FALL 2023
Jonathan Lee Walton Returns to Princeton Theological Seminary as its New President
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| CONTENTS 63 FALL 2023
22 12
56
48 74 40
30 LAKE CARNEGIE
MIGRATING SONGBIRDS ARE COMING TO A SKY NEAR YOU
BY LAURIE PELLICHERO
A Princeton Treasure
BY ILENE DUBE 48
12
Q&A WITH JONATHAN LEE WALTON
THE POWER OF MUSIC BY ANNE LEVIN 56
INTERVIEW BY DONALD GILPIN
President of Princeton Theological Seminary 22
HOLIDAY WISH LIST
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BOOKS
BY LYNN ADAMS SMITH 62, 63
BY WENDY GREENBERG
BOOK SCENE
Labyrinth’s Founding Family
BY STUART MITCHNER
30
MAKING MEDICINE PERSONAL BY TAYLOR SMITH
How Precision Medicine is Analyzing Our Genetic Data 40
63
Inspiring Young Climate Activists with Help from The Lorax and Greta Thunberg 68
RELIVING “CHILDHOODS OF THE PAST” BY DONALD H. SANBORN III
Bucks County’s Noel Barrett Talks About Antique Toys 74
ON THE COVER: Princeton Theological Seminary President Jonathan Lee Walton. (Photo courtesy of Princeton Theological Seminary)
6 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
(CREDITS) CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF CAPITAL HARMONY WORKS; PHOTO COURTESY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY; BIG FUTURE EARTHTILES MAGNETIC BIRCH BUILDING TILES, MYTOYWAGON.COM; BLUEBIRD, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; PHOTO BY GREG SMITH, COURTESY OF ANTIQUES AND THE ARTS WEEKLY / THE NEWTOWN BEE; DOCTORS, SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; KATIA FERRIS DESIGNED HANDMADE DOLL, LUCKYJUJUWORKSHOP.COM; PHOTO BY ANDREW WILKINSON; PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PRINCETON.
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Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
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Closing Services Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
Realto Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
p e c i f ip c a t i oe S S p e c i f i c a t i So n sn s c i f i c a t i o n s
PRINCE TON COLLEC TION We i c h e r t R e a l t o r s
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Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
Color Key
Color Key
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PRINCE TON COLLEC TION
Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-9 Digital: Hex#
Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
Real Estate Mortgage Insurance Closin Real Estate Mortgage Closing Services “I appreciate your Insurance support over the past twentyRea plus years. It is a privilege to serve this wonderful Realtors Realtors community. Thank Realtors you!” – Beatrice Realtors Real • Estate
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PRINCE TON COLLEC TION We i c h e r t$4,700 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info R e aper l t omonth rs
117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 Specifications
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Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
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Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
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e• i cServices h e r We t i c h eR r t R e ae l t o r sa l t o r s • Insurance Mortgage W Closing • • • We i c h e r t R e a l t o r s
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34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000
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FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO
PRINCETON PRINCETON
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117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000
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40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000
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Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
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243CherryHillRoad.info We i c h e r t$4,700 R e aper l t omonth rs
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$1,649,000 $1,649,000 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000 •
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the heartPrinceton, of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, home that combines the charm and appeal of ecifications We i c h e r t R esits a l t o r s aS pstunning S p e c i f i c from a t i o n s Princeton University, sits a stunning In the heart of In downtown few the appeal •of We i c h ea rt R e a l t o r sblocks • charm • Insurance Real Estate Mortgageand Closing Services Real Estate • Mortgage • Insurance • Closing Services home that combines a century home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten remodeledthis and fullyinrenovated a century old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully renovated home 2007 with this home in 2007 with FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO • • FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, spectacular detail to both traditional and•modern amenities. The•renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, • updated for today’s Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, and extensive built-ins updated for today’s lifestyle. Customlifestyle. staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, andhardwood extensive built-ins throughout make it boththroughout make it both PRINCETON $1,649,000 PRINCETON $1,649,000 MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO the heartPrinceton, of downtown Princeton, a Princeton few blocks from Princeton University, stunning the home thatand combines the charm and appeal of an 83MountLucasRoad.info intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. anFOR intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. In the heart of In downtown a few blocks from University, sits a stunning homesits thata combines charm appeal of $999,000 9FairwayDrive.info $1,165,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,000 Specifications
Specifications
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Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
Closing Services Weichert Black Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 Digital: Hex#
Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
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Weichert Yellow Weichert Black Print: Print: C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Digital: Hex# Hex
Weichert Yellow Print: C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 Digital: Hex
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40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1 We i c h e r t$4,700 R e aper l t omonth rs We i c hPRINCETON e r t R e aThe l t ospacious r shall opens $1,649,000 The spacious entrance into the room tin ceiling, pocket The cabinets, entrance hallfamily opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling, andgourmet pocket kitchen doors. with Thecustom gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, $999,000 9FairwayDrive.info $1,165,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,000 S p e c ibar. f i c The a t i ogreat n s&room appliances, and enormous island theisland light-filled great room with downtown Princeton,pantry a few blocks from 83MountLucasRoad.info Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines thelight-filled charm and appeal We ibuilt-in che r t bookcases Roferoom a l t o rwith s& beautiful stainless-steel appliances, pantry andoverlooks enormous overlooks the great built-in bookcases beautiful The great room S p e c i f i In cstainless-steel athet iheart o noldsofhome • bar. • Insurance • Closing Real Estate Mortgage aopens centuryEstate with • adining spacious modern open floor• plan. Kirsten Thoft and fully renovated this home in 2007 with •remodeled to a formal room that overlooks aArchitect wraparound porch. The custom doors for dining and porch to function an indoor/ Real Mortgage Insurance Closing Services opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch.allow The allowarea for dining and as porch area to function as an indoor/ S p ecustom c i f i c a t i o doors ns
LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 rs
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Color Key
a century home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten remodeledthis and fullyinrenovated a century old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully renovated home 2007 with this home in 2007 with spectacular detail toand both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations nomaintain expensethe to character carefully of maintain the character of the home, spectacular detail to both traditional modern amenities. The renovations spare expense to spare carefully the home, updated for today’s staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, and extensive built-ins updated for today’s lifestyle. Customlifestyle. staircaseCustom and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, andhardwood extensive built-ins throughout make it boththroughout make it both MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, 15LINDENLANE.INFO an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come VISIT true. dream anFOR intimate family space an entertainer’s come true.
