Welcome to My Princeton Area Tour!

Drumthwacket, Princeton

You have entered a private tour of the Princeton area complete with my personal commentaries. If you want something standard, I can email you it with my relocation package. But, this section will have some fascinating tidbits of information that illustrate what makes each of the towns unique. You’ll read about my favorite places to eat since food is one of my passions. 

The entire Princeton area corridor is filled with historic significance, beautiful scenery and community spirit. What makes our area unique is that it is about an hour away from everything….the mountains, the Jersey shore, Philadelphia and last but not least Manhattan.

One of the key factors in the growth along the “Route 1 Corridor” is the Princeton Junction Train Station and its easy commute to both New York or Philadelphia. In fact, many couples have one spouse commuting to New York and the other to Philly. In addition to plenty of shopping along Route 1, there’s a 2500 acre Mercer County Park to keep residents entertained. We’re only 15 minutes away from a fantastic fun theme park, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson. And for those of you who like to explore towns with charm, artistic items and antiques, there’s nearby Allentown, NJ and Lambertville or New Hope, PA. 

The area is host to numerous pharmaceutical companies including Bristol Myers Squibb and many high-tech companies including the Sarnoff Center (home of the former RCA Labs). Merrill Lynch and Bloomberg are greatly expanding their presence here bringing more jobs to the area.

So, let the tour begin.


Alexander Hall
Graduate Hall           
Wu Hall

Princeton
Princeton is actually comprised of two components: Princeton Borough (home to Princeton University) and Princeton Township. Princeton is a friendly community complete with academic and cultural sophistication. The university abounds with ivy-laced buildings. A visit to this affluent locale reveals stately historical homes where Albert Einstein and President Wilson once resided. F. Scott Fitzgerald graduated in the 1920’s and wrote The Great Gatsby based on his Princeton days. The town has many shops that dot Nassau Street and Palmer Square. There’s plenty to see and do here. McCarter Theatre has jazz, theatre, ballet, music and much more. We have season tickets to the theatre program. Plus, it wouldn’t be the holiday for The Siano’s without the annual Nutcracker Ballet. Walk along Nassau Street and stop in at Thomas Sweet Ice Cream for my favorite cinnamon ice cream with bittersweet hot fudge topping. PJ’s Pancake House draws a huge crowd every Sunday. You’ll be able to carve your initials into the table. Next along the way is the Triumph Brewery, our brew pub, that offers tours every Saturday. 


Nassau Hall Tigers          
Thomas Sweet Ice Cream
My Dogs Enjoying Princeton

The Historical Society has a 2-hour walking tour that meets at the Bainbridge House every Sunday. If you like cappuccino, don’t miss A Small World coffee shop on Witherspoon. It’s the best! Every September brings the annual Jazz Feast complete with bands and local restaurants converging in Palmer Square. Princeton is known for its top-notch public and private schools. Housing prices are premium priced because of its sought after zip code, cultural activities, schools and limited amount of housing available. When a property comes on the market in this town, it doesn’t stay available for long. 

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West Windsor/Princeton Junction 

Schools. Schools. Schools. This town is highly focused on its excellent school system which is also in conjunction with Plainsboro to form the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District. They recently built an amazing new elementary school, middle school and high school to accommodate their soaring population. A community pool was recently added for summer fun. Here’s a trivia tidbit. Orson Wells’ “The War of the Worlds” radio show which created a state of panic in the U.S. in 1939 supposedly had the Martian invasion taking place here in Grover’s Mill. The housing in this town is mainly comprised of large newer executive homes in lovely communities. The best Italian food around is at Capuano’s on Clarksville Road. In the summertime, don’t miss the Lick It ice cream stand on Princeton-Hightstown Road. If you have kids and are in need of a pediatrician recommendation, I highly vote for Princeton Nassau Pediatrics on Princeton-Hightstown Road. They also have another office in Princeton. Great friendly doctors are always accessible regardless of the time of day or night. Dr. Schneider is the one with the dino tie.


Congregation Beth Chaim (my synagogue)

 

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East Windsor 

This is the place I’ve called home for the past 18 years. The school district is combined with Hightstown to create the East Windsor Hightstown Regional School District. I have found the schools to be excellent and filled with very caring experienced professionals. The district has one of the best Special Services for special education. It is very progressive in this area and had “inclusion” in the mainstream classroom years before it was mandated by the state. The town has been experiencing a growth of new residential communities and retail shopping since the sewer moratorium (which we had for 10 years) was lifted in the mid-‘90s. My neighbor likes to describe us as “Ozzie & Harriet Nelson meets the new millennium”. It’s a family oriented atmosphere of little leagues, soccer and PTA meetings. The town used to have a lot of agricultural and dairy farms. When I first moved here in 1983 I found potatoes on the road every night. Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross, taught school in a one-room school on Cedarville Road. 

