Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

New Jersey Historic Trust Affiliated with the Department of Community Affairs

William Trent House

New Jersey Historic Preservation Bond Program
Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund
Historic Site Management Grant
Historic Site Management for Heritage Tourism Grant
Capital Level II Grant
Grant Award: $711,258 (1997); $46,950 (2019), $42,360 (2020); $37,403 (2021); $299,870 (2022)
Grant Recipient: City of Trenton; Trent House Association, Inc.
County: Mercer
Municipality: Trenton

The William Trent House is an excellent example of an early Georgian house, located at the site of Leni Lenape settlements for thousands of years prior to English colonization and an early colonial home built by Mahlon Stacy circa 1680. The current house was built in 1719 as the summer home of William Trent, a wealthy shipping merchant based in Philadelphia, and it is where he established “Trent’s Town” (later renamed Trenton). Trent was active in the slave trade, and the house and grounds were also home to enslaved people who worked there. In addition to the historic house, the site also includes a building known as the Carriage House. This building was originally constructed between 1882 and 1890 and was remodeled to a colonial appearance during a 1930s restoration. The site is also known to be a rich archeological resource. Excavations have uncovered artifacts from pre-colonial Native American settlement through the early colonial period into the nineteenth century, including items specific to the Revolutionary War.  

The 2022 Trust grant will help fund HVAC replacement for the William Trent House.

The 2021 Trust grant will help fund interpretive signs for the William Trent House Museum grounds. The 2020 Trust grant helped fund a continued archeological investigation on the grounds of the William Trent House

The 2019 Trust grant helped fund a site-wide Historic Preservation Plan for the Trent House Association and City of Trenton.  The 1997 grant funded repairs and site improvements, as well as the development of a visitor facility in the carriage house. 

For more information, visit: http://www.williamtrenthouse.org/ 


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