PRINCETON $1,649,000 The spacious entrance hall opens into the room tin ceiling, pocket The cabinets, C o l o r cabinets, Key The spacious entrance hallfamily opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling, andgourmet pocket kitchen doors. with Thecustom gourmet kitchen with custom
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appliances, and enormous island overlooks theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases beautiful The great&room Instainless-steel the heart of downtown Princeton,pantry a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning homeoverlooks that combines thelight-filled charm and appeal of room with stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous the great built-inbar. bookcases beautiful bar. The great room spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense toKirsten carefully maintain character of2007 the home, &area aopens century to old with adining spacious modern open floor plan. a Architect Thoft remodeled and fullythe renovated this home in with ahome formal that overlooks wraparound porch. Theof custom doors allow for dining and porch to function ancomplete indoor/ outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and storage along aallow powder room the floor. opens to room aand formal room thatand overlooks a wraparound porch. custom doors for dining and as porch area to function as first an indoor/ spectacular detail both traditional moderndining amenities. The renovations spare notons expense to carefully maintain theThe character ofmake thewith home, updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, extensive built-ins it both outdoor entertainment space. Atolifestyle. separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a powder outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons ofthroughout storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. updated for today’s Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout it both outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies andmake tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor.room complete the first floor. an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. Weichert Black Weichert Yellow
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Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a Print: to room the steam master with endoors. suiteThe walk-in steam shower. Just down hallway are two additional bedrooms one with awithPrint: spacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family with originalbedroom tin shower. ceiling, and pocket gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, Retreat upstairs to the master bedroomThe with enRetreat suite walk-in Just down the hallway arethetwo additional bedrooms one a
FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO
fireplace and the other with a wall ofisland floor-to-ceiling woodgreat built-in closets. These bedrooms share agreat hallroom bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. C-94,M-77,Y-53,K-94 C-0,M-0,Y-92,K-0 stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous overlooks thesuite light-filled room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The Retreat the master bedroom with walk-in steam shower. Just down hallway two bedrooms one with a The spacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, fireplace and the other withen a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hallthe with a BainUltraare heated Jacuzziadditional tub. Digital: Digital: opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound closets. porch. The custom These doors allow forbedrooms dining and porch area toshare function as anaindoor/ fireplace and the other a wallto ofisland floor-to-ceiling wood built-in hall bath with abath BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. outdoor entertainment A separate with built-in cubbies and tonstwo of storage along with room complete firstgreat floor. built-in Hex The crown jewel of this homemudroom is the third floor which has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring bookcases, window seat stainless-steel appliances, pantrywith and enormous overlooks thespace. light-filled great room with built-in bookcases &a powder beautiful bar. the The room • Mortgage • Hex# Real Estatedesks, Insurance Closing Services fireplace and the other with aReal wall of wood built-in closets. These bedrooms a• hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. • floor-to-ceiling • the Estate Mortgage Insurance Closing Services The crown jewelshare of •this home isand floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring share built-in bookcases, desks, window seat and closets. two bedrooms full bath athird bonus sitting area. Retreat upstairs toThe theThe master bedroom with en suitea walk-in steam shower. Just and down the hallway are two to additional bedroomsas onean with indoor/ a opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. custom doors allow for dining porch area function The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. outdoor entertainment A separate withThe built-in and tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. The crown jewelspace. of this homemudroom is the third floor which has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring window seat fencedcubbies in backyard with Ipetwo wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with familybuilt-in and friends.bookcases, This home truly has desks, • • •
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Real Estate Mortgage Insurance Services PRINCETON $1,649,000 Real Estate Mortgage Insurance Closing Services The crown jewelshare of this home the floor which has twoLISTING additionalin spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks,Closing window seat CETON $1,649,000 NEW Princeton - $799,000 and closets. The two bedrooms a full bathisand athird bonus sitting area. •
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The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat • off-street fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has it all. With ample leave at home and stroll space aroundfor town. and closets. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area.cars
218GallupRoad.info 343JeffersonRoad.info 154ChristopherDrive.info $1,548,000 it all.shower. With $1,329,000 ample off-street you canare leave theadditional cars at$1,347,500 home and stroll around town. Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite The walk-in steam Just down parking the hallway two bedrooms one with a fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has The twowood bedrooms share a leave fullthe bath and a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. it all. With ample off-street parking you can cars at home and stroll around town. with sitting
43EttlCircle.info $1,350,000 / $7,000 per month
theTheheart ofin downtown Princeton, fewterrific blocks from Princeton University, sits a combines stunning home that truly combines the charm and appeal of For photos and floorplan visit 229MountLucasRoad.info heart of In downtown Princeton, a with fewIpe blocks froma Princeton University, a contact stunning home thatfamily the charm appeal of fenced backyard wood deck offers for outdoor memories tome: be created with and friends. This home•and has Ifspace you want your homesits featured, • Closing Services Real Estate Mortgage • Insurance If youbedrooms, wantReal your Estate home featured, contact me: The crown old ofhome this homewith is the third which has two additional spacious featuring bookcases, desks, window seatServices • built-in • Insurance • Closing Mortgage a century a floor spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled and fully home in 2007 with fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories be created this with family and friends. Thisthis home truly has itwith all. With ample off-street you can leave the cars athome home and stroll around town. ury old home ajewel spacious modern open plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully torenovated home inrenovated 2007 with If you want your featured, contact me: Thoft and closets. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath and afloor bonus sitting area. Beatrice Bloom 218GallupRoad.info $1,329,000 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,347,500 154ChristopherDrive.info $1,548,000 43EttlCircle.info / $7,000 per month Beatrice Bloom it all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town. spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character the home, PRINCE TON COLLEC TION of $1,350,000 cular detail toTheboth traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no TON expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, Sales Representative/Princeton Residential MBA, ECO-Broker PRINCE COLLEC TION Bloom fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to beBeatrice created with familySpecialist, and friends. This home truly has 609-577-2989 (cell) | BeatriceBloom.com | Sales| info@BeatriceBloom.com Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker built-ins itlifestyle. all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the mouldings, cars atstaircase home and stroll around| town. updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, and extensive built-ins d for today’s Custom staircase and pocket doors, hardwood floors, andhardwood extensive throughout make it boththroughout make it both Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO mate family space and an entertainer’s come true. anFOR intimate family space an entertainer’s dream come true. me: If dream you want your home featured, contact MountLucasRoad.info $999,000 9FairwayDrive.info $1,165,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info Princeton | 609-921-1900 FOR MOREOffice PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO • Insurance • $8C Real Estate • Mortgage If you wantReal your home featured, contact me: • Mortgage • Insurance • Closing Services Estate If you want your home featured, contact me:tin ceiling, and pocket doors. TON entrance $1,649,000 PRINCETON $1,649,000 acious hall opens into the family room with original The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, Beatrice Bloom In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of Bloom ss-steel appliances, andBeatrice enormous island theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room rt of downtown Princeton,pantry a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a astunning home that combines the charm appeal century old home with a spacious modern openlight-filled floorECO-Broker plan.and Architect Kirsten of Thoft remodeled and fully renovated thisbookcases home in 2007 with & beautiful bar. The great room stainless-steel appliances, pantry andoverlooks enormous overlooks the great room with built-in Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, Beatrice spectacular detailBloom to both fully traditional and modern this amenities. The renovations no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker old a home with adining spacious modern open floor plan. a Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and renovated home in 2007 spare with to formal room that overlooks wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both opens to aand formal room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch to function$4,700 asper an 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com ar detail to both traditional moderndining amenities. The(cell) renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, 117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000area243CherryHillRoad.info month indoor/ 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000 117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info $4,700 per month 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000 an intimate family40NorthHarrisonStreet.info space and an entertainer’s dream come true. Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, ECO-Broker r today’s entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons built-ins of cubbies storage along with a MBA, powder room complete the first floor. or lifestyle. Custom staircase andPrinceton mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive throughout make it both outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in and tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. Office | 609-921-1900 The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 “Knowledge, and patience! Not even COVID-19 could diminish e family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. stainless-steel appliances, pantrysavvy, and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The customare doors two allow for additional diningFOR and porch area to function AND as an FLOOR indoor/ MORE PHOTOS PLAN, t upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway one15LINDENLANE.INFO withVISIT a 15LINDENLANE.INFO FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO FORalong MORE PHOTOS AND FLOORthe PLAN, VISIT FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN,kitchen VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbiescabinets, and tonsand of storage with a powder room complete first floor. her energy, tenacity, flexibility, professionalism. ”bedrooms Retreat to the master with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional one with a ous entrance hall opensupstairs into the family room with originalbedroom tin ceiling, Princeton and pocket doors. The gourmet with custom Office | 609-921-1900 FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO ce the other a wall ofisland floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share agreat hallroom bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. bedrooms PRINCETON $1,649,000 PRINCETON PRINCETON $1,649,000 Retreat upstairs to thebookcases master bedroom en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are $1,649,000 two additional bedrooms one with a teeland appliances, pantrywith and enormous overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in &with beautiful bar. The PRINCETON $1,649,000
NEW LISTING in Princeton - $799,000 For photos and floorplan visit 229MountLucasRoad.info
“Awesome Experience”
Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
609-577-2989 (cell) info@BeatriceBloom.com BeatriceBloom.com
Real E
“Awesome Experience”
PRINCE TON COLLEC TI PRINCE TON COLLEC TION Knowledgeable and caring agent “We happened to connect to Beatrice when looking at a house that she had listed. fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ She was ahastons considerate, caring and knowledgeable realtor who patiently helpedClosing us Services tertainment A separate with built-in of storage along with a powder room complete first floor. “Very helpful in recommending athe myriad of contractors to facilitate the repair own jewelspace. of this homemudroom is the third floorcubbies whichand two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, window seat Real Estatedesks, Mortgage Insurance$1,649,000 PRINCETON Real Estate Mortgage Insurance Closing Services The crown jewel of this home isand the floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat osets. two bedrooms a walk-in full bath athird bonus sitting area. and eventual sale of our Estate property in Princeton. ” stairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suite steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a our current highly sits recommend her.and ” appeal of In the heartfind ofshare downtown Princeton, blocksWe from would Princeton University, a stunning homeworking that combineswith the charm The twowood bedrooms a bedrooms full bathshare andaahome. afew bonus area. nd the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These hall bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub.
