The Best Things in Life are Free: Mercer County, NJ Edition!

They say the best things in life are free, so we set out to find some unique complimentary tours and outings offered in the Mercer County, NJ area! This handful of ideas are all within an easy 20 minute-or-less drive from the Inn. Some require planning, so be sure to check the links for additional details!

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a US Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. It is known for the development of the stellarator and tokamak designs. Public tours are offered the fourth Friday of most months at 11am. You MUST provide visitor information at least nine days in advance to comply with the site protection clearance process. 

WJHCS Heritage Tour: Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society (WJHCS) has placed nearly 30 Heritage Tour plaques in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood. Since the early 19th century, African American residents of Princeton occupied this segregated district as a proud, self-sufficient and self-sustaining community. The self-guided Heritage Tour marks historic sites with memorial plaques in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood and surrounding area.

Image courtesy of Princeton University Art Museum.

Princeton University Art Museum Outdoor Walking Tours: Princeton University is home to one of the most significant collections of twentieth- and twenty-first-century public sculpture in the country. Join a guided walking tour of the campus collections with an Art Museum guide and discover a variety of artworks by modern and contemporary sculptors, from Henry Moore to Maya Lin. Learn about materials and techniques and explore elements of design and balance.

Night Skies at Washington Crossing Simpson Observatory: Experience a tour of the night sky with the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton on Friday evenings from April to October. Check ahead for current status and parking directions as this is a weather dependent event. And remember no white lights!

Amazon Warehouse: Ever wondered what happens when you shop on Amazon? You can now tour an actual Amazon warehouse and see how people and technology work together to provide Amazon deliveries on a daily basis. If your preferred date is not available, check back mid-month when Amazon releases new tour availability!

Trenton Walks! Trenton Walks! is the name of a new program that features walks throughout Trenton between June and October 2024. Sponsored by the Trenton Green Team, with the support of the Mercer County Action Team, the community engagement program features walks in and around the capital city of New Jersey.

Drumthwacket: Serving as the stately home and grounds of the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey, Drumthwacket is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most elegant executive residences in our country. Tour the historic residence and learn about the collection of 18th and 19th-century furniture, paintings, and objets d’art.  

When did Authentic become Trendy?

The word authentic gets thrown around a LOT. It seems to be a favorite among travel bloggers and influencers who are encouraging their readers to travel authentically. What does that even mean? When did it become trendy to be authentic? 

If you consider constantly examining what matters most to our guests as being authentic, then count us in! When you pull back the curtain and take a deep dive, what truly matters most is a comfortable bed in a clean room that is aesthetically pleasing. If it's that easy, then why do so many properties get it wrong? Mostly because they over promise and under deliver.

Here at the Inn we try to be brutally honest. The structure dates back to 1736 which means the floorboards are wonky and angles don't always meet at 90 degrees. Ceilings and doorways are low in certain areas and doors tend to creak occasionally. We call that charm, and besides demolishing the place, there is little we can do about it. 

What we can control, we do. We make sure our beds are comfortable and our bathrooms are spotless. We make sure our greetings and interactions are warm and friendly without being overbearing. We make sure that we offer several options for breakfast and that our guests dietary requirements are met. We make sure our furniture throughout is well maintained and cozy. We make sure our guests are safe by carefully maintaining the structures and strictly adhering to the latest health and fire codes.

So, when you come to the Inn, you can expect us to give you our best effort to make your stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. We aren't sure if that makes us authentic or trendy, but hopefully it makes you want to come back! 

Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles!

You may have noticed Lydia's penchant for puzzles during your last visit to the Inn.  She is an admitted puzzle "addict" and was fully immersed into the craze during the pandemic!  Her favorite spot to piece them together was the dining room table. During the slow days of the pandemic this was ideal until the random guest would show up!

After a few too many interruptions from the brave, infrequent guest and a need for the dining room table, Lydia finally treated herself to a really cool puzzle board (holding up to 1000 pieces and large enough for a 21" x 27" puzzle) that now sits in the Office.  Guests of all ages give her a hand on these puzzles while they visit, and she completes each one.

Flash forward to today: Lydia now has about 40 puzzles that she has completed and we are running out of shelf space at the Inn. 

PLEASE help us!!!!! 

Bring Lydia a new puzzle (that you have completed) and feel free to take one (or two) home from our office shelf. Forgot your puzzle, that's OK, just remember one the next time you visit. And, if you are a serious puzzle fanatic (or know one), Lydia is happy to share information on her puzzle board!  

Inn at Glencairn recognized in TripAdvisor Hall of Fame!

We are so thrilled to be recognized in the TripAdvisor Hall of Fame for receiving the Certificate of Excellence award for five continuous years from 2015 to 2019. We strive to give each guest a wonderful visit, and we take our reviews seriously! Thank you to the nearly 400 guests who took the time to sit down and give us feedback on their stay. Luckily, we hit the mark more often than not with 98% of our reviews in the Excellent to Good category! Kudos to our past Innkeepers who have laid the groundwork and to our current Innkeeper, Lydia, who has elevated our breakfasts and customer outreach to an exciting new level. Looking forward to another great year at the Inn at Glencairn!

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

Sure there are fabulous museums in New York and Philadelphia, but Princeton has its very own gem: The Princeton University Art Museum.  With its origins dating to the 1750s, the Museum boasts a collection of more than 92,000 works of art, ranging from ancient to contemporary art with concentration on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States and Latin America. Intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a welcome respite from the rush of day-to-day life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art, and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.

Two upcoming exhibits:

Edward Hopper, American, 1882–1967. Universalist Church, 1926. Watercolor over graphite on cream wove paper, 35.6 x 50.8 cm. Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection, bequest of Professor Clifton R. Hall (x1946-268)

Painting on Paper: American Watercolors at Princeton

June 27, 2015 – August 30, 2015

Watercolors are a distinctive amalgam of painting and drawing, in which color and line combine to produce effects of unparalleled nuance and suppleness. The Princeton University Art Museum’s holdings of American watercolors are distinguished by their quality, breadth, and the duration with which they have been consistently collected. Assembled initially under the pioneering directorship of Frank Jewett Mather Jr.

Jean-Michel Basquiat. Leonardo da Vinci's Greatest Hits, 1982. Acrylic, oil paintstick and paper collage on canvas, 213.2 x 183.3 cm. The Schorr Family Collection © Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / ADAGP, Paris

Collecting Contemporary, 1960–2015: Selections from the Schorr Collection

June 27, 2015 – September 20, 2015

Collecting Contemporary, 1960–2015: Selections from the Schorr Collection features approximately twenty prints, paintings, drawings, and photographs acquired by Herbert Schorr, Graduate School Class of 1963, and Lenore Schorr over the last fifty-odd years. Created by such pioneering artists as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Justine Kurland, Nick Mauss, Elizabeth Murray, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol, these works serve as double portraits.

Location:

The Museum is located at the center of the Princeton University campus, a five-minute walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. To find the Museum, enter the campus on foot from Nassau Street, University Place, or Washington Street and look for the Museum’s banners to lead the way to the front entrance. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed on Mondays and major holidays.

Princeton University Art Museum

http://artmuseum.princeton.edu

(609) 258-3788