- Open selected Saturdays from 11am-4pm
- Open during Bordentown City festivals and specialty events
- See website for details
- Public events, exhibitions, and lectures hosted throughout the year
- Some events in accordance with annual Bordentown City festivals and events, such as May's Street Fair and October's Cranberry Festival
- See website for details
- Free on-street parking for a maximum of three hours
- Free
Bordentown Historical Society
302 Farnsworth Avenue, Bordentown, NJ 08505
609-298-1740
The Bordentown Historical Society (BHS) is located in Bordentown City. The 1740 Friends Meeting House serves as the Historic Society’s headquarters and features an exhibit about Joseph Bonaparte, once king of Naples and Spain and Napoleon Bonapart’s oldest brother. The Meeting House, as well as many Historic Homes in Bordentown, are listed within a Historic District on the National Registry of Historic Places. Historic homes include the Francis Hopkinson House, home of one of the five New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence (Hopkinson, in addition to being a Founding Father, was a lawyer, musician, member of the Navy Board, and designer of the American flag); Thomas Paine’s house – the only place in the world where Paine owned a house; home of sculptress and Revolutionary War spy, Patience Lovell Wright; home of nineteenth century artist Susan Waters; and the Gilder House, home of Century magazine editor, poet, and advisor to many US Presidents, Richard Watson Gilder.
The Bordentown Historical Society also owns and operates the Clara Barton Schoolhouse, a one-room schoolhouse in which Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross and Angel of the Battlefield in the Civil War, taught from 1852-1854. It was here that she established the first public school in New Jersey. Located nearby on Park Street is Point Breeze, the estate of Joseph Bonaparte from 1816 to 1839.
WHAT TO SEE AND DO
- Explore the 1740’s Meeting House and browse souvenirs
- Visit the historic Clara Barton Schoolhouse
- Take a self-guided walking tour of Historic Bordentown City
- Dine and shop at one of the many restaurants, taverns, and charming shops
- Check out over 25 monuments, plaques, interpretive signs, and recently installed figures from the Seward Johnson Atelier
- Explore the nearby Delaware River Heritage Trail and Delaware and Raritan Canal with launching points for local and regional boating, hiking, biking, canoeing, and kayaking
Journey through Jersey strives to have the most up-to-date information, but always check with the site itself before planning a visit.