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fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. TheseInbedrooms a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of the heart share of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton
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In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of the heartPrinceton, of downtown few blocks from Princeton University, stunning home thatand combines the charm and appeal of In the heart of In downtown a few Princeton, blocks froma Princeton University, sits a stunning homesits thata combines the charm appeal of a century home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten remodeledthis and fullyinrenovated aremodeled century old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully renovated home 2007 with this home in 2007 with a century home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten Thoft renovated and fully this home in 2007 with a century old home with aold spacious modern open plan. Architect remodeled this home inrenovated 2007 with Theboth crown jewelfloor ofand this home is theKirsten thirdThe floor which has and two fully additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat spectacular detail both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations nomaintain expensethe to character carefully of maintain the character of the home, spectacular detail to both traditional and modern The renovations spare no expense to spare the home, spectacular detail toand traditional modern amenities. renovations nomaintain expense to character carefully maintain thetocharacter of amenities. the home, spectacular detail to both traditional modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to spare carefully of the home, • mouldings, • carefully • make andstaircase closets. The two bedrooms a full pocket bath and aand bonus sitting area.the updated for lifestyle. and pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircaseCustom and mouldings, doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout it boththroughout make it both updated for today’s Custom staircase and share mouldings, doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins make it staircase both pocket updated lifestyle. Customlifestyle. and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, extensiveupdated built-ins throughout make ittoday’s boththroughout • for today’s FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. 83MountLucasRoad.info $999,000 9FairwayDrive.info$875,000 $1,165,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,000 MORE PHOTOS ANDand FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO an 83MountLucasRoad.info intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come9FairwayDrive.info true. dream anFOR intimate family space an entertainer’s come$1,165,000 true. $999,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info
Realtors
The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has
PRINCETON $1,649,000 The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room tin ceiling, pocket The cabinets, The spacious entrance opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling, andgourmet pocket kitchen doors. with Thecustom gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, itinto all.the With ample off-street parking you leave cars The at home and stroll with around town. PRINCETON $1,649,000 The spacious entrance hall opens room with tin ceiling, and pocket doors. gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, The spacious entrance hallfamily opens into the original family room withcan original tinthe ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen withhall custom cabinets,
stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful The great&room stainless-steel appliances, pantry andoverlooks enormous overlooks the light-filled great room with built-inbar. bookcases beautiful bar. The great room stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room stainless-steel pantry and enormous overlooks the light-filled great room with bookcases &Thoft beautiful bar. The great room century old home with aappliances, spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with opens tobuilt-in atoformal dining room thatdining overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors diningdoors and porch to function an indoor/ opens toan a formal room overlooks a wraparound porch.allow The for custom allowarea for dining and as porch area to function as an indoor/ opensterrific to a formal dining thatdining overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors for dining and porch area function as indoor/ nced in backyard with Ipe woodadeck offers space formudroom outdoor memories to created with and friends. This home truly has opens to room a formal room that overlooks a wraparound porch.allow The be custom doors allow forentertainment dining andfamily porch area to function asthat anwith indoor/ outdoor space. A separate mudroom built-in cubbieswith and tons of cubbies storage along with room complete the first floor. outdoor entertainment space. A separatespace. with built-in cubbieswith andbuilt-in tons of cubbies storage along with of a powder room complete the first floor. outdoor entertainment space. Afirst separate mudroom built-in and tons storage along with aof powder complete the first floor. detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare expense carefully maintain theofa powder character theroom home, outdoor entertainment A “I separate mudroom anddesks, tons storage along with a powder room no complete thewants floor.to jewel of this home is the third floor whichspectacular has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, window seat would highly recommend Beatrice to anybody who to get fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers space for outdoor memories be with family and friends. This home With ample off-street leave the cars at home and around town. Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a truly has Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with enterrific suitestroll walk-in steam shower. Just downhome the hallway are two additional bedrooms oneto with a the created Retreat upstairs to master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a If you want your featured, contact me: s. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath you andupdated acan bonus sitting area. forfireplace today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins make itBainUltra both Retreat upstairs master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall throughout bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. and the other with a wallto of the floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a heated Jacuzzi tub. fireplace and theleave other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in results closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra Jacuzzi tub. 8GallupRoad.info 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,347,500 154ChristopherDrive.info $1,548,000 43EttlCircle.info $1,350,000 / $7,0 the best instroll theTheshortest amount of heated time” 117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 243CherryHillRo it all. With $1,329,000 ample$1,100,000 off-street parking you can the cars at home and around town. 117LeabrookLane.info 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info 34MayburyHillRoad.info Beatrice Bloom crown jewel of this home seat is$4,700 the third floorper whichmonth has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks,$1,450,000 window seat an intimate family space and entertainer’s dream true. crown jewel of this home is thean which has two additional spaciouscome bookcases, desks, window The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat d in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space forTheoutdoor memories tothird befloor created with family and bedrooms, friends.featuring Thisbuilt-in home truly has In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of a century old home with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true.
In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of a century old home with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true.
NEW LISTING in Princeton - $799,000 Great experience with Beatrice Bloom and floorplan visit 229MountLucasRoad.info The For spacious photos entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, “Itappliances, was apantry very selling process with asbookcases our guide. She “Knowledge, savvy, and patience! Not even COVID-19 could diminish stainless-steel andsmooth enormous island overlooks the light-filled greatBeatrice room with built-in & beautiful bar. is The great room The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor.
