Colonnade and Gravesite

The colonnade originally formed part of Mathew Newkirk’s home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, later called St. George’s Hall. The house was designed by Thomas U. Walter, who later designed the dome on the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D. C. In 1900, the colonnade was moved to Princeton and became the entrance to Mercer Manor, which formerly stood on the east side of the battlefield. After the manor was demolished in 1957, the Institute for Advanced Study donated the colonnade to the State of New Jersey. It was dedicated at its present site in 1959 and declared a National Historic Monument in 1962. Beyond the colonnade are a circular stone patio and a tablet honoring the men who died in the Battle of Princeton. The memorial was erected in 1918 in memory of the thirty-six unknown soldiers buried nearby, including fifteen American and twenty-one British soldiers. The words engraved on the tablet are by Alfred Noyes, taken from his poem Princeton, published in 1917. Noyes, who lived from 1880 to 1958, was a visiting professor at Princeton University and later became Poet Laureate of England.

Princeton, New Jersey · United States