Twin Rivers is a community within a community. It’s located in East Windsor and has mostly townhouses and condos. It was the state’s first Planned Unit Development built in 1970. There is a huge variety of housing options in East Windsor from brand new large houses to older homes in established communities to townhouses. My favorite place for dates is City Streets restaurant which makes a spicy Firecracker Calamari dish. I also enjoy the Americana Diner on Route 130 with its retro ‘50s look. Tiger’s Deli makes the best classic homemade potato salad I’ve ever tasted. People put their orders in weeks before the summer holidays.

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Hightstown
Known for its historic Victorian architecture along South Main Street, Hightstown is filled with historic tidbits. The Underground Railroad during the Civil War secretly transported slaves from the south to freedom. The downtown area is in the process of undergoing a revitalization project. The Peddie School is located in the heart of the borough. It received the largest private one time donation ($100 million) ever to a school from one of its former students, Walter Annenberg, the founder of TV Guide.
The Peddie School has a youth theatre program and music series for adults that is open to the public. My kids and I had season tickets for 5 years to the youth theatre series. Mom’s Diner is located soon after you exit off New Jersey Turnpike Exit 8. This place is known by people wide and far since it is literally half way between New York and Philly. 

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Cranbury

Yes, George Washington did actually sleep in the Cranbury Inn. The town has a wonderful quaint small downtown area. Main Street houses are historic in look and significance. In the past decade several communities were added with new larger executive homes. Yet, the small-town feel remains and the town has limited the growth to preserve its current status. Boasting one of the best schools in NJ, Cranbury has just 500 students in K-8. It’s a tight-knit group of parental involvement with schools and teachers that make this work. The students go to Princeton for high school and routinely top the students from Princeton in state test scores. There’s not much quantity of older homes that come on the market for sale and when they do, they are quickly snapped up. You should always include a stop in history at the Cranbury Inn. Great food and authentic atmosphere! If you want a more casual experience, go to Teddy’s “The Place Where People Meet”. It’s on Main Street and everyone knows each other.

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Washington Township/Robbinsville
This town has grown rapidly in the past decade. In fact, they are currently planning to build their first high school scheduled to open in 2004/5. The school system ‘s Sharon elementary school and Pond Road middle school have applied to be Blue Ribbon Schools. It still has quite a bit of open undeveloped farm land, yet is dotted with a number of newer communities. Currently, the largest undertaking is taking place with the Washington Town Center. It’s a mixture of 1,000 residential units, “ Main Street” sidewalk cafes, stores and community activities and 30 acres of public gardens, parks and lakes. There are many townhouse communities built within the past few years. The friendliest grocery store I’ve ever been to is Marrazzo’s in the Foxmoor Shopping Center. Sam Marrazzo is often there to greet the customers. On holidays his mom would make her homemade stuffing to sell to grateful customers. Don’t miss the quaint neighboring town of Allentown. It has a lovely downtown area filled with crafts stores. In fact, most of my finishing touches decorating my country-themed house are from Allentown. 

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Montgomery
Can you say explosive growth! Montgomery doubled in size during the last decade. It is routinely at among the top schools in the state. Many people move to Montgomery because of the schools, but find it to be a wonderful quality of life. The town has been working with its master plan to retain some of its rural heritage and preserve open tracts of undeveloped land.

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Pennington/Hopewell
     
The Former Pennington Station

Desirable for its quaint downtown mixture of shops and residential housing, Pennington is the quintessential community.  In the beautiful Hopewell valley region, they have experienced a population boom which is now stabilized.  Pennington’s architecture is a mixture of Colonial, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian styles.  There are extensive nature trails in the nearby Stony Brook-Millstone Watersheds Reserves.  The school district is the Hopewell Valley Regional School District.  Hopewell is comprised of the borough and the township.  It is famous for the Charles Lindbergh home from which the baby was abducted in the 1930’s.  Hopewell township is comprised of 60-square miles of rural rolling hills, villages and historic areas.  Within the township is the small Delaware River community of Titusville.   Housing here ranges from townhouses to smaller 

capes/ranches to expansive custom colonials

Pine Creek Miniature Golf

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Plainsboro
One of the main reasons that draw residents to this town is the fact that it is part of the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District. The town has a mixture of many townhouse/condo communities and newer large homes. There are still many undeveloped tracts of farm land where it borders Cranbury. Its close proximity to Route 1 make it an ideal place to live. Romeos is a great place for Italian food. In fact, they are cousins to the owners at Capuanos.

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