The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor.
and closets. two bedrooms full bath and a bonus sitting area. are two additional bedrooms one with a The crown jewel of this home isand theathird floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, window seat Retreat upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suiteadesks, walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway and closets. two bedrooms full bath bonus sitting area. Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker Retreat upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suitea walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a
The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. Thetown. twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with around aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Theand fenced in backyard with Ipehas wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for609-577-2989 outdoor memories(cell) to be |created with family friends. This home truly
The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat The fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has it all. With ample off-street parking leave cars at home and stroll space aroundfor town. and closets. The twowith bedrooms share a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area. fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be created family and friends. This home truly has it all. With ample off-street leave at home and stroll space aroundfor town. and closets. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area.cars 218GallupRoad.info $1,329,000 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,548,000 43EttlCircle.info $1,350,000 / $7,000 per month it all. With ample off-street 43EttlCircle.info parking you can$1,350,000 leave the cars at$1,347,500 home and stroll around154ChristopherDrive.info town. 218GallupRoad.info 343JeffersonRoad.info $1,548,000 / $7,000 per month it all. With $1,329,000 ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at$1,347,500 home and stroll around154ChristopherDrive.info town. The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has it all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town. it all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town.
For full testimonials, visit BeatriceBloom-Ratings.info
Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 If you want your home featured, contact me: • In RealPLAN, Estate Mortgage If you want your home featured, contact me: opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a•contact wraparound porch. 15LINDENLANE.INFO The doors allow and porch areaPHOTOS to function as an FLOOR indoor/• PLAN, FOR MORE AND VISIT 15LIND If you want your for homedining featured, contact me: • • custom If you want your home featured, me: Real Estate Mortgage Insurance Closing Services FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT If you want your home featured, contact me: FOR MORE ANDcomplete FLOOR VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO If you wantPLAN, your home and featured, contact knowledgeable professional and was there for usPHOTOS entire way.the FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom me: with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a the powder room first floor.
her energy, tenacity, flexibility, and professionalism. ” Beatrice Bloom Beatrice Bloom PRINCE TON COLLEC fireplace Princeton, and the other with aBloom wallfrom of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi In the combines heartPrinceton, of downtown Princeton, a Princeton few from Princeton University, stunning th ho Beatrice In theTION heart of downtown a few blocks from University, sitstub. a stunning homesits thata combines the heartPrinceton, of downtown few blocks Princeton University, stunning home that the charm and appeal of blocks In the heart of In downtown a few blocks froma Princeton University, sits Office a stunning homesits thata combines the charm and appeal of Princeton Office 609-921-1900 Princeton 609-921-1900 a century home with a| spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten remodeled aremodeled century old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled andThoft fully renovated 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com a century home with a(cell) spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten Thoft and fully this home in 2007 with a century old home with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled and fully renovated this home inrenovated 2007 with Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat spectacular detail both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations nomaintain expensethe to “Very helpful recommending a myriad contractors tomodern facilitate the repair spectacular detail to both traditional and The renovations spare expense to spare carefully 20spare years spectacular detail toand both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations nomaintain expense toof carefully maintain thetocharacter of amenities. the home, spectacularPrinceton detail to both traditional modern amenities. The in renovations expense to spare carefully character of the home, Office 609-921-1900 and|staircase closets. The two share ahardwood full pocket bath and aand bonus sitting area.the updated for lifestyle. Custom and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, at today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, doors, hardwood floors, andhardwood extensive built-ins 5-star experience with Beatrice Bloom updated for today’s Custom staircase and mouldings, doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins make it staircase both pocket 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | for BeatriceBloom.com updated for today’s lifestyle. Customlifestyle. and mouldings, pocket doors, floors, extensiveupdated built-ins throughout make ittoday’s boththroughout Princeton Office | bedrooms 609-921-1900 an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. 83MountLucasRoad.info $999,000 $1,165,000 15Jefferson an 83MountLucasRoad.info intimate family space and an entertainer’s come9FairwayDrive.info true. an intimate family space anddream an entertainer’s dream come$1,165,000 true. and ofspace our Estate property in Princeton. ”9FairwayDrive.info $999,000 15JeffersonRoad.info $1,125,000 102SnowdenLane.info $875,000 The fenced in backyard with Ipeeventual wood deck offers terrific for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has helping “Beatrice is asale highly knowledgeable and personable broker. She has
“Awesome Experience”
If you want your home featured, contact me: If you want your home featured, contact me: Beatrice Bloom
Beatrice Bloom
If you want your home featured, contact me:
PRINCETON Beatrice Bloom | hallway are $1,649,000 | PRINCETON PRINCETON Retreat upstairs to the masterThank bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the two a | Beatrice Bloom you so| much for a wonderful experience. ”additional bedrooms one with Over PRINCETON $1,649,000 PRINCE TON C Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Beatrice Bloom Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
609-577-2989 (cell) info@BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com
BeatriceBloom.com Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
Beatrice Bloom Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
609-577-2989 (cell) info@BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com
BeatriceBloom.com Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO
PRINCETON
PRINCETON
FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO $1,649,000
$1,649,000
the combines heart of downtown a of few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning homeInthat the charmPrinceton, and appeal a century oldMORE home with a spacious floor plan. ArchitectVISIT Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 with FOR PHOTOS ANDopen FLOOR PLAN, 15LINDENLANE.INFO a century old home with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this home in 2007 modern with FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO spectacular detail both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain thetocharacter of the home, updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. PRINCETON $1,649,000 an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. $1,649,000
Princeton | 609-921-1900 FOR MOREOffice PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO extensive knowledge of Princeton and the surrounding towns, buyers & PRINCETON “I would highly recommend Beatrice to anybody whoofwants to getand $1,649,000 a quality that can only be gained over years experience If yousellers want your home featured, contact me: In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of the best results inArchitect the shortest amount of time” cannot duplicated. We appreciated and felt fully thatrenovated she truly a century old home with a spacious modern openbe floor plan. Kirsten Thoft remodeled and this home in 2007 with Beatrice Bloom in spectacular detail to both traditional and modern amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, had our best interests mind. Highly recommend her. ” updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and (cell) mouldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout make it both 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 117LeabrookLane.info $1,100,000 40NorthHarrisonStreet.info $885,000 ne.info $1,100,000 $885,000 243CherryHillRoad.info $4,700 per month 34MayburyHillRoad.info $1,450,000 an intimate family40NorthHarrisonStreet.info space and an entertainer’s dream come true. For full testimonials, visit BeatriceBloom-Ratings.info Princeton Princeton Office | 609-921-1900
The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room tin ceiling, pocket The spacious entrance opens intowith the original family room with and original tin doors. ceiling,The andgourmet pocket kitchen doors itinto all.the With ample off-street parking you leave cars The at home and stroll with around town. PRINCETON The spacious entrance hall opens room with tin ceiling, and pocket doors. gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, The spacious entrance hallfamily opens into the original family room withcan original tinthe ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen withhall custom cabinets,
