The Museum will be closed until further notice
for installation of a new heating and air conditioning system,
funded by the NJ Historic Trust and the City of Trenton.
However, the grounds and Visitor Center are open
Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
(1 pm to 4:30 pm), except on municipal holidays.
Welcome to the Trent House
Open for tours Wednesdays through Sundays, 1:30 to 4 PM
Except City Holidays
Except City Holidays
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The land on which the Trent House and the city of Trenton stands is part of the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape, called "Lenapehoking." During the colonial era and early federal period, many were removed west and north, but some also remain in continuing historical tribal communities of the region. We acknowledge the Lenni-Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory.
Born in Scotland, William Trent immigrated to the American colonies in
the early 1690's and embarked upon a successful career as a Philadelphia merchant. In his business he participated in the slave trade, buying and selling enslaved people in the West Indies and in the North American colonies. In 1714, Trent purchased a large tract of land in the colony of West Jersey from the initial English colonist, Mahlon Stacy, and built a grand house there in 1719. Trent, with his family and eleven enslaved individuals of African descent, lived on this 1,000 acre plantation at the Falls of the Delaware until his death in 1724.
In 1720 Trent laid out a settlement surrounding his residence and built several mills and other commercial enterprises. The city of Trenton takes its name from “Trent’s Town.”
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