Patriots' Week '09

Photo courtesy of http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/visitingstatehouse.asp

As part of the Patriots' Week '09 activities, we toured two historic sites in Trenton - the New Jersey State House and the Old Barracks.

The State House tour began in the rotunda, and included a description of a bronze sculptue displayed on a block that is the second of three casts from a 1969 plaster study of Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French (1851-1931) and commissioned by Hamilton Fish Kean. This was used as a model for the Lincoln Memorial.

This first floor has portraits of the first governors of New Jersey but were painted later as the custom of painting portraits of the governors came into fashion long after the first governors left office.

The guide explained that the early NJ legislature was based on the idea of the modern state senate that included two houses.

He then moved into identifying and explaining the state symbols (of which we studied and made the power point presentation) along with the symbols represented on the upper part of the rotunda - swords=strength, scales=justice. The state seal is also represented in a stained glass window lower in the first floor rotunda. The guide explained that although the horse was depicted in the state seal from the beginning, it was not designated as the state animal until later.

We then toured the Governor's Office, stood in the spacious reception room/lobby (1871) which is where the press announcements are made (lighting set around this room). We were not taken into the next room (s) where the business is conducted : )

In the Hall of Legislature, we observed a porcelain sculpture of the state tree, which incorporated the state bird, flower, and insect - beautiful.

We toured the General Assembly chamber next, which is the largest room in the state house and the first to have electricity. Business is conducted on Mondays and Thursdays, and there will be a new speaker coming in to replace Speaker Roberts. We also noticed that the carpeting was blue with a pattern that incorporated the state tree, bird, insect, and flower, and were told that this is a custom, one-of-a-kind carpet.

We moved on to the Senate Chamber, much smaller than the General Assembly Chamber, and a more recent construction. Here we learned that NJ was the first state to send troops for the Civil War, and that the murals below the Senate Rotunds depicted industries foudn in NJ including electricity, glass (glass blowing depicted), and education. The rotunda itself was made of stained glass with names of famous New Jerseyans written in each part, including:

Seth Boyden - Famous inventor - patent leather, nail making machine, and strawberry cultivator
Dayton
McClellan
Henry
Livingston
Beasley
Frelinghuysen
Kearney
Hobart

We will use this as a springboard to learning more about famous inventors and inventions from New Jersey.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.barracks.org/

We then headed to the Old Barracks Museum, located just around the block from the NJ State House. This was important because it was built to house British troops during the French and Indian War. We learned about the war through exhibit displays and reenactors that gave us stories through their presentations.

The kids participated in a hands-on activity that taught them how to march and bear arms, and respond to the different fife and drum calls. They also learned about the different uniforms worn by the soldiers, and how difficult it was to determine the different sides due to the similarities in outfits.

We also learned about the Battle of Trenton from a few people, the subsequent battles in Princeton and Monmouth, and how Washington's troops were taken care of and then inoculated during the winter (with smallpox through a small scratch in the arm)!

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