stainless-steel appliances, pantry and overlooks the light-filled great kitchen room with built-in bookcases & beau The spacious entrance opens into enormous the family room island with original tin ceiling, pocket doors. The gourmet with custom thepocket heart of downtown Princeton, ahall few blocks from Princeton University, sits a and stunning home that combines thelight-filled charm andcabinets, appeal of room with stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks the great bui Theaspacious entrance hall opens into the family room with tin of ceiling,Inand doors. The gourmet kitchen with cabinets, appliances, and enormous island theisland light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great room Instainless-steel the heart of downtown Princeton,pantry a few blocks from Princeton University, sits stunning homeoverlooks that combines thelight-filled charm andoriginal appeal stainless-steel appliances, pantry andoverlooks enormous the room with built-in bookcases &custom beautiful bar. The great room stainless-steel appliances, pantry and room enormous island overlooks the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful The great roomwith a century old home with adining spacious modern open floor plan. Kirsten Thoft remodeled and fully renovated this bar. home in 2007 appliances, pantry and enormous island overlooks great the light-filled great room with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The great opens to ato formal room that overlooks aArchitect wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch aopens century to old a home with adining spacious modern open floor plan. a Architect Kirsten stainless-steel Thoft remodeled androom fullythat renovated this home in 2007 with opens totraditional a formal dining room overlooks aroom wraparound porch. The custom allowtoforcarefully dining and porch area function as of an the indoor/ opens totoan afunction formal dining that overlooks a wraparound porch. custom doors allowarea for dto formal that overlooks wraparound porch. Thedining custom doors allow for dining and porch area function as indoor/ opens toaa formal overlooks a wraparound porch. doors The custom doors allow for dining and porch area asthat an indoor/ spectacular detail to both and modern amenities. Theas renovations spare no doors expense maintain thetoThe character home, opens to room aand formal room that overlooks wraparound porch. The custom allow for dining and porch area to function an indoor/ outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. spectacular detail to both traditional moderndining amenities. The renovations spare no expense to carefully maintain the character of the home, outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of storage along with a powder room co outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies tons of storage with alifestyle. powder room complete the firstand floor.mouldings, updated foralong today’s Custom staircase pocket doors, hardwood floors, and built-ins throughout outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with cubbies and tons of cubbies storage along with a and powder room complete the first floor. outdoor entertainment space. Afirst separate mudroom withextensive built-in cubbies andmake tonsit both of storage along updated for today’s lifestyle. Custom staircase and mouldings, pocket doors,built-in hardwood floors, and extensive built-ins throughout it both outdoor entertainment space. A separate mudroom with built-in andmake tons of storage along with a and powder room complete the floor. intimate family space an entertainer’s dream true. Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. an Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one withcome awith en an intimate family space and an entertainer’s dream come true. and themaster other heated with a bedroom wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These steam bedrooms share a hall bath with adown BainUltra the heatedhallway Jacuzzi tub. are two additiona upstairs the en suite walk-in shower. Just fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. TheseRetreat bedrooms share a hallfireplace bathto with a BainUltra Jacuzzi tub. withwood Retreat upstairs to the master bedroom with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two bedrooms one with a room Retreat to the master en suite walk-in steamwith shower. Just down the hal The additional spacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family with originalbedroom tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen custom cabinets, Retreat the master with en suite walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms with awith The spacious entrance hall opensupstairs into the family room with originalbedroom tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, The crown jewel of this is the third floor which has one additional spacious featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat bath with a BainU fireplace and the other with ahome wall ofisland floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share agreat hall The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has twoaadditional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat stainless-steel appliances, pantry and enormous overlooks the two light-filled great roombedrooms, with built-in bookcases & beautiful bar. The room fireplace and the other a wallto ofisland floor-to-ceiling woodgreat built-in closets. These bedrooms share hall bath with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. and closets. The two bedrooms share a full bath and a bonusof sitting area. fireplace and the other with a wall floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a stainless-steel appliances, pantrywith and enormous overlooks the light-filled with built-in bookcases bar. The great room androom closets. The two bedrooms share&a beautiful full bath and a bonus sittingbedrooms area. fireplace and the other with a wall of floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These a hall with a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. opens share to a formal diningbath room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ opens to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an indoor/ The family fenced inAbackyard with Ipethe wood deck offers terrific spaceand for outdoor to be created familyroom and friends. This home trulyfloor. has built-in bookcas outdoor entertainment space. separate mudroom with built-in cubbies tonstwo of memories storage along with awith powder complete the first The crown jewel of this home is third floor which has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with and friends. This home truly has outdoor entertainment A separate with built-in tonstwo of storage along with a powder room complete the first floor. built-in bookcases,it all. The crown jewelspace. of this homemudroom is the third floorcubbies whichand has additional spacious bedrooms, featuring desks, window seat With crown ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at homethird and stroll aroundwhich town. it all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town. The jewel of this home is the floor has two additional spacious bedrooms, fea and closets. two bedrooms full bath and a bonus sitting area. are two additional bedrooms one with a The crown jewel of this home isand theathird floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, window seat Retreat upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suiteadesks, walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway and closets. two bedrooms full bath bonus sitting area. Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker Retreat upstairs toThe the master bedroom withshare en suitea walk-in steam shower. Just down the hallway are two additional bedrooms one with a The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. The twowood bedrooms share a bedrooms full bathshare anda hall a bonus area. fireplace and the otherand with aclosets. wall of floor-to-ceiling built-in closets. These bath with sitting a BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. Theand fenced in backyard with Ipehas wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and frien The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family friends. This home If you wanthas your home contact me: The crown jewel of this home is the truly third floor which two additional spacious featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat If you bookcases, want your home featured, me: The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has two additional spacious bedrooms, featuring built-in desks, windowcontact seat The fenced in backyard with Ipefeatured, wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be creat it all. With ample off-street parking leave the cars atbedrooms, home and stroll space aroundfor town. and closets. The twowith bedrooms share a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area. fenced in backyard with Ipe the wood deck offers terrific outdoor memories to be created family and friends. This home truly has it all. With ample off-street leave at home and stroll space aroundfor town. and closets. The two The bedrooms shareparking a full bath you and acan bonus sitting area.cars Beatrice Bloom 218GallupRoad.info $1,329,000 343JeffersonRoad.info Beatrice Bloom it all. With ample off-street parking you can$1,350,000 leave the cars at$1,347,500 home and stroll around154Christoph town. 218GallupRoad.info 343JeffersonRoad.info 154ChristopherDrive.info $1,548,000 43EttlCircle.info /with $7,000 per month it all. With $1,329,000 ample off-street parking you can leave the carsSales at$1,347,500 home and stroll around town. Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, ECO-Broker The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deckSales offers terrific space for outdoor memories toMBA, be created family and friends. This home truly has Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker The fenced in backyard with Ipe wood deck offers terrific space for outdoor memories to be created with family and friends. This home truly has | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com it |all. With ample off-street parking you can 609-577-2989 leave the cars(cell) at home and stroll around town. 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com BeatriceBloom.com it all. With ample off-street parking you can leave the cars at home and stroll around town.
“Knowledge, savvy, and patience! Not even COVID-19 could diminish her energy, tenacity, flexibility, and professionalism. ” Beatrice Bloom Beatrice Bloom
The spacious entrance hall opens into the family room with original tin ceiling, and pocket doors. The gourmet kitchen with custom cabinets, Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 you want your home featured, contact me: stainless-steel appliances, and enormous island bookcases & beautiful If you want your pantry home featured, contact me: overlooks the light-filled great room IfIfwith you built-in want your home featured, contact bar. me: The great room If you want your home featured, contact me: opensIfFOR to a formal dining room that overlooks a wraparound porch. The custom doors allow for dining and porch area to function as an FLOOR indoor/ PLAN, FOR MORE PHOTOS AND If you want your home featured, contact me: PHOTOS you wantMORE your home featured, contact me:AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO FOR MOREBloom PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDE Beatrice FOR MORE PHOTOS AND space. FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15LINDENLANE.INFO Beatrice Bloom outdoor entertainment A separate mudroom with built-in cubbies and tons of Beatrice storage along Bloomwith a powder room complete the first floor.
