American History is so interesting!! Old Barracks Museum - Trenton, NJ

image found at http://www.visitnj.org/old-barracks-museum-0

Sally with Mr. Patterson, our wonderful guide for the afternoon

I really enjoy history, and love living in such a rich area for American History.  We will never run out of museums, parks, and interesting places to visit in the Delaware Valley and Philadelphia!

Learn lots more about the museum and the history at their website http://www.barracks.org/.

Richard Patterson, Executive Director of the Old Barracks Museum

We were very fortunate to have a small tour group led by the Executive Director, Richard Patterson.  Wow, he is so smart and really brings history alive.

This museum is not far from “Washington Crossing”  that is of course on both sides of the Delaware River in PA and NJ.  Not far by car, but when the troops marched there in 1776 in the winter storms it was pretty far.  I can’t imagine it.

The tour starts with a really well done half hour movie about the war that uses re-enactors, art from the time, and stories that help to put everything into perspective.

Then you spend a while in different rooms of the museum learning about the way the men lived, what was happening at the time, and other great history tidbits.

There is a surgery room where Mr. Patterson taught us about smallpox and how General Washington made the decision to have his doctor expose his troops to a milder form of smallpox to protect them.  It was a long and unusual process that took almost a month to complete.  This was so interesting, and very advanced for the time.

I have wanted to visit this museum for years, but got the final motivation from the episode of “Who Do You Think You Are” with Rob Lowe.  He tracked an ancestor to the Hessian army housed in Trenton!  The episode is embedded here for you.

http://www.nbc.com/assets/video/widget/widget.html?vid=1398785

We were pleasantly surprised by the modern additions to accommodate people with disabilities! They have a clean and efficient lift to go to the 2 upper levels and the basement. Downstairs is a modern accessible rest room.

I highly recommend a visit to the Barracks!

Sally K Witt
Social Media and Ministry
sallykwitt@gmail.com
bruceandsallywitt.wordpress.com

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