Journey through a Princeton native’s checklist of must-sees.
By Max Hartshorne
GoNOMAD Editor
Sometimes the best places to go are home. For me, home is far, far, and decades away, in the Garden State of my birth, a village just outside of Princeton New Jersey. We lived in Blawenburg, but we always said Princeton because it was easier and more familiar.
Every time I return to Prince’s town, I enjoy a few meals, go shopping, or just walk down Nassau Street, the wide main boulevard of commerce. A fine college town, it is indeed.
Why is Princeton University famous? It has amazing buildings, worthwhile education, history in every landmark, and a legacy of well-known people. And of course classic food that ropes in everyone.
There are buildings on the 1000-acre Princeton University campus that are remarkable examples of Romanesque style, dripping with towers and colonnades.
Walking paths take you through campus, and at each turn, there’s an opportunity to see buildings like the Lewis Science Library by Frank Gehry or you can wander over to what was once the local train station called the Dinky, now converted to a great bar and tapas place (also called the Dinky).
Before you leave, check out Ai Weiwei’s “Circle of Zodiac Heads”, these gigantic zodiac heads represent each month of the Chinese calendar.
When I was in high school in the ‘70s, we used to jump into the fountain in front of what was then one of the University’s most striking modern buildings…the Woodrow Wilson building.
Guess what, it’s now been renamed Robertson Hall. and was designed by Yamasaki, the same architect who did the original Twin Towers that were destroyed on 911.
Princeton’s Brainy Energy
Princeton is a town of brainy energy. No doubt the influence of brilliant minds rubs off on the townspeople. But go into the busy Small World Coffee on Witherspoon Street any morning.
Often it could be John McPhee, famous author and Princeton Prof, or Angus Deaton, an Economist and Nobel prize winner, or Mathematician John Conway who died recently of Covid.
He always wore his Math t-shirt, covered with math proofs that probably were part of knot theory or his most famous recreational math called the Game of Life.
One of the entrances to Princeton is the impressive Sycamore-lined Hodge Road. Each house is huge, and impeccably impressive, with their circular driveways and stone construction, displaying the wealth that the town is famous for. Watch out for the speed bumps as you gawk into he lives of the richest Princetonians.
Palmer Square
Palmer Square is the main epicenter of the town, it is lined with restaurants like Teresa’s Pizza/Wine Bar, and Mediterra, which offer pricey menus and great food. You can find just about any cuisine in this small burg.
There are around 28,000 people here but ethnicities are very well represented is a famous old park on the end of Nassau street, Marquand Park, where you can take a stroll, and there are walking paths along the canal that borders man-made Lake Carnegie, often you’ll see skulls rowed by Princeton’s crew team.
My sister Jenny moved to Princeton mostly for the walkability and proximity to the University. She and her husband Steve don’t have any association with the University, except that they audit classes there, learning from the top professors, for $200 a class. She’s currently taking a class in sociology, about the development of cities, and Steve is taking Modern Chinese Politics
Princeton’s Food
Jen writes a food column for Tap into Princeton, a local online paper, and she provided me with some of her favorites “When my friends come we always go to Jammin’ Crepes for Sunday breakfast. They fill crepes with black beans, sweet potatoes, turkey sausage, and egg.
“My favorite restaurants are Blue Point and Mistral. Elements is overpriced but good, for super fancy. Witherspoon Grill is a gamble, if you get their burger it’s good, and steak is good, but service and clam chowder and crab cakes are not great. Blue Point is consistently good, with simple stuff like baked or mashed potatoes and fish broiled or grilled. Kristines, a new French place, is good especially if you’re craving escargot or beef bourguignon.
“The food at Mistral is spicy, it’s a tapas kind of place, with cauliflower beignets, chicken liver toast with onion jam, crispy brussels, and a cool bar,” she continued. She also recommends Cross Culture, an Indian restaurant in the old school Princeton Shopping center, so not much for the atmosphere but great food.
Jen’s favorite go-to is Taccoria, with the “best chicken burrito I’ve ever had, eat them at least twice a week.” Small world Coffee is another place to have breakfast egg sandwiches and coffee is also a go-to when friends come, she said. For ice cream, folks love The Bent Spoon, featuring quirky flavors of organic ice cream and a hometown place, not a chain.
Princeton’s History & Entertainment
Princeton is a town full of history, and we were on the winning side. George Washington himself fought at the battle of Princeton, and today there is a mostly preserved battlefield that makes a great picnic spot, a dramatic sweep of preserved land near the center.
Another famous Princetonian who has a street named after him is activist Paul Robeson. That street leads to the Princeton Public Library, the best place to spend a rainy day in town and enjoy the comfort and the cafe in the beautiful spacious building.
Many movies have been filmed in Princeton, and at the University, including “A Brilliant Mind,” about the great mathematician John Nash…And of course, the movie “IQ” about a fictional niece of Albert Einstein, who taught here from 1935-1955, brought more fame to the burgh, as did Admission, a Tina Fey movie.
The list is long…including the TV show House, and the film Hoop Dreams and Annapolis. Clearly movie makers like Princeton, and did it all without tax breaks and huge subsidies.
Yankee Doodle Mural at the Nassau Inn
If you want to stay in a classically styled inn, the Nassau Inn has you covered. This inn was originally built in 1756 on Nassau Street, and moved to Palmer Square in 1937. The building features a grand stone hearth fireplace and the hushed, woody elegance of days gone by.
Check out the “Yankee Doodle” mural painted by Norman Rockwell that still graces the walls of the Yankee Doodle Taproom.
If you visit Princeton, no matter what time of year, you’ll still get the flavor of the famous university and you, too, will feel just a little bit smarter. There must be something in the water.