The Garden State Surrounds Princeton

 

Now, I know I have written about the town of Princeton, New Jersey in the past. I guess I could expand and write about our entire area for your enjoyment. Many beautiful towns  and lands surround our world-famous centers of learning here, such as Princeton University, amid the pricey real estate in Mercer County.

Towns immediately surrounding Princeton are to the west and southwest, Lawrenceville, a town within Lawrence Township. Both Princeton, surrounded by Princeton Township and Lawrence Township have their own school systems.  Further southwest is the state capital of Trenton, originally a centre of industrial porcelain manufacturing, china and pottery.

West and northwest of Princeton, to the north of Lawrence Township are the towns of Pennington surrounded by Hopewell Township. Hopewell Township also extends to the north of the Princetons, Princeton town and Township, and includes the town of Hopewell to the north. They have pharmaceutical research companies, and offices of technology companies.

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To the east of Hopewell is the dividing line between Mercer County (the 609 area telephone code) and Somerset County, which is more to the north. The suburban towns of Skillman and Montgomery are contiguous to the east with the Borough of Rocky Hill, an old small town. All the housing here is either existing, with old farms, large and small, being divided into lots for already existing housing developments.

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Highway 206 is an important north/south route that extends up to North Jersey, and divides Skillman from Rocky Hill, in general. These are all within Mercer County which has 13 municipalities, and has a  2009 population of 366,222 (est.) amid New Jersey's 8.7 million people.

To the east of Rocky Hill and south is the town of Kingston which extends all the way south past Highway 27, which becomes Nassau Street, the main street in Princeton, and then stops and joins Route 206, which it is named and extends west to Lawrence Township. 

South of Route 27 is Route 1, the classic old route with traffic lights between New York City and Philadelphia, where new housing developments in Plainsboro have expanded rapidly in the last ten years. South of Princeton are the towns of West Windsor, and Princeton Junction, the location of the major train station with trains to New York and Philadelphia, airports and beyond. A small train connects Princeton town with Princeton Junction Train Station and is a useful alternative form of transportation.

Further south of West Windsor are the towns of Cranbury, Hightstown (pron. HEIGHTS-TOWN), Robbinsville, Hamilton and many more. The area is dotted with parks, shopping centers, and golf courses.

Princeton is about half an hour to the Jersey Shore, 45 minutes minimum to Wilmington, Delaware , south of Philadelphia -  a speed record I heard about.

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Whichever way you arrive,  when you get to Princeton, New Jersey, it's a great place to  visit.  The surrounding area also has many farms to visit, and to choose from in case you are in the market to buy a new property. There are many sizes of farms for equestrians which are very popular. And farm estates are available for those without a big interest in horses, many of which will allow you to raise sheep, chickens, cows and alpacas.