The Trent House Association will hold a reception Sunday, June 2, 2024, at 3 pm, unveiling the restored painting depicting the purchase of land at what would become the city of Trenton. This free event will take place in the Visitor Center of the 1719 William Trent House Museum at 15 Market Street in Trenton. There is free parking in the rear of the museum property, located directly across from the Hughes Justice Complex at the corner of Market Street and William Trent Place.

On August 17, 1714, the son of Mahlon Stacy, the first English colonist at the Falls of Delaware,  sold 800 acres of land to William Trent for the sum of 1400 pounds, approximately $280,000 in today’s currency. This property extended to both side of Assunpink Creek and included the site where Trent would build the house that is now the 1719 William Trent House Museum.  This sale is depicted in a 1923 painting by William Everitte Pedrick, whose work included portraits, landscapes, and caricatures of local personalities. Pedrick was an amateur historian and painted a number of scenes depicting colonial and Revolutionary War events connected with Trenton.

Pedrick’s painting “Mahlon Stacy Jr. Signing the Deed Conveying Property to William Trent” was rediscovered several years ago in the attic of the Trent House Visitor Center. Dust and yellowed varnish obscured the painting, there were tears in the canvas, and the frame was chipped. A generous anonymous donation allowed the Trent House Association to commission the painting’s restoration by Christyl Cusworth of Cusworth Conservation, an expert in fine arts conservation and restoration, with a studio in Lambertville, New Jersey.

William Pedrick (28 February 1868 – 11 August 1927) was well known in Trenton in his lifetime for his study of American history focused on the Trenton area. His paintings of Revolutionary War scenes are in the collections of the Old Barracks Museum and the Trenton Free Public Library.

The William Trent House Museum is a National Historic Landmark in the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area and on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. The Museum is dedicated to sharing the authentic history of the house, property, and people with our communities, connecting the past with today and tomorrow. Owned by the City of Trenton, it is operated by the Trent House Association, which is supported by the generosity of its donors; by grants from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the New Jersey Cultural Trust, the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission with funding from the New Jersey Historical Commission, and the Bunbury Fund and the New Jersey Arts & Culture Renewal Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation; and by contributions from NJM Insurance Group and Orion General Contractors. For more information, visit www.williamtrenthouse.org.

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