Driving north on New Jersey's US 206, the Pine Barren and rural scene turns urban as the highway nears Trenton. Passing a few blocks from the NJ State House I head up the hill toward the neighborhood known as "Five Points." There a towering Doric column of granite (twice as high as the 75 foot tall obelisk I saw in downtown Easton on last on last week's road trip) rises over a small traffic-circle looking park. Since I'm still soliciting YOUR flag photos, it's the American flag I notice first in front of the Trenton Battle Monument. Atop the memorial, George Washington is pointing toward the site of his victory at the Christmas 1776 Battle of Trenton. But I'm still focused on photographing the flag, and just as I park, a huge dark cloud moves across the bright blue sky.
Waiting for the sun to return, I walk over to the bench where Carl Bailey, a US Postal Service letter carrier from Williamstown is taking a break on his route. He takes the NJ Transit bus into Camden, then the River LINE light rail to Trenton every morning, so we end up talking about public transit, when Henry Williams approaches. He is is 75 and works as the guide/ elevator operator at the site. He is there every Thursday through Sunday. "It's my place," he tells me. " I'm here, it's open. I'm not here, it's closed."
Williams has just received a cell phone from the city, and walked over to ask Bailey's help to make a call. After introductions, I'm intrigued by the elevator. The column is tall, but not very wide. I noticed the railing at the base of George's feet, but it never occurred to me I could go to the top. "It's a small elevator, probably the oldest in the state," he says of my pleasant surprise.
Inside the four-passenger elevator, Williams promises we won't get stuck. But if we did, he reassures me, it wouldn't be for long. "You can go underneath and crank the cables by hand." That's why he got the phone, he says. "I just call, and the police, fire department and everyone will be here in minutes." The monument, dedicated in 1893 originally had steps. They installed the elevator in 1920.
Just as we come down, Paul Gianakon from Hockessin, Delaware and his eighteen year-old daughter walk up. Majoring in history and the classics, Julie Gianakon is starting at Princeton University in the fall and had to drop off some paperwork. They visited the battle site in Princeton, and plan to see Washington's Crossing on the way home. At the top, dad asks Williams if you can see where Washington crossed the Delawarem and about the house where Col. Johann Rall, the commander of the Hessians, was taken after he was mortally wounded (during the battle, 22 of Rall's men died, 92 were wounded, and 948 were captured. Only four of Washington's men were wounded in this first American victory of the war). The humidity is low and the sky is clear. We can see for miles, but none of us knows where the house was.
As we all leave, I ask Gianakon's recommendation for a Delaware road trip. I know US 13 is the longest signed highway in the state, but that, he says is all four lane all the way. So he suggests Delaware State Route 9, not as long, but mostly all two lanes. So that's where I'll be for Week 3.