Beatrice Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA,Bloom ECO-Broker PRINCETON info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 (cell) | info@BeatriceBloom.com BeatriceBloom.com 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com RINCETON Retreat PRINCETON 609-577-2989 (cell) to | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Brok upstairs the(cell) master bedroom with en suite walk-in shower. Just down609-577-2989 the hallway(cell) are| $1,649,000 two |additional bedrooms one with a Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist,steam MBA, ECO-Broker $1,649,000 Princeton Office Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | stunning BeatriceBloom Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 fireplace Princeton, and the other with a wall of (cell) floor-to-ceiling wood built-in closets. These bedrooms share a| 609-921-1900 hall bath with a (cell) BainUltra heated Jacuzzi tub. In the heart of downtown Princeton, a Princeton few blocks from Princeton University, 609-577-2989 | info@BeatriceBloom.com | BeatriceBloom.com Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 In the heart of downtown Princeton, a few blocks from University, sits a hom he heart of downtown a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of wntown Princeton, a few blocks from Princeton University, sits a stunning home that combines the charm and appeal of with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirste a century old home a century old home with a spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeled a Princeton entury home with a spacious modern open floor plan.Thoft Architect Kirsten Thoft remodeledthis and fullyinrenovated this home in 2007Office with | 609-921-1900 e with aold spacious modern open floor plan. Architect Kirsten remodeled and fully renovated home 2007 with FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR PLAN, VISIT 15 Princeton Office | 609-921-1900 The crown jewel of this home is the third floor which has twoPLAN, additional bedrooms, featuring built-in bookcases, desks, window seat FOR MORE PHOTOS AND FLOOR VISITspacious 15LINDENLANE.INFO Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
Sales Representative/Princeton Residential Specialist, MBA, ECO-Broker
“Very helpful in recommending a myriad of contractors to facilitate the repair
spectacular detail both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations spectacular detail to both traditional and modern The renovations spare expense to sp ca ctacular detail toand both traditional and modern amenities. Thenorenovations nomaintain expense to character carefully maintain thetocharacter of amenities. the home, to both traditional modern amenities. The renovations spare expense to spare carefully the of the home,
FALL 2023 PUBLISHER J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Lynn Adams Smith OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Melissa Bilyeu ART DIRECTOR Jeffrey Edward Tryon GRAPHIC DESIGNER Vaughan Burton
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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Donald Gilpin Ilene Dube Wendy Greenberg Anne Levin Stuart Mitchner Donald H. Sanborn III Taylor Smith William Uhl ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Charles R. Plohn ACCOUNT MANAGERS Jennifer Covill Joann Cella ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES 609.924.5400 Media Kit available on www.princetonmagazine.com SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION 609.924.5400 ext. 30 subscriptions@witherspoonmediagroup.com PRINCETON MAGAZINE Witherspoon Media Group 4438 Route 27 North Kingston, NJ 08528-0125 P: 609.924.5400 | F: 609.924.8818 princetonmagazine.com
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Dear Readers, Welcome to your Fall issue of Princeton Magazine. It’s my job to tell you a little bit about what’s in a particular issue, and this issue is particularly interesting because there is a set of common themes that runs through most of the articles within. One of the main themes is books, so I will begin by mentioning Stuart Mitchner’s Book Scene where he writes about Dr. Seuss and his 1971 book The Lorax, in which he taught the youth of the day about the oncoming climate change. Stuart also brings our attention to other children’s books on the topic. I should point out that most of the subjects in this issue have actually written several books about their particular topic, and how it is being challenged and changed by the climate and by technology. That leads to another prevalent theme, “entrepreneurship,” in which, from an early age, many of our subjects were onto a question or a quest that they would pursue in their career. Andrew Carnegie’s amazing entrepreneurship is captured in Laurie Pellichero’s article about Lake Carnegie’s creation through a $450,000 gift from Carnegie. He was self-taught by reading a lot of books and gave away about $350 million in the last 18 years of his life to numerous charities, foundations, and universities, among others, including the founding of 2,509 libraries. That gift would be in the billions in today’s dollars. On a personal note, I was fascinated by the story about Lake Carnegie since I am in the midst of building a new personal home on its shores. After 40 years of living on the Delaware River, with its spectacular views, I had to have an equally dramatic view here in Princeton. Our beautiful lake provided it! Lake Carnegie is also home to many types of birds, which leads us to Ilene Dube’s article on bird migration. Their Atlantic Flyway route gives New Jersey residents front-row seats as hundreds of species fly south in the fall. Wendy Greenberg wrote our story that is directly about books and booksellers in her article about Labyrinth Books and its founding family of brothers Cliff and Peter Simms and Dorothea von Moltke, who is Cliff’s wife. They are sellers of books of today and yesterday. It was fascinating to learn that Labyrinth also has a worldwide market with Great Jones Books, which they call their “secret sauce” and operates out of a warehouse in Pennington. Cliff and Dorothea describe their favorite books as those “that disrupt us.” They also live in a house where every room is lined with bookshelves and filled with books devoted to different subjects. On the topic of collections, Donald H. Sanborn III introduces us to another collector and entrepreneur, Noel Barrett of Bucks County, Pa. Barrett is a collector, seller, and consultant on antique toys — toys that he fell in love with, had to have, and holds onto until he has too many and has to sell. It is interesting how technology and the internet have changed the main selling mode from in-person to virtual auctions.
10 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
We enter a world of even more advanced technology with Taylor Smith’s story on precision medicine through analysis of our genetic data, the effort of Dr. David Fajgenbaum, an associate professor of medicine in translational medicine and human genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. Fajgenbaum cured his own rare Castleman’s disease by defining its genetic profile and applying already approved medicines that were actually for different ailments. Our writer Anne Levin takes us into the world of psychology and music with Elizabeth Margulis, Princeton University Professor of Music and head of its Music Cognition Lab. Margulis, a talented pianist in her own right, explores music and its connection to the mind. Music cognition “has its tentacles in everything“ says Margulis, who is married to McCarter Theatre Center’s new Executive Director, Martin Miller. This new world of technology and AI and even politics is changing the traditional message of leaders of faith, and that is changing the education of religion in seminaries across the country. On our cover of this issue and throughout Donald Gilpin’s Q&A you will meet a leader of that change, Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton, the new president of Princeton Theological Seminary. Walton, who earned both his master’s and doctorate degrees from Princeton Seminary, sees his educational mission as “bridging faith with a future-ready educational portfolio.” This issue of Princeton Magazine leads us right into the holiday season and shopping for kids and grandkids. You can consider some of Noel Barrett’s antique toys, but you might also consider the array of toys that are so beautifully presented by Editor-in-Chief Lynn Adams Smith in her two pages of gifts for the younger set. Also, as a member of the board of Experience Princeton, I encourage you to “Shop Local” and give particular attention to our advertisers, without whose support there would not be a Princeton Magazine. Finally, I hope you enjoy the amazing and artful graphics in this issue which were created by our Art Director, Jeff Tryon. I found the introductory page of each story to be both beautiful and compelling in hinting what I was about to read. Starting as a young graphic designer at The Hillier Group, Jeff has been with me for over 20 years. Lynn Adams Smith and I, plus the entire team at Witherspoon Media Group, hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed creating it for you. We all send you best wishes for the holiday season. Respectfully yours,
J. Robert Hillier, Lh.D., FAIA, PP Publisher
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY E. TRYON
| FROM THE PUBLISHER
MPdL STUDIO design & architecture www.mpdlstudio.com 609.252.0340
LAKE CARNEGIE A Princeton Treasure BY LAURIE PELLICHERO
Photography by Charles R. Plohn.
