a morale boost to colonies spread by the composition of Francis Hopkinson. In retaliation for this political embarrassment, British troops torched Kirkbride’s home, outbuildings, and his ferry. He would later rebuild in Bordentown and became a close friend of Thomas Paine, who stayed many occasions in his home.

Ann Penington (1785 – 1806) was the subject of artist Gilbert Stuart’s painting in 1805 while his family resided in Bordentown. It is the only known painting done by him in New Jersey as well as one of the few that bears his signature and location. After Ann’s death from tuberculosis, the painting was eventually bequeathed to her half-sister who lived in Philadelphia. Today, the painting is on display in the city’s Powell House Museum.

Murat infant and Eliza Fraser (1785 – 1847). Eliza was the oldest sister of Caroline Fraser Murat and nanny to the Murat children when they resided on Park Street. Their home was also a school for young girls known as Linden Hall where Eliza taught lessons to students. Caroline’s fourth child, an infant daughter, died after childbirth in December of 1844. She would later bore two more children. Caroline’s husband, Lucien Murat, was the son of Caroline Murat, the sister of Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. The Murats lived in Bordentown until 1848.

8. First Baptist Church

127 Prince St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

In 1751 Baptists from Upper Freehold (Monmouth County) NJ established what would later become present day First Baptist Church of Bordentown. Today First Baptist Church is recognized as the oldest active church in Bordentown. On April 14, 1821 First Baptist was officially recognized as an “independent” church and, based on figures from around that time, was then constituted of 28 members including men and women. On May 3, 1844 the church was officially incorporated as “First Baptist Church of Bordentown.” The “Great Fire of 1882” marked the third time that the church was rebuilt. Its cornerstone remains and was incorporated in the vestibule.

9. Farnsworth’s Landing

20 Prince St, Bordentown, NJ 08505

In 1682, an Englishman by the name of Thomas Farnsworth, along with his wife, two children, and two servants, sailed the Delaware River from Burlington, the capital of West Jersey, to where Black’s Creek and Crosswicks Creek join the river. Constructing a crude cabin on a bluff, he felt that it was a fine location to settle since Native Americans occupied the surrounding marshlands. As other individuals came to settle, Farnsworth started a ferry service as well as appointing himself as constable. Known as Farnsworth’s Landing, the small community consisted of members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) that farmed the rich earth. Eventually this landing became a center for local trade and commerce.

10. Stephen Sayre House

25 Farnsworth Ave, Bordentown, NJ 08505

Born in New York, Sayre moved to England where he became High Sheriff of London. He was imprisoned for siding with colonists and conspiring to kidnap King George during the American Revolution. He also served as Benjamin Franklin’s private secretary when Dr. Franklin lived in London prior to the American Revolution. In 1783, he returned to America and settled in Bordentown on an estate that he aptly named Point Breeze. Sayre took pride in raising horses before he went bankrupt and was forced to sell his property in 1816. The interested buyer was Joseph Bonaparte, the self-exiled brother of Napoleon and former king of Naples and Spain. Bonaparte had his eyes set on building a grand home and grounds, so he had Sayre’s former home transported on logs and ice blocks during the cold winter months to its current location at 25 Farnsworth Ave where it remains today.

11. Joseph Borden House

32 Farnsworth Ave

In 1717 Joseph Borden settled here, bought up a substantial part of the land, and changed the town’s name to Borden’s Towne. By 1740, he established a packet line from Philadelphia to Bordentown which was the third and most successful line in New Jersey. Travelers would stop and rest in Borden’s Towne and then board the Borden Stage for Perth Amboy where they would make their ferry boat connections to New York. After his death in 1765, his son, Joseph Borden Jr., took over operations. His house, stables, and outbuildings were burned by British troops in June of 1778 as retaliation for the embarrassment received by “The Battle of the Kegs” incident the previous January when wooden kegs were filled with gunpowder and launched into the Delaware River to blow up enemy ships in Philadelphia. Borden made the kegs in his cooper shop across the street. Borden’s new home was rebuilt on the former foundation.

12. First Bank

29 Farnsworth ave

Built in 1850, this structure was originally known the Bordentown Banking Company. Under the directorship of its president John McKnight, the bank served one of the most important businesses in town. From 1855 to 1861, local resident Gershom Mott was employed as a teller prior to his enlistment in the Civil War and becoming a Major General with the Union Army. He was the highest-ranking officer in the state. In the early 1870s, he was named director of the bank and served as pallbearer at John Mcknight’s funeral. When the bank stopped functioning, it was converted into a residence. Note the massive front doors and drop pendant cornice mouldings. It is Italianate and has an appearance that conveys permanence.

