Albert Einstein stayed in The Peacock Inn while his house was being finished, according to Inn lore.
And, to celebrate all the future Einsteins from Princeton University’s Class of 2025, The Perch at the Peacock Inn, 20 Bayard Lane, will be open on Monday, May 26, to celebrate all grads. The dinner is a special Monday service, with valet parking available. (The restaurant is normally closed Monday; Princeton University Class Day is Monday, May 26.) more
Wrap your mind around “Einstein’s Brain: Mind of a Genius,” the Princeton Einstein Museum of Science summer pop-up exhibit. A ribbon-cutting is planned for May 21 at 11 a.m. at Dohm Alley, next to 102 Nassau Street.
Meet “Einstein” at Dohm Alley on May 24 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., when he is portrayed by Bill Agress. Kids can receive a free brain sticker, while supplies last. more
Have you always wanted to head out on the water and catch a fish on the fly? Orvis in the Princeton Shopping Center, 301 North Harrison Street, is holding its popular Fly Fishing 101 clinics beginning Saturday, May 24 from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
The classes continue on Saturdays June 7, June 14, June 21, June 28, July 5, July 12, July 19, and August 2.
What could be more relaxing than a twilight tour of Morven’s gardens with a knowledgeable horticulturalist, followed by light refreshments on the museum’s Pool House porch?
Tours are offered on Wednesday, May 21; Wednesday, July 23; Wednesday, August 20; and Wednesday, September 17, all starting at 5:30 p.m. more
Explore the unique art of glassblowing. Pezz Glassworks not only produces high quality glass art and offers live glassblowing at events, but holds glassblowing classes and experiences for area residents.
The glassblowing studio offers classes in Lambertville and at the Arts Council of Princeton. more
Shoppers select home-grown plants at the 2024 Spring Plant Expo. (Photo by Ann Mann)
Meet select growers and purchase a variety of native plants, woody ornamentals, perennials, annuals, herbs, tomatoes, and other veggies at the Rutgers Master Gardeners of Mercer County annual Spring Plant Expo and Garden Market on Saturday, May 3 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mercer Educational Gardens, located on the grounds of the Mercer County Stables at 431A Federal City Road, Hopewell Township. more
Who isn’t curious about the genius behind The Great Gatsby, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary of publication? Princeton Tour Company has explored anything and everything about one of Princeton’s most charming undergrads, and a special tour, The F. Scott Fitzgerald Night on the Town Tour, is scheduled for May 10 and August 30, at 5 p.m., with a duration of two hours. more
Celebrate the many authors working in the Princeton area when The Princeton Public Library holds Local Author Day on Saturday, May 10 from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Local Author Day brings the local reading and writing communities together with an Author Fair where published authors from the region sell and sign their books. Participating authors, who write in a variety of genres for readers of all ages, will be available to talk about their books, writing process, and more during the Author Fair. more
Join the Friends of Herrontown Woods for Circus Quercus — a multigenerational circus in the woods — on Sunday April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18, and June 1 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. more
Spring represents the blooming of the famous Japanese cherry blossom, known as sakura. To celebrate the warming of the season and the blooming of the flower, Ooika of Princeton and Lawrenceville has announced its first Sakura Fest.
Join the festival at 300 Witherspoon Street on April 26 from 12 to 6 p.m., part of this year’s Porchfest.
Sakura fest is organized by Ooika, whose hope is to spread their passion and love for the spring — when matcha is harvested across Japan. Ooika Matcha imports matcha (a powder for tea with a long history) from Japan when available, and has been the only place in the New Jersey that has ground in-house its single-origin matcha from family farms in Japan using Japanese stone mills. more
(Photo courtesy of Liz Pacelli)
The area river towns have long had walking tours, and even ghost tours, but Sister Cities Food & Shop Tours celebrates the culinary scene, especially the smaller independent eateries.
Sister Cities is a homegrown local tour agency that takes the guesswork out of finding the best spots in town for visitors — because it does it for them. Clients enjoy the best New Hope, Pa., and Lambertville have to offer with expertly guided food, beverage, and shopping tours from a curated list of participating establishments throughout what are dubbed the “Sister Cities.” more
Experience F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby as a staged radio play from Raconteur Radio with period costumes, vintage commercials, Golden Age radio equipment, and more at the Princeton Public Library on Tuesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. more
Step back in time and experience the magic of an old-fashioned barn dance in the historic Charles Fish Barn at Howell Farm on Friday, April 25 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The event benefits the restoration of the antique kitchen garden fence at the farm at 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township.
Reservations at $25 per person, which are limited, can be made here.
Join professional dance caller Sue Dupree for an evening featuring live music by the Jugtown Mountain String Band. Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or a first-timer, she will guide you through each step. Light refreshments will be available for purchase and for a special experience, take a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride around the farm ($30 per couple, first come, first served). more
Dear Readers,
Welcome to your Spring issue of Princeton Magazine. Our cover story by Ilene Dube celebrates the 50th anniversary of Terhune Orchards, owned and operated by the Mount family since 1975. Pam and Gary Mount met and started dating at Princeton High School, and they were in the Peace Corps for three years before purchasing Terhune. They and their family have expanded and modernized the popular farm extensively over the years, and it now features a vineyard as well.
