Princeton Battlefield Landscape Returning to the 18th Century

For many years, I've been encouraging the Princeton Battlefield to extend its ethic of historical authenticity to its landscape. Not that my personal view held any sway, but with the arrival of the 250th, plans are now in place for that to happen.

For me, it began with a simple botanical observation. Why is the beautifully restored 18th century Clark House surrounded by a sprawling 20th century lawn and woodland edges choked by invasive Asian vines?

Annual volunteer days took on the bamboo and porcelainberry, but they tended to grow back. One small success was my skirmish with Mile-a-Minute vine, which was threatening to take hold along the borders.

Though a sprawling lawn worked great for flying kites, mowing such an expanse through many decades must have been quite a chore.

While George Washington's troops were victorious in 1777, the uber-invasive, nonnative porcelainberry mobbing the edges is clearly the current winner.

But change is now afoot. Centennials can stir people to action. For the Bicentennial in 1976, the Dogwood Garden Club planted dogwoods and daffodils, many of which ultimately were swallowed by the porcelainberry vines. 

The approach for the 250th is less ornamental, and geared instead towards giving visitors a real sense of the landscape as it existed during the battle. That means recreating 18th century roads and fencelines, removing some trees that block vistas, planting an orchard, and hopefully shifting towards a more authentic flora. I'm hoping they save the hican tree and the 15/16th American chestnut we planted, but at least their existence will live on in this blog. 

You can already see change in the reduced mowing.

Coming up in August will be a bioblitz, beginning 12-2 on Saturday, August 1, and continuing through the month. This means downloading the iNaturalist app to your phone, taking photos of plants you encounter at the Battlefield, and uploading them to iNaturalist. Then, over time, as 50 acres of mowed lawn will be reportedly restored to native meadow, we can track the botanical transformation. 

I feel good about having documented the Battlefield's botanical life up to now, and look forward to witnessing the exciting transformations ahead.