Posted on 08/01/2013 3:06:45 PM PDT by Pharmboy
Revolutionary War reenactors at Princeton Battlefield. Douglas
Sherlock, a bombardier, in the Continental Army, help pull
the canon, during a Revolutionary War reenactment held
at the Princeton Battlefield, May 25, 2013. Mary Iuvone/For The Times
PRINCETON Preservationists opposed to the Institute for Advanced Studys plan to build faculty housing on land they say was a Revolutionary War battlefield have appealed a court decision allowing the construction project to proceed.
The appeal filed Friday continues a long-running dispute over the historical significance of the site next to Princeton Battlefield State Park. The planning board approved the construction project last year and a Superior Court judge sided with the Institute for Advanced Study last month, denying the Princeton Battlefield Area Preservation Societys bid to block the project.
The preservation group has argued for years that the proposed housing threatens the historical integrity of land where George Washington led his army against the British. The group also argues that interest in the sites history could contribute to the local economy by attracting more heritage tourism.
The site of the proposed development is at the very heart of Washingtons counterattack that broke the British lines and drove them from the field, battlefield society president Jerry Hurwitz said in a news release yesterday.
We remain steadfast in our conviction that preserving the site... is of enormous importance to the understanding of this turning point victory, Hurwitz said. To allow housing on that hallowed ground is akin to allowing a housing development to be built over the site of Picketts Charge at Gettysburg. Its simply inconceivable.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
I go there when I can and soak up the spirits of the brave patriots who fought there. And I always can 'see' the General rallying and leading the troops when they faltered.
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
What’s that above Gen. Washington’s head?
The UFO that intervened in the battle.
Most RevWar sites are practically neglected and forgotten.
Princeton has something but it still is very little compared to the scope of the battle. Hell, people can play football and picnic on the mass grave of soldiers! I’m all for keeping more of our RevWar heritage rather than burying more of it yet again.
Probably a flag. Unfamiliar with this painting.
Good question...it is the buff color of the NJ regimental flag, so that’s what it may be. Just a guess.
I have blown it up a lot with my browser Safari and still cannot figure out what it is.
It appears that the General is holding it...as I remember my history, it was mainly the Pennsylvania militia under Cadwalader that needed bucking up, so it would not be a Jersey flag that he would be holding.
Who painted it and where is it housed?
Housed at the Princeton University Library
Washington Rallying the Americans at the Battle of Princeton
1848
William T. Ranney
American, 18131857
Oil on canvas
123.0 x 163.0 cm. (48 7/16 x 64 3/16 in.) frame: 157.0 x 195.3 x 26.4 cm. (61 13/16 x 76 7/8 x 10 3/8 in.)
Gift of Edward Wasserman in honor of his children, Jesse A., Renee H., and Edward Wasserman Jr.
Object Number: y1943-120
I will unleash my crack research staff on it in the morning. Or is it cracked?
Did those patriots die for the “right” of Person A to use the government to control what Person B can do with the land he paid for??
Yeah... I don’t think Washington’s gang was too big on preserving battle sites, which were numerous. They’d gladly build on the spots.
Totally agree with you Pharmboy. The destruction of our historical sites must never be permitted.
Historical sites belong to the entire American populace. Idiots would have desecrated Gettysburg had they not been stopped.
SOME THINGS HAVE NO PRICE TAG.
Used to be fun to play in the woods and fields there when I was a kid. Loved to look up to the once-standing Mercer Oak and imagine the battles. I’da climbed it but no branches were low enough.
Now they are just taking a once wonderful place and turning it into a future slum. Once the Institute was a place to look up to, with Einstien walking past our house most nice days, down the once quiet Mercer Street. Now it seems the Institute is just another liberal climate change hack ‘think’ tank.
Once upon a time some of the trees - along the old trolly line and before that routes the soldiers used - had carvings in the bark from long gone people with hundreds of year old dates. A magical woods - but hurricanes in the 1950s took most of those trees.
The Quaker Meeting house - just behind ours - had blood stained bench covers from the wounded soldiers who lay on them. Robert Stockton is burried there somewhere in the cemetary beneath one of the old slate markers.
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