13. Thompson St.

Many of the houses on Thompson Street were built in the early 19th century to house Irish migrant workers and their families who came here to build the Camden and Amboy Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It was a rowdy and cramped neighborhood that earned the nickname, “Irish Town.”

14. Bordentown Military Institute

70 Park St.

In 1881, the Reverend William Bowen purchased a five-acre boarding school for boys known as the New Jersey Collegiate Institute and transformed it into a prestigious college preparatory school known as the Bordentown Military Institute (BMI). Years earlier, the site was that of the Spring Villa Female Seminary. Bowen held his position as head of this new school until his resignation three years later. Then Reverend Thompson Landon directed BMI until his death in 1917. The Landon legacy continued with his son, Colonel Thomas Durland Landon, who took charge of the school as its principal and commandant as well as broadening its curriculum. After his death in 1934, the institute continued to grow and expand for students eager to experience a regimental but first rate education. By 1970, tuition for an academic year cost $3,600. Campus life consisted of 300 cadets and a faculty of 30 teachers across 75 acres of grounds. In 1972, the institute merged with the Lenox School in Lenox, Massachusetts as the Vietnam War curtailed enrollment. However, the combined entity proved to be ineffective and and was shut down permanently the following year.

15. Point Breeze

Park St.

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the collapse of the Bonaparte empire across Europe was inevitable. Joseph Bonaparte, as the ruler of Spain, fled in disguise aboard a packet boat bound for the United States. He briefly lived amongst other French expatriates in New York and Philadelphia before purchasing 1,800 acres in Bordentown, New Jersey. With this land located roughly halfway between Philadelphia and New York, Bonaparte planned to turn his Point Breeze Estate into an epicenter for Franco-American cultural relations in the United States. In order to achieve this status, he built a 38,000 square-foot, three-story palatial home with the largest private library and art collection in the country at the time. Over 8,000 books in bookcases and 200 paintings graced the gigantic walls. The estate also boasted twelve miles of carriage trails, bountiful nature scenes and beautiful Picturesque-style landscaping that was considered the first of its kind in North America. Plants and trees came from nurseries and private estates in Europe, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. Many tulip poplars still tower over the site where Bonaparte’s first mansion stood. The remnants of his artificial lake can also be seen.

16. Joseph Hopkinson House

63 Park St.

Home of the son of Francis Hopkinson, former US Congressman, and composer of our first national anthem, “Hail Columbia.” In 1820, Joseph Hopkinson bought his home and became a friend of Joseph Bonaparte, his closest neighbor. Despite cultural differences and a language barrier that involved interpreters, the two men respected the company of one another. As president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Hopkinson encouraged Bonaparte to lend his magnificent collection of paintings to the academy from 1822 to 1829. At the time, Bonaparte had the largest private library and art collection in the country. Later, the home became the residence of Dr. Dubarry, Bonaparte’s physician. By inspecting the decoratively laid Flemish bond bricks on the exterior, it’s apparent that this home is one of the oldest residences in town.

17. Linden Hall

47-53 Park St.

This series of rowhomes was once the large residence of Prince Lucien Murat and his wife Caroline Georgina Frazer. Murat’s mother was also named Caroline and she was the sister of Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. Linden Hall opened as a fashionable boarding school for young ladies in 1835 after the Prince (also known as “Prince Reckless”), squandered most of his family’s finances and that of wife’s family through bad investments, inexcusable spending sprees, habitual gambling, and a penchant for sporting the finest garments and headwear that money could buy. In 1848, a widespread uprising in France and the election of Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) to the throne prompted the Murats to escape their creditors and leave Bordentown and their adopted country forever.

18. Francis Hopkinson House

101 Farnsworth Ave.

Francis Hopkinson was born October 2, 1737 in Philadelphia. He married Ann Borden who was one of two daughters of Joseph Borden Jr. In addition to signing the Declaration of Independence as a representative of a five member delegation from New Jersey, Hopkinson was our country’s first native-born composer where his natural abilities as an organist and harpsichordist afforded him the luxury to play in churches and concerts. He also served as a consultant on committees that designed the Great Seal of New Jersey, the Great Seal of the United States, and the American Flag. He was able to do this due to his prominence as Chairman of the Navy Board in Philadelphia from 1776 – 1778 and Judge of the Admiralty Court of PA from 1779 – 1789. He was also appointed as a federal judge until his death.

