Princeton Battlefield State Park
Walk the ground where the January 1777 Battle of Princeton closed Washington’s Ten Crucial Days campaign.
Artwork inspired by Asher B. Durand
The battlefield looks quiet enough that the shape of the land can be easy to overlook. On January 3, 1777, fighting swept across these fields as Washington’s force surprised British troops after the Trenton campaign. Follow the paths between the Mercer Oak memorial and the Clarke House, where the battle’s human cost becomes less abstract.
The Clarke House retains much of its eighteenth-century fabric and adds the farm’s own history, including Susannah, a woman enslaved by the Clarke family. Its interior hours are narrower than access to the grounds. A thoughtful visit uses the battlefield first for orientation, then the house for the people who lived on the land before and after one famous morning.
- Battle date
- January 3, 1777
- House
- Thomas Clarke House
- Entry
- Free
Quick guide
- Read the field
- Orient at the Mercer Oak marker before entering the Clarke House.
- Ask whose farm
- Include the Clarke household and Susannah in the battle story.
Know before you go
- Walk slowly
- Sight lines explain why the engagement moved across the field.
- Enter the house
- Look for original architectural fabric.
- Place the battle
- Connect Princeton to Trenton and the Ten Crucial Days.
- Check house hours
- Grounds access does not guarantee an open interior.
Good to know
The preserved ground is open longer than the staffed house. Call if entering Clarke House is essential; staffing, events, and site closures can alter interior access.
Notice these
- Open battlefield
- Mercer Oak memorial
- Clarke House