Trenton, NJ Area July 23-25

On July 22 we moved from Clarksboro, NJ to Cream Ridge, NJ to the Timberland Lake Campground.   This campground surrounds a lake and most of the campsites are sandy.   We were amazed -- tenters 3 - 4 to a site.  By the time we left on Saturday, the campground was full to bursting.   The theme for this weekend is Christmas in July, so Friday night the campground was a wonderland of Christmas lights.

Our main purposes in the trip into this area were to see the Old Barracks built during the French and Indian War and to go to Menlo Park and learn more about Edison.   Wednesday we drove into Historic Trenton and were fortunate to secure a parking spot (FREE!) right next to the Old Barracks!   The security guard suggested we tour the NJ Capitol as there would be a tour starting in ten minutes.   We  took his advice and had a great tour of the building.    By the time we finished there, we were able to catch the noon tour of the Old Barracks.  We were part of a group sworn into the Continental Army of 1777, and the most interesting part to me was the visit to the infirmary where a very cheerful  "nurse" checked us over to ensure we were healthy.  She then explained that we would have to get smallpox, and described the process.   I'll take the modern version any day!   After our tour and the 20-minute movie about Washington's 10 days of battles, we got our lunch and sat in the courtyard of the Barracks to eat.   After eating we walked the two blocks to the State History Museum and spent an hour there before heading back to camp, about 25 minutes away.

Thursday, July 24, we drove to Edison's Menlo Park.   The original buildings are gone, but there is a two-room cinder block museum there and a tower built by Edison's workers with a huge bulb on the top.   The curator of the library was very helpful and gave us a lot of information of what had been on this site and had pictures of Edison's time there.   She also had many of his inventions, and demonstrated the foil recording and the wax cylinder recordings.   She also suggested we drive to West Orange, NJ and see the National Historic site which we did.  

We toured the 3-story factory and I especially enjoyed the Research Library with Edison's desk with everything on it exactly where it was the day he died.  When he died they closed the desk and reopened it on what would have been his 100th birthday.   I was also fascinated by the fact that nestled in one of the stacks was a bed for him so he could catch a few winks.  The 3rd floor was the music room with demonstrations of the recordings he made and the phonographs he invented.   We also toured the Chemistry lab.  We were unable to visit his home, as it's only open Friday - Sunday, and tickets are snapped up early in the morning.  

Friday we went to Freehold, NJ and had breakfast at Panera Bread and spent the morning exploring the area.   On our way home we stopped at the Jackson Premium Outlets and did some window shopping.