News
Digging Through History: Uncovering Petty's Run
Did you know a mill stream once flowed to the Delaware right behind the Old Barracks? And now, it's coming back to life. Right in our back yard, an archaeological team is hard at work. They have uncovered a brick and stone culvert which contains what was once called Petty's Run. They have also found foundations of a plating mill from the 1730s, and the first glimpses of the 19th-century paper mill footings. Yet to be found are the remains of the West Front Street bridge over Petty's Run, built in 1792, perhaps the cobbled surface of what was once West Front Street, and probably the ruins of the Trenton Steel Works, built in the mid-1740s. There are traces of the late 19th-century residential properties that faced on to West State and West Front streets -- building foundations, privies, walkways, steps and property walls. A rapidly growing collection of artifacts is being recovered ranging from Native American stone tools to 18th- and 19th-century pottery sherds and glassware.
For more details, visit www.pettysrun.org.