19. Patience Wright House

100 Farnsworth Ave.

Patience Lovell Wright is recognized as America’s first female sculptress. She was also known for her unconventional manners and strong opinions. Her family, the Lovells, moved from Oyster Bay, NY to Bordentown in 1729 when Patience was four years of age. When she reached her 16th year, she moved to Philadelphia and married Joseph Wright in 1748. Moving later back to Bordentown, her husband died in 1769, leaving her a widow to care for her children. She developed a passion for sculpting and became good at it. Her life-size sculptures were seen on exhibit in places like Philadelphia and New York City. Following a horrific fire that destroyed her creations in 1771, Wright moved to England on the advice of Sarah Mecom, Benjamin Franklin’s sister. Although she became famous in England, she maintained her loyalty to American freedom when the War of Independence broke out. Since danger existed in returning home across the Atlantic Ocean, she earned her patronage as a spy hiding secret messages about enemy news inside the heads of her sculptures that she shipped to the colonies. Always yearning to return, she never got the chance and died of injuries sustained after suffering a devastating fall in 1786. Her life-size sculpture of William Pitt remains the only American artwork on display in Westminster Abbey.

20. Thomas Paine Statue

4 Prince St.

The only home that famous firebrand and pamphleteer Thomas Paine ever owned was located in Bordentown. He acquired property in 1778 but waited until 1783 to construct the small home. Always busy, he never lived in the home but rented it to the widow of a deceased soldier and then a family. The home is incorporated into a larger structure. Paine supported Revolutionary causes in America and Europe and published the pamphlet “Common Sense” to advocate for American independence. This led the American Colonies to begin the American Revolution to become an independent nation. Paine also served as a volunteer personal assistant to General Nathaniel Greene, who traveled with the Continental Army.

21. Lenni Lenape – Abbott Marsh Area

Route 206, Bordentown NJ

Archaeological studies and recovered artifacts dating from 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, and nearby finds dating from more than 12,000 years ago, confirm that parts of the area now known as the City of Bordentown were inhabited by Lenni Lenape or Original People. Understanding the terrain of marshlands, woodlands, and bluffs, the land supported their food source through hunting, fishing, and gathering practices. Well-worn trails formed the basis for early pathways leading to and from creeks, the Delaware River, and the surrounding marshlands. Loose stones exposed at low tide were broken and shaped into projectile heads. Muddy embankments proved to be invaluable for transforming this material into bowls and other essential pottery. The Lenni Lenape were present when European settlers arrived by canoe and ship, and were treated with respect and dignity; as an example, Joseph Borden would not accept any land acquired from the family of Thomas Farnsworth until he had the approval of the Lenni Lenape people.

22. Camden and Amboy Monument – John Bull Locomotive

Veterans Way

Built in England in 1831, the John Bull steam locomotive was shipped to the United States in multiple crates consisting of 5,000 pieces made from rolled iron including rods and bolts. The drive wheels were made from locust wood. The weight of the entire delivery equaled ten tons. With no instructions for assembly, a 21-year-old Irish steamboat mechanic named Isaac Dripps made the trip for this formidable task. Sitting on the docks south of Bordentown, Dripps persevered after ten days of hard work. On September 15th, 1831, the locomotive was on rails and ready for its first run. Following this success, the locomotive was subject to other tests until it was finally ready for its first public showing on November 12th. Although it only traveled a mile and a quarter at 35 miles per hour, it proved that the dawn of railroading was now underway. Within two years, the Camden and Amboy Railroad was completed with 63 miles of track plowing through forest and swamp. Passengers and freight became regular fixtures. In 1866, the John Bull locomotive retired followed by the merger of the Camden and Amboy Railroad by the Pennsylvania Railroad several years later. In 1891, the Pennsylvania Railroad constructed a granite monument marking the location of its initial run. This monument has been moved several times and currently rests atop the first tunnel and man-made structure that it passed through. The John Bull locomotive remains the oldest locomotive and operating steam engine in existence, and is currently located at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

23. Bordentown Female College Monument

Crosswicks St.

The Bordentown Female College was founded by Reverend John H. Brakeley as a school for young ladies wishing to pursue an advanced education. Located at the end of Farnsworth Avenue on the Hilltop, the school continued its education tradition for well-to-do young women from as far away as South America in the areas of arts and literature until falling financial victim to the Panic of 1893 and a devastating fire around the turn of the century. This was the one of the first all women colleges or “female seminaries” in the 1800s that gave women the opportunity for higher education.