Colonnade and Gravesite
This colonnade was originally part of Mathew Newkirk’s home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later called St. George’s Hall. The house was designed by Thomas U. Walter, who later designed the dome on the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D. C. In 1900, the colonnade was transported to Princeton, and became the entrance of the Mercer Manor, which formerly stood on the east side of the Battlefield. Upon the Manor’s demolition in 1957, the Institute for Advanced Study donated the colonnade to the State of New Jersey. The colonnade was dedicated where it stands in 1959, and declared a National Historic Monument in 1962.
Beyond the colonnade lies a circular stone patio and a tablet dedicated to the men who died in the Battle of Princeton. The memorial was erected in 1918, in memory of the thirty-six unknown soldiers buried nearby, including fifteen American and twenty-one British soldiers. The words engraved on the tablet are those of Alfred Noyes (1880 – 1958), taken from his poem Princeton (1917). Noyes was a visiting professor at Princeton University, and later became Poet Laureate of England.
Created by Chris Wang BSA Troop 88, Princeton, NJ - 1998
Marker is on Mercer Street ½ mile north of Parkside Drive, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
