Cruise with Us

Join the Port of Trenton Museum Foundation and PSE&G as we sail the Delaware River aboard the schooner A.J. Meerwald for a guided sunset cruise along the Trenton Area's waterway.

When: Saturday, May 2, 2009
from 5 - 7:30 p.m.

Departing from Trenton's Waterfront

How Much: $100 per person

What Else: Cocktails and seaworthy hors doeuvres.

Hurry, though: Space is limited. To learn more, or book your berth, call the museum
at (609) 394-1325.

Board of Directors

Mr. David A. Byers
Manager, Landscape & Urban Design
N.J. Department of Transportation
(Retired)

Mr. Mark Feffer (Board President)
Managing Editor
Dice Holdings

Mr. Samuel Frisby (Vice President)
Director
Department of Recreation, Natural Resources & Culture
City of Trenton

Mr. Richard Hunter
President
Hunter Research

Mr. Frank J. Lucchesi
Regional Public Affairs Manager
PSE&G

Ms. Debra L. Mullen
Public Sector Manager, ECG Sales
Empire Technologies

Mr. Scot Pannepacker (Secretary/Treasurer)
Partner
Lear & Pannepacker

Mr. Joe Wiley
Chief Operating Officer
Sadat Associates

Grant to Preserve the Delaware Inn

Standing forlornly on Lamberton Street facing the South River Walk Park is an abandoned three-story brick building that is one of the few tangible links to Trenton’s early history as a port city. This is the Delaware Inn, also known as the Red Tavern (for its red brick exterior), built in 1798 to cater to raftsmen, stevedores, fishermen and local residents of the port community of Lamberton. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the building served as both a hotel and as a private residence; in 1942 it was converted into the main office for the neighboring Champale brewery.

Now owned by the City of Trenton and designated as a city landmark, the Delaware Inn awaits a new life as the home of the Port of Trenton Museum, a hub for the Lamberton community, and a centerpiece of the proposed residential redevelopment of the Champale site. As one of the city’s most critical heritage tourism assets, the building is also a natural supplement to the South River Walk Park, a new riverfront amenity that celebrates Trenton’s rich and varied history.

The Port of Trenton Museum Foundation was recently awarded a $50,000 grant by the New Jersey Historic Trust, matched in part by the City of Trenton, which will allow plans for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the building to be developed by the Princeton-based architectural firm of Holt Morgan Russell. The aim is to preserve the building and create space for museum exhibits, offices, a community meeting room, and a sandwich shop. The property will also be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, further increasing awareness of its historical importance.

In the coming years, the Port of Trenton Museum Foundation will be raising funds for the actual restoration of the Delaware Inn and the reintroduction of this valuable building into the local community. Contact us (info@portoftrenton.org) if you would like to become involved and lend assistance.

About Us

The Port of Trenton Museum Foundation was formed to develop a series of educational, outreach and research efforts that tell the story of Trenton as a marine and rail transportation center.

Over the next few years, we hope to create our own body of work in cooperation with the numerous organizations that have spent years researching and exhibiting information on the city and its industrial history, its transportation system and the Delaware River ecosystem. Ultimately, we hope to establish a center where historians, social scientists and others can conduct research on subjects related to Trenton, Mercer County, the State of New Jersey, as well as the port itself, the Delaware River, and transportation and urban history.

As an independent not-fot-profit (501C3) corporation, we work with government, private businesses and other organizations to promote the use of the Trenton's waterfront as a cultural, recreational and educational environment, as well as historical-tourism destination.

If you haven't been to Trenton, come visit. You'll be surprised at the jewels you'll find here.

Trenton's Transportation History

What is today a public park at Trenton's Marine Terminal was constructed in 1931 as part of an improvement plan to the Delaware River's main channel. Still there are the bases of two cranes, listed in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. Once employed at the Hog Island shipyard in South Philadelphia, they were eventually moved to Trenton, where they were used to load and unload rail cars and ships.

Other interesting points about the Port of Trenton:

• Also known as "the Falls of the Delaware," Trenton is the highest navigable point on the Delaware River. Well before the arrival of Europeans it was a fording point for Native Americans, and continued as one into the 18th Century.
  
• Ferries were the main means of crossing the Delaware River until 1804-06, when the first bridge was built on the site of what is now the Trenton Makes bridge. One of the earliest was the Trenton Ferry, which in the late 17th or early 18th Century crossed the river from the foot of Ferry Street. Another early ferry is believed to have crossed from the Marine Terminal area at the foot of the Riverview Cemetery bluff. Later in the 18th Century, ferries ran from Lamberton (now the Landing Street area) and just upstream from the Calhoun Street bridge.
  
• River Traffic in the late 17th and 18th centuries consisted of sloops, shallops and schooners that came as far as wharves built in Lamberton, the area now around the (foot of Landing and Lalor Streets. Sloops also may have run upstream to the foot of Ferry Street to serve the Trenton House plantation. The peak period of Lamberton's existence as Trenton's port and a regional center of river commerce was circa 1760-1840.
  
• In the 1790s and early 19th century, the first steamboats appeared, led by the efforts of John Fitch. Steamboat traffic continued throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century, running as far as Ferry Street, site of a number of wharves from early 1800s.
  
• In 1918 - 19 a municipal wharf and basin was constructed, remaining in use into the early 1930s, when river commerce shifted downstream to the location of the Marine Terminal. During the 19th Century. steamboats also docked at foot of Lalor Street in late 19th century. While Philadelphia was obviously a key destination, river traffic from Trenton also linked to many other towns along the lower reaches of the river.
  
• Built in 1831 - 34, the Delaware and Rartan Canal connected Bordentown to New Brunswick via Trenton. The canal spurred industrial growth along its course to the north and south of the city, and took traffic and business away from the river in Lamberton and South Trenton. Canal traffic peaked during the 1860s and 1870s, then declined until the canal went out of use in the early 1930s.
  
• Trenton's first railroad was a branch line of the Camden and Amboy that opened in 1839, following the east bank of the D & R canal. Within a year or two the New Jersey Railroad achieved a crossing of the Delaware at Trenton using the Trenton bridge, becoming a forerunner of today's Northeast Corrridor. Other railroads appreared in the second half of the 19th century, notably the Belvidere-Delaware and Delaware and Bound Brook lines. While none of these provided service to South Trenton or Lamberton, a few of the area's larger industrial plants ran spur lines to factories on the river bank.

How You Can Help

First, volunteer: We have an ambitious vision, and we need help turning it into reality. Whatever your skills or interests - from writing to photography, presenting, mailing or just pitch in - we can use you.

Be in touch: Keep an eye on this Web site, or send us an e-mail if you'd like to be added to our contact list. As we gather momentum we'll update this site regularly, and soon we'll begin an e-mail newsletter.

Contact Us

The Port of Trenton Museum Foundation, Inc.
120 West State Street
Trenton NJ 08608
info@portoftrenton.info