12 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
It
all began with a portrait. In 1902, steel magnate and noted philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was posing for painter Howard Russell Butler, Princeton University Class of 1876, when Carnegie brought up the many lochs he had built in his native Scotland. Butler, a former member of the University rowing team, took the opportunity to inform Carnegie of the cramped rowing conditions along the Delaware and Raritan Canal, where the team practiced but also had to deal with freight traffic traveling between New York and Philadelphia. This had forced the rowing program to disband in 1886. Butler suggested a building a dam at the confluence of the Millstone River and Stony Brook, which would flood the swamps around the Washington Road Bridge, creating a reservoir that would be a much better option for the University’s team. According to Princetoniana, it was an idea that Carnegie quickly embraced. Butler then consulted with a New York engineering firm, which determined that a lake could be constructed for $118,000. Carnegie visited the site, and soon after authorized funds for the lake. The land for its basin was purchased from various owners in 1903, and by 1905 enough was secured for crews to begin clearing the property and constructing the dam. Lake Carnegie’s official opening was on December 5, 1906, with Carnegie in attendance. It was the first lake in the U.S. built specifically to create a course for competitive rowing. It turns out that the cost for construction was greatly underestimated, and the final tally was about $450,000. The rowing program began again in 1911. Andrew Carnegie portrait by Howard Russell Butler. (Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Scotland)
Workers building a dam on the Millstone River near Kingston to create Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton)
Carnegie (1835-1919) was among the wealthiest and most famous industrialists of his day. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, he emigrated to America at age 13 with his parents and younger brother. The family settled in Allegheny, Pa., and young Andrew helped to support them by working long hours as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill for $1.20 a week. He was later hired as a messenger for a local telegraph company, where he taught himself to use the equipment and was promoted to telegraph operator. According to the Carnegie Corporation, with this skill he got a job with the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he was promoted to superintendent by age 24. Carnegie was a voracious reader and took advantage of the generosity of Allegheny resident Col. James Anderson, who opened his library to local working boys. Books provided most of his education, and by the 1860s he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, iron works, steamers, and oil rigs. He built further wealth as a bond salesman, and built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, the largest steel manufacturer in the world at the time, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million (billions in today’s dollars).
14 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
A longtime philanthropist, during the last 18 years of his life he gave away around $350 million to numerous charities, foundations, and universities, among others. After his death, his remaining fortune was endowed to the Carnegie Corporation of New York to be used principally to promote education and international peace. According to carnegie.org, one of the most tangible examples of Carnegie’s philanthropy was the founding of 2,509 libraries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Of these libraries, 1,679 were built in the United States. Carnegie spent over $55 million of his wealth on libraries alone, and he is often referred to as the “Patron Saint of Libraries.” In addition, he paid for thousands of church organs in the U.S. and around the world. The 238-acre Lake Carnegie, one of his many gifts, was initially owned by a nonprofit organization, but it was deeded to Princeton University in 1934. But, notes Princetoniana, its construction was not yet complete. Its shallowness, sometimes as low as four feet, led to silting and subsequent flooding, and the lake was dredged three times in its first 65 years,
and most recently in 2019. The dam has also been reinforced. Today, Lake Carnegie, which bounds the south end of the Princeton University Campus, is not only home to the University’s rowing teams, but is also one of Princeton’s most open and natural spaces. It is also a resource for the local community and a home to abundant wildlife. The Washington Road Bridge and Harrison Street Bridge cross it and provide picturesque views. According to princeton.edu, the lake extends for nearly four miles, curving away from campus towards Kingston. The Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park towpath runs the length of the lake’s south shore. The north shore is home to the University’s C. Bernard Shea Rowing Center — which consists of the Class of 1887 Boathouse and the Richard Ottesen Prentke ’67 Training Center — along with a trail, woodlands, and private residences. The boathouse was a gift of the Princeton University Class of 1887 at its 25th reunion in 1912, with construction beginning in 1913. The Shea Center was dedicated on October 7, 2000, and features state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.
The marshy site of Lake Carnegie in 1905. (Historical Society of Princeton)
Construction equipment at the site of Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton)
Workmen and teams working on Lake Carnegie in 1905. (Historical Society of Princeton)
A view of the Washington Road Bridge over Lake Carnegie in 1907. (Historical Society of Princeton)
People fishing by the Lake Carnegie Dam at Kingston in 1913. (Historical Society of Princeton)
Lake Carnegie Dam today. (Photography by Charles R. Plohn) FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
| 15
“For me, I feel incredibly lucky to have such an amazing ‘office,’ adds Hughes. “Each day I spend hours out on Carnegie taking it all in. It is a beautiful spot and we are very lucky to have such a great natural resource right here in our community.” While Lake Carnegie is owned and maintained by the University, the public is welcome Fishermen at Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton) to use it for rowing, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, or walks along The men’s and women’s rowing teams its shores. Community access to the lake is use the lake to train and host competitions available at the boat launch area adjacent to with other universities. It is also used as Route 27 just south of Kingston. The boat a training site for Olympic rowers, and launch area is open from dawn to dusk. hosted the U.S. Olympic trials in 1928, Anglers can find a variety of 1936, and 1948. fish including carp, channel catfish, “There is nothing like having a lake largemouth bass, tiger muskie, yellow on campus — no other university owns perch, and sometimes brown and rainbow its own lake,” says Lori Dauphiny, head trout. Swimming is not allowed in the coach of the Princeton University Open lake, nor are gas-powered boats. Women’s Rowing Team. “We can run Albert Einstein was one of the lake’s practices and races when we need to — many users, and often sailed with close it is such a great advantage. The U.S. friend and University librarian Johanna National Team also trains here. It is the Fantova, who kept a diary of their best training ground in the country. We all benefit from the facility and the lake. A lot of people come to watch the rowers. It really brings people together — it is a unifying element in the community.” “There is so much nature at the lake,” she adds. “This morning I saw two eagles in one tree, along with blue herons and turtles. It’s a great place for kayakers and fishermen. It’s also the best office I could ever have.” Greg Hughes, PU Class of 1996 and head coach of Heavyweight Men’s Rowing, says, “Princeton Rowing is exceptionally fortunate to have Lake Carnegie as the home for our program. The lake is perfect for our sport. It is well protected from wind and weather, allowing for calm water for training. It is the best place in the U.S. for rowing, and that is why you see our U.S. Olympic Teams choose Carnegie for their training as well. What’s more, it is right on campus, so our athletes have quick, easy access to the boathouse and the lake.”
16 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
conversations that is available in the Princeton University Library’s Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. She once wrote, “Seldom did I see him so gay and in so light a mood as in this strangely primitive little boat.” Lake Carnegie has also been used for ice skating, hockey, or walking when it freezes in the winter, but it has been many years since the ice has thickened enough for safe activity. Numerous bird species can be found at the lake at various times of the year, including bald eagles, swans, seagulls, Canada geese, great blue herons, egrets, double-crested cormorants, mergansers, red-winged blackbirds, and woodpeckers. Lake Carnegie also contains several islands. They are not accessible to people, but provide habitat to numerous animals including deer, beavers, turtles, and foxes. In 1990, the Lake Carnegie Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Carnegie’s gift continues to be special place for sports, recreation, and relaxation for students, residents, and visitors alike. As a group of students sang to Andrew Carnegie at the lake’s opening ceremony in 1906: Carnegie, Carnegie / He is giving us a lake / You can hear the breakers break; / Carnegie, Carnegie / Andy, Andy, you’re a dandy/ Carnegie.
