Volume LXXVIII, Number 24
Longtime Photographer of University is Subject of Retrospective at Mudd Library . . . . . . . 5 Primary Elections Set Stage for November Contests . . . 8 Titusville Native Takes Starring Role in Princeton Festival’s Cosi fan Tutte . . . . . . 9 New Jersey Symphony Closes Season with Musical Old Friends . . 14 PU Track Athletes Gain Valuable Experience at NCAA Championships . . . . . 21 Coming Through with Personal Best on Final Throw, PHS Junior Star Wilton Wins Group 4 Shot Put Title . . . . . . 23
Remembering Singer John Wetton with Father’s Day in View . . 13 Art . . . . . . . . . . . .18, 19 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 29 Luxury Living . . . . . . . . 2 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 28 Performing Arts . . . . . 15 Real Estate. . . . . . . . . 29 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
Johnson Trolley Corridor Is Subject of Study At Information Session Nearly a century ago, it was possible to travel by trolley between Trenton and Princeton. The trip cost 10 cents and took 35 minutes. The Johnson Trolley, also known as the Princeton-Lawrenceville-Trenton Fast Line, took travelers between Witherspoon Street near Nassau Street and North Willow Street in Trenton. The Trenton-Princeton Traction Company ran the trolley through this corridor from 1902 to 1940. In recent years, it has been known as the Johnson Trolley Trail, part of the vast regional network of Circuit Trails used for biking, walking, and running. It is the subject of a public Zoom session being held Wednesday, June 12 from 6-8 p.m. by Mercer County and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. The purpose is to introduce the study and share preliminary routes to be considered that would extend the northern and southern sections of the Johnson Trolley Trail Corridor. Soliciting feedback from the public is a goal of the session. “The study will identify an alignment to connect and extend two existing trail segments that will create a bicycle and pedestrian corridor between the City of Trenton and the Municipality of Princeton, and pass through Lawrence and Ewing townships,” reads a statement from Mercer County. “A substantial element of the project is to investigate the historic rail right-of-way and alternative alignments to connect a safe multimodal facility to existing and planned facilities.” Goals of the project are “to link areas of high economic distress with areas of increasing economic opportunity, provide a safe alternative to traditional motor vehicle transportation, and connect local residential, commercial, and institutional areas with open space, parks, and recreational facilities.” The corridor would be a “spine” connecting to existing “multimodal connectors,” the statement reads. That means access to employment opportunities, educational institutions, and parks, without the use of cars. Several schools and higher education institutions, such as Princeton University, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary, Rider University, and The College of New Jersey, among others, are within a mile of the proposed alignment. Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Princeton, County Plan Juneteenth Events Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. after the Civil War, is next Wednesday, June 19, and celebrations will be taking place at Monument Plaza and Morven Museum & Garden in Princeton, at various other venues in Central Jersey, and across the nation. Events are also scheduled in the area for Saturday, June 15, with additional celebrations over the weekend of June 22-23. It was on June 19, 1865, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, that enslaved African Americans in Texas were told they were free. African Americans have celebrated that day since the late 1800s, and in 2021 Juneteenth, on June 19, officially became a national holiday. The holiday is also called Juneteenth Independence Day, Freedom Day, or Emancipation Day. The day’s events on June 19 in Princeton begin at 1 p.m. at Monument Plaza in front
of Monument Hall with a Juneteenth Flag Raising ceremony and remarks by Princeton Councilmembers Leticia Fraga and Leighton Newlin, and Municipal Administrator Bernard Hvozdovic, Jr. Soloists from the Princeton Festival will conclude the ceremony with a performance of James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Newlin shared some thoughts from a draft of remarks he will deliver at the Flag Raising ceremony. He described the original 1865 Juneteenth as “a pivotal moment in our nation’s journey toward living up to the self-evident truth that all people are created equal.” Urging all to “fortify our resolve” against the threat of autocracy, he continued, “Let this Juneteenth fire up our determination to preserve and perfect the noble vision of equality enshrined in our founding.” At 4 p.m. the festivities continue at Morven Museum & Garden with a community
celebration including crafts and educational activities, food by Black-owned business Tipple & Rose, and an antique phone booth recording studio. Visitors can record their own reflections, thoughts, hopes, and dreams for Juneteenth and the future as part of the “Let Freedom Ring” Voices of Princeton oral history project. Community partners include the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and its Princeton Festival, the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Historical Society of Princeton, and the Princeton Public Library, as well as Art Against Racism, Not in Our Town Princeton, Morven Museum & Garden, the Municipality of Princeton, Passage Theatre, Paul Robeson House of Princeton, Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, Tipple & Rose, West Windsor Arts Council, and YWCA Princeton. Continued on Page 10
Beech Leaf Disease Poses Threat to Town’s Beleaguered Trees
PLEASE TOUCH: Kid-friendly activities including an instrument petting zoo, musical crafts, a large toe-tap piano, and more were featured at Family Fun Day at the Princeton Festival, held Sunday afternoon on the Colonial Lawn at Morven Museum & Garden. Princeton Festival events continue through June 22. (Photo by Sarah Teo)
Dracula
Just 10 years since the emerald ash borer was first detected in New Jersey, and then proceeded to decimate many thousands of the state’s ash trees, a new threat, beech leaf disease, caused by tiny worms called nematodes spread by birds or the wind, has arrived and is likely to take a devastating toll on the area’s beech trees. Princeton Municipal Arborist Taylor Sapudar reports sightings on private properties throughout Princeton and in Princeton Open Space. He has heard from private tree care companies that are trying to manage and treat the disease, but he cautions that “it’s still in the early stages,” and a number of questions about the origins and the most effective countermeasures remain unanswered. “Staff will be monitoring the disease in the open space areas,” Sapudar said. In a May 22 letter to Town Topics, naturalist and Friends of Herrontown Woods President Steve Hiltner warned that “Over the next 10 years, Princeton appears fated to lose nearly all of its beech trees.” He went on to note that the tiny nematodes “overwinter in the beech’s long coppery buds, causing contortions and curious stripping in the emerging leaves.” He had first spotted the contorted Continued on Page 11
Show Dates:
June 13-30th Thursday-Friday: 8:00 PM Saturday: 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM Sunday: 2:00 PM
Location:
Hamilton Murray Theater Princeton University
by Kate Hamill | Based on the novel by Bram Stoker
Buy tickets at:
Princetonsummertheater.org/dracula