Capitals - Trenton, NJ

Friday, September 24, 2021

While using another vacation day before the end of the year, we took a day trip to New Jersey - only one week after our visit to Annapolis. We were considering going out to lunch too, but decided to just pack a lunch and eat it in the car like we did when we visited Annapolis.

The signage on Route 29 North on the way to the capitol was, shall we say, lacking.
For example, a mile out there was a sign "Capitol Complex ↑". Then the next signs showed "29 North" on the left and "Barrack Street" on the right. But next, ON THE EXIT RAMP, it showed "Capitol Complex ↑". THAT sign should have been back further! We had to slow down a LOT, make sure it was clear, then move right to exit.

When visiting this capital, we parked in the garage essentially under it. So there really was no approach.
This was [another] one of the capitols that was under restoration when we visited. Some of the areas - such as the grand rotunda and upper floors - were off limits to visitors.
We still had an enjoyable visit anyway. We had an appointment for 11:00.
There were six of us in all - including a New Jersian, two from Texas, and a guy from L.A.
Before leaving the waiting area, our guide, Erica, asked if anyone was stamp collecting. Of course we were...

The first building we had entered, where the tour started, was the Annex. The Annex building was the original home of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The facility was not too well lit. Here is a shot down one hall of the Annex.

Then we walked across a small plaza to the actual capitol. Here is the capitol, and the dome covered in gold leaf.



The side of the capitol, where there is a little construction going on.

A close-up of a lamp in the plaza between the Annex and capitol.

The original capital was built in 1792. But rather than rebuild and move to a new building as needs increased, they built onto the existing building.

There was a lot of yellow hue to the interior. I used some color correction to adjust.
A wall sconce, some architecture. and an interesting interior window.

The main long hallway of the capitol.
The two shots are from the new end - with the marble walls - and the old end - with the wood inlayed walls, and a close-up of the wood inlay.

In the long hallway between the the "old half" and the "new half" of the building was this porcelian piece, titled "The Glory of New Jersey", and weighed about 72 pounds.
It represents the original four symbols of the state of New Jersey: red oak, purple violets, honey bees (there are 21 representing the states counties), and yellow finches (there are 13 representing the original colonies).



And a lady bug.

There are now 18 state symbols.

In the short hallway that we normally would have taken to get to the routunda, there were the 21 county flags.
Here is a composite, and the left and right separately.

Behind the wall in the doorway in the compisite picture above is the rotunda. As they are doing the renovation, we were not able to see it. So here it is from the NJ.com website.
To iterate, this is NOT my picture.

After going upstairs, out the window (through the blind slats) we spied the old barracks, across the street.

The general assembly chamber (aka "house") still had plexiglass dividers due to the COVID restrictions.
The full assembly, and the speaker's chair.




The General Assembly chamber chandelier is a converted-to-electric original Thomas Edison work.

The lights along the parimeter of the open space in the chamber, were converted dual function lights. When electricity was first introduced, many were scared of it. So they left the ability to use gas - the up-pointing lights - if needed, when they first started using electricity - the down-pointing lights.


The public gallery still had the original seats.

Almost the entire assemly floor, with, in the back corner of the assembly floor was a flight of stais that led to a tunnel that connected the general assembly and the senate.

The carpet also has the four original state symbols in it.

This one one style of the coat of arms, though it is one of the older ones. It is high above the speaker's chair.

The chamber skylight.

A stained glass window.

The clock in the chamber, in a space shaped similar to the stained glass window above.

On our way down the hall from the GA to the senate we passed by this door.
What makes this interesting is that it is the only capitol in the US wherein you can see another state from the capitol. In this case, we are able to see Pennsylvania from the New Jersey capitol.

Between the capitol and PA is the Delaware River - not visible in the above.

This room, which is now the caucus room, was originally the State Supreme Court.
It was determined that this was the SC by the artwork - legal scrolls - in the stained glass in the ceiling.

The table was big. Very big.

The Senate chamber also had the plexiglass dividers. Here is most of the chamber, and the president's seat.
Note that some of the "marble" isn't actually marble, but rather Scagliola, which is plaster made to look like marble.



These are really plaster painted to look like wood.

Around the top of the ceiling were images. The images were around the entire room, but I only got three of the four sides because the fourth was above us.
The center one is a composite.
They represented things like Education, Farming, and Glass Blowing.




The public gallery also had the original seats, just like the Assembly.

The ceiling skylight.

On the way back to the Annex from the capitol, Erica pointed out that the doorway had two different seals, one of the older ones with the Liberty and Prosperity looking ahead, and the other with them looking to the left. Also, the cornicopia Propserity is holding is pointed up on the old one, and down on the new one.

After reentering the Annex, we turned right and went down a ramp. This led to a room that was, at one time, a court room, then it was a cafeteria, and now it is a meeting room.

Outside this room was an artist's work of stained glass, in the ceiling. There was a LOT going on with this as the squares represented various famous points of New Jersey, such as the Statue of Liberty (though it actually is NOT located solely in NJ), farming, fishing, Blackbeard, etc..

After our tour, we made our way to the museum to go to the gift shop to get a capitol shot glass.
But they were sold out of shot glasses. We were told that they only had New Jersey glasses and not Trenton ones - so we can pretty much just stop anywhere in NJ - such as at Iron Skillet, on our way to NY - to pick up a NJ glass.
After we left the museum, we found that, for some really, REALLY STUPID reason, the door back into the parking garage - WAS LOCKED! We had to walk all the way around the garage to get to the front.

UPDATE 05/30/2023: Since we couldn't get a shot glass in NJ, rather than fret trying to locate one, we ordered on on-line. While we prefer to get them at the capital, or at a shop in or near the capital or at least in the state, we sometimes can't.