PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

ART WAY GALLERY ANNOUNCES VOICES FOR THE MARSH – 2010. LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOWCASING THE HAMILTON – TRENTON –BORDENTOWN MARSH

Voices for the Marsh- 2010, the 5^th juried photography exhibition of photographs taken in the Hamilton-Trenton-Bordentown Marsh, is sponsored by Friends for the Marsh in partnership with D&R Greenway Land Trust.  The art may be enjoyed from August 28 through October 24, 2010, at the Art Way Gallery of the Princeton Alliance Church, 20 Shalks Crossing Road, Plainsboro 08536.  Gallery Hours are Weekdays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Voices for the Marsh’s Meet the Artists event will be held Sunday, September 12 from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Meet the Artists Gallery Talks at 2:30 p.m will include an overview of the Voices for the Marsh show by Mary Anne Borge, who is one of the Marsh photographers, as well as discussions of their work by Mary Leck, Margie DeAngelo and Ann Darlington.  The fine art photography of Mary Allessio Leck is titled Play of Light, emphasizing effects of light and weather.) Ann Darlington’s Village LIFE features photographs from a mission trip to Malawi, Africa.  Margie DeAngelo exhibits abstract photos of natural and man-made subjects, as well as focusing on architecture of Portugal in Abstracts and Portugal.

BACKGROUND

The 3000+-acre Hamilton-Trenton-Bordentown Marsh is the Delaware River’s northernmost freshwater tidal wetland.  Situated on an ancient meander of the river, the Marsh is of quintessential importance to wild creatures, especially birds, --of which 237 species have been identified.  New Jersey Audubon Society has designated this wetland system as an Important Birding Area (IBA). The Marsh tempers local floods, recharges groundwater, and moderates temperature, filtering pollutants, as well as providing nurseries for the young of many species.  Historically, sturgeon was found in abundance near the Marsh, which prized eggs other lands transformed into the luxury of caviar.  This historic fish is returning with the restoration and preservation of the Delaware River and its Marsh, where many threatened and endangered species of animals and plants find haven.

Native American history in the Marsh stretches to 11,000 B.C.  Partly because of Revolutionary war boats sunk in Crosswicks Creek, the Marsh is within the National Heritage Area designated as a Crossroads of the American Revolution.  In the early 1800’s, Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and former King of Spain and of Naples, chose Bordentown Bluffs above the Marsh as site for his Point Breeze estate.  His son-in-law/nephew, Charles Lucien Bonaparte became America’s first descriptive ornithologist.  He sent reports of new species, discovered and named in the Marsh, to European colleagues.  In 1872, early naturalist and archaeologist, Dr. Charles Conrad Abbott, published The Stone Age in New Jersey, based upon his research in the Marsh.  The D&R Canal and the Camden & Amboy Railroad were built near the west edge of the Marsh, and clays from the Marsh have been used for bricks and other construction materials, as part of the Marsh’s industrial history.  White City Amusement Park crowned the hill above the Marsh, a destination for visitors from 1907 into the 1920s.  The River Line Light Rail Train runs through the Marsh from Bordentown to Trenton, today.