Continuing with anniversaries, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby turns 100 this spring. Donald H. Sanborn III traces the story from its roots at Princeton University to renewed attention including two musicals, one on Broadway. In his Book Scene focusing on cover art with Princeton connections, Stuart Mitchner points out that this publication became renowned due in large part to its cover design by Francis Cugat. Celestial Eyes features a woman’s image with despairing eyes that evoke Daisy Faye Buchanan, Gatsby’s love and his doom. One might come to believe that the cover is a reason that the novel is still popular after all these years. more
By Ilene Dube | Images courtesy of Terhune Orchards
In the expansive light-filled kitchen, farm-related art and a mural of apple trees echoes the scenery outside. Pam Mount, wearing her signature red Terhune Orchards shirt, reflects on the 50 years that have gone by since she and her husband, Gary, have run the farm. In a way her kitchen has served all of the greater Princeton community. And even if we aren’t among the 25 guests at her holiday gatherings, we’re all a part of the Mount family, thanks to all the farm has offered for half a century.
It all began in 1975 when Pam and Gary, Princeton High School sweethearts who had been living in Doylestown, Pa., saw a sign on Cold Soil Road: “For sale by owner.” Freshly back from a four-year stint in the Peace Corps, where they helped develop crops and fresh water (Gary) and taught school children (Pam) on a small island of Micronesia (population 400), they saw those initial 55 acres as the perfect place to start a commune, jokes daughter Tannwen Mount, who operates the farm with her parents and sister, Reuwai Mount Hanewald. The joke isn’t so far off: what they developed was a community center. more
By Donald H. Sanborn III
First published by Charles Scribner’s Sons on April 10, 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic The Great Gatsby turns 100 this spring. In advance of the centennial, Fitzgerald and the novel have received renewed attention, having been the subjects, respectively, of a new volume of biographies and at least two musicals — one of which is enjoying a successful run on Broadway.
The Great Gatsby centers on narrator Nick Carraway’s encounters with the mysterious, slightly crooked nouveau riche millionaire Jay Gatsby. Nick finds himself involved in Gatsby’s plans to win back his lost love, Daisy, a debutante who is Nick’s cousin. Daisy rejected Gatsby when they were younger, because of the latter’s poverty at that time. Instead, Daisy chose the imperious, conservative socialite Tom Buchannan. more
By Anne Levin | Photos courtesy of Princeton Symphony Orchestra Staff
Eighteen years ago, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra ‘s (PSO) longtime Music Director Mark Laycock announced he was departing following a dispute over his contract. A search committee was quickly put together, and the hunt for a new music director began.
On the committee were I would like to touch it PSO’s then-Executive Director Melanie Clarke, former Westminster Choir College Dean Robert Annis, four musicians, and several members of the PSO Board of Trustees. They gave themselves a year to try out guest conductors who were invited to lead the orchestra on different programs. more
by Stuart Mitchner
When The Great Gatsby marks its centenary this year, Francis Cugat’s cover design should share the renown that has placed Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s novel at or near the top of The Modern Library’s list of the 100 Greatest Novels of the 20th Century.
The visual excitement of Cugat’s Gatsby (1925) is a striking departure from the bland, dated covers of Fitzgerald’s previous novels, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and the Damned (1922). While the jacket image for his story collection Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), by fashionable magazine artist John Held Jr., creates a cute, cartoonish take on the Roaring Twenties, it appears faded and quaint next to Cugat’s vision, which transcends the period, occupying a realm of art all its own. On top of that, it’s likely that Cugat’s cover design actually influenced Fitzgerald’s visual conception of the crucial Valley of Ashes passage in Chapter Two, as implied in Fitzgerald’s 1924 letter asking his editor Max Perkins not to give anyone “that jacket you’re saving for me” because “I’ve written it into the book.” more
Artist 7ove Child (Marlon Davila) with one of his murals.
By Laurie Pellichero | Art and photos courtesy of Princeton Makes
Creativity abounds at Princeton Makes artist cooperative, located in the heart of the Princeton Shopping Center at 301 North Harrison Street. Opened nearly four years ago with 25 members, it now has 40 member artists who work across a wide range of artistic genres including painting, drawing, stained glass, sculpture, lamps, window hangings, textiles, handmade greeting cards, jewelry, and much more. All the artists are local and must live within a two-town radius of Princeton.
The 5,000-square-foot space features plate glass windows facing the center’s courtyard, 24 open artist studios, and additional display and working areas. There is also a retail store where the artists all work a minimum of four hours a week as part of their membership. All art is for sale, and whenever the store is open, at least one artist is working in a studio and customers can interact directly with them to observe and learn about their process and technique. Couches and conversation areas can be found throughout. more
By Mary Abitanto | Photos by the author
Hosting a party or a soirée can seem overwhelming but if you keep a few simple principles in mind, entertaining like a pro can be smooth sailing. Here are some meal and hors d’oeuvres ideas for entertaining this spring using a few shortcuts — including my sheet pan method — as well as some classic wine pairings.
If you are hosting a brunch, may I suggest you make my Hawaiian Sweet Rolls Sheet Pan French Toast that looks fancy, but takes minutes to assemble and a short time to bake. It’s buttery, sweet, and aromatic. It truly melts in your mouth in one bite. You can also add freshly sliced organic strawberries for a pop of color and sweetness. A dollop of whipped cream will be a perfect topping. more
