The trails here have a 4.2 out of 5 star rating on TrailLink by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail History Sign, Wright House History Sign. Photos by Nature Photographer Pam Hirst at PKH Photography. Writing by Freelance Content Writer and Travel Blogger Meghan Hirst at Meghan Hirst, Writer.
We will be including more details about the history of Bordentown in this post. If you did not see our previous discussion, you can read it here: https://meghanhirst27.wixsite.com/my-site/post/historic-bordentown-nj-part-1-history .
You can get a ton of exercise in Bordentown because there are A LOT of trails! :O We highly recommend visiting the websites TrailLink and AllTrails. The latter has picked out the six top trails in this location.
We mentioned Clara Barton and her achievements in part 1. Numerous other notable women contributed to the positive alterations of New Jersey and the U.S.A. from the 1700's to the 1900's. Ninety-four, to be exact. Signs for each individual are displayed throughout the state. Together they make up the New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail. They contain the women's biographies and what they have accomplished. My mom and I have seen these at Bordentown, Smithville, and Whitesbog (a cool place that we will be presenting in the near future). We love them because all of these women deserve to be recognized!
Patience Lovell Wright was born in New York in 1725. She and her family moved to Bordentown when she was four-years-old. She married Joseph Wright, a Quaker Farmer, when she was twenty-three-years-old and had five children. Her husband passed away when her children were still living at home and she struggled to find a way to provide for them. Francis Hopkinson, her neighbor, recognized that she was skilled and that her hobby of making wax and clay sculptures could be a moneymaking tool. As a result, he encouraged her to start a business. She knew that she was talented, but had been unsure about becoming an entrepreneur. It did not take long for her pieces to attract consumers.
Wright's sculptures of well-known historical figures are unique; she slipped their own clothes on them before putting them on display. Funny and creepy at the same time XD It is surmised that she sculpted Benjamin Franklin. She passed away in 1786 at the age of sixty-one. The Bordentown Historical Society has some of her pieces. Among these is a tiny wax sculpture that is believed to be Wright herself or Hopkinson's wife.
If you want to read more about the New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail and the featured women, New Jersey Monthly magazine has a short article on their website. This is an awesome publication for New Jersey residents and people who want to visit the state. It has a 4 out of 5 star rating on Amazon.
We will be discussing the gazebos in Bordentown, NJ next!
Who is your favorite female historical figure?
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