Upcoming Events

"One if by land, Two if by sea"
Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride

Welcome & Refreshments - 7:30 pm
Lighting of lanterns in Trent House Cupola - 8:00 pm

On the night of April 18-19, 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride to alert fellow Bostonians and nearby residents that British troops were on the march. Two hundred fifty years later in 2025 state capitals are encouraged to display two lights commemorating this historic event.
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In New Jersey's capital city, lanterns will shine from the cupola of the William Trent House at 8:00 pm on Friday, April 18th. All are welcome to come at 7:30 pm for a welcoming reception and to watch as the lanterns are lit. 

Visitors can also pick up a set of collectible cards with first-person narratives about twenty-two residents of Trenton during the Revolution - Patriots & Loyalists, men & women, adults & children, the well-to-do & working class, enslaved & free people of African descent.

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Edward H. Stokes - The 19th Century Daguerreotypist Who Became the Richest Man in Trenton

Sunday, April 27, 2025 - 2 pm
​In the Visitor Center

The last owners of the Trent House, then known as Woodlawn, were the Stokes family. Edward Harris Stokes was born in 1824. He became an accomplished artist, photographer and daguerreotypist in the 1850s. 

After his marriage to the wealthy heiress Permelia Wood in 1860, Stokes retired from this business to become active in Trenton
​civic affairs and investments, while his nephew, Stockton Stokes, remained a photographer for many years in Trenton
and Philadelphia.

This illustrated lecture by Gary Saretzky explores both the early history of photography in Trenton and the life of Edward H. Stokes, who became one of the wealthiest men in Trenton.

Gary D. Saretzky, archivist, educator, and photographer, worked as an archivist for more than fifty years. He has published more than 100 articles and reviews on the history of photography,
photographic conservation, and other topics, including “Nineteenth-Century New Jersey Photographers,” in the journal, New Jersey History, Fall/Winter 2004, a revised version
of which is available at http://saretzky.com.