The Class of 1887 Boathouse at Lake Carnegie. The Class of 1887 gave the boathouse to Princeton University at its 25th reunion in 1912; construction began in 1913. (Historical Society of Princeton)
(Photography by Charles R. Plohn)
Men rowing on Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton)
The Class of 1887 Boathouse at Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton)
A family on a dock at Lake Carnegie. (Historical Society of Princeton)
(Photography by Charles R. Plohn) FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
| 17
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Defying Expectations in an Exceptional Location 90 OLDEN LANE, PRINCETON, NJ | CALLAWAYHENDERSON.COM/ID/9B3Z73 | $2,750,000 Standing on just over an acre immediately adjacent to the glorious meadow that introduces the world famous Institute for Advanced Study, this 1930’s home deftly blends traditional polish and contemporary edge. Not only was the house enlarged, an incredible studio was built behind the garage. With a 16-foot peaked ceiling, a stone fireplace and inspiring garden views, it is an enviable place to harness your creativity. The main house is filled with rooms large enough for festive entertaining, yet comfortable for a quiet evening alone. The kitchen is thoughtfully laid out with both butler’s and walk-in pantries and an open flow into the breakfast room. Each of four bedrooms displays individual character, like walk-in closets, built-ins and soaring windows. While it already offers a walk-in closet, the main suite with adjoining office poses several options to elevate it to the next level. Stroll the Institute woods, explore IAS’s renowned wine list or perfect your swing at nearby Springdale Golf Club.
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Set in one of Princeton's most prestigious neighborhoods, within a short walk to town, the University and other cultural venues, this classic Federalist home embodies the community's history of sophistication. A grand, inviting Set in one of Princeton's most prestigious hallway with a fireplace opens to the spacious neighborhoods, within a short walk to town, the living and rooms suitable for the most University and dining other cultural venues, this classic Federalist home embodiesBuilt the in community's elegant entertaining. a period of skilled history of sophistication. A grand, inviting craftsmanship, these well-proportioned rooms hallway with a fireplace opens to the spacious have high ceilings, deep moldings and other living and dining rooms suitable for the most sought after details. First rooms flow elegant entertaining. Built in a periodfloor of skilled Set in one of Princeton's most prestigious within a seamlessly into one another and onto aneighborhoods, large craftsmanship, these well-proportioned rooms Set in one of Princeton's most prestigious short walk to town, deep thewarm University and other other cultural venues, this classic have highfacilitating ceilings, moldings and porch, weather entertaining. neighborhoods, within athe short walkflow to town, the of sophistication. sought after details. First floor rooms Federalist home embodies community's history This important home has a circular driveway University other cultural venues, classic intoand one another andaonto a largethis A seamlessly grand, inviting hallway with fireplace opens to the spacious living and is located warm on almost anentertaining. acre of land with a porch, facilitating weather and Federalist dining rooms suitable for the elegant entertaining. Built home embodies themost community's three car garage and is for these a newwell-proportioned owner important has a waiting circular driveway in This ahistory period of home skilled craftsmanship, rooms of sophistication. A grand, inviting and is located on almost an acre of land with a to make it their own. have high ceilings, deep moldings and other sought after details. hallway with a fireplace opens to the spacious three car garage and is waiting for a new owner First floor rooms flow seamlessly into one another and onto a large living and dining rooms suitable for the most to make it their own. porch, facilitating warm weather entertaining. This important home Offered at $2,450,000 elegant entertaining. Built in a period of skilled has a circular driveway and is located on almost an acre of land Offered at $2,450,000these well-proportioned rooms withcraftsmanship, a three car garage and is waiting for a new owner to make it have their own. high ceilings, deep moldings and other sought after details. First floor rooms flow seamlessly into one another MARKETED BYand onto a large MARKETED BY porch, facilitating warm weather entertaining. Judith Stier Judith Stier This important home has a circular driveway Sales Associate Sales Associate and is located on almost an acre of land with a Direct Line: 609.240.1232 Direct 609.240.1232 three car garage andLine: is waiting for a new owner judith.stier@foxroach.com to make it their own.
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&
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JONATHAN LEEWALTON
President of Princeton Theological Seminary
photo courtesy of princeton theological seminary
INTERVIEW BY DONALD GILPIN onathan Lee Walton became the eighth president of Princeton Theological Seminary on January 1, 2023. He is the first African American and the first Baptist to hold that position. Walton earned his Ph.D. (2006) and Master of Divinity (2002) degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS). Before his return to PTS, he served as dean of Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, where he was the Presidential Chair in Religion and Society, and before that as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He is the author of two books: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism (2009) and A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World (2018), He has published widely in academic journals, books, magazines, and newspapers, and has been featured in the New York Times and Time magazine and on CNN and PBS. I asked Walton a few questions as he nears the end of his first year back at PTS. As a Princeton Theological Seminary graduate, you’ve been treading on familiar ground since you began your presidency in January. Can you say a few words about why you came back and what that return has been like so far for you and your family? It’s been amazing. I’ve had the privilege of working at some wonderful institutions. Yet, if I’m honest, I often
looked at colleagues who were alums of those schools through a green haze of envy. One could see their love and commitment to serving a school that served them during their formative years. I never had that feeling until now. I’m deeply humbled to return to an institution that played such a significant role in shaping me professionally and personally.
Could you also comment on the town of Princeton and how you see your relationship and the Seminary’s relationship to the larger Princeton community? Princeton Seminary has been rooted in the town of Princeton since 1812, and our institution remains deeply committed to its welfare and vibrancy. As our Princeton neighbors seek intellectual and theological resources to wrestle with the more significant questions of life — meaning, purpose, and enduring values — we hope to remain a welcoming and inclusive learning community where people can come and connect, collaborate, and continuously engage. We also seek to be an institution that partners with the community to make the extraordinary offerings of this town even more equitable and accessible. Could you tell us about an unexpected challenge or difficulty you’ve had to confront here?
I earned my Ph.D. and Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. Most importantly, my wife Cecily and I began our marriage here, our twins were born here, and now my youngest son is growing up here. The chance to give back to this transformative community is more than just a role — it’s a glorious call.
Prior to assuming the role of president, I served on the board of trustees. My work on the board prepared me, to some extent, for understanding our challenges. For example, Princeton Seminary, like many institutions, always has a long list of capital projects, including some buildings in need of significant repair and rehabilitation. I am grateful to our incredible facilities and maintenance team for the work they do, and I look forward to building on their work. Our project will take time, but I am committed to making sure our institution offers a safe, healthy, and modern learning environment for our entire community. FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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We are creating flexible and accessible programs that will inform and enrich a person’s Christian witness. I’ve been fortunate to witness and work with the Extension School at Harvard and the School of Professional Studies at Wake Forest. These institutions and others offer various opportunities and credentials through online, hybrid, and intensive residential experiences. The future is not a binary choice of “online vs. residential.” It’s offering learners from across the globe access to our unique resources. We are committed to using our resources to meet people where they are in order to keep our mission thriving. What are some things you’re looking forward to in the months and years ahead in your presidency and your life in Princeton?
Princeton Theological Seminary Chapel in fall. (Photo courtesy of Princeton Theological Seminary)
Cornel West has described you as “both public intellectual and prophetic preacher.” You have also been described as a social ethicist with a commitment to evangelical Christianity. How do those descriptions apply to your views of yourself and your role? The description that matters most to me is to be a person of Christian service. Here, I’m thinking of the grand figures of the progressive American tradition of evangelicals, such as Princeton Seminary graduates like Elijah Parish Lovejoy and Prathia Hall. Whether fighting to abolish slavery, advocating for women’s suffrage, or driving the civil rights movements, such figures leveraged the power of institutions to leave legacies that were bigger than any individual accomplishment. I hope to do the same. I’m an educator animated by my Christian faith. My goal is to ensure that Princeton Seminary continues to offer transformative learning opportunities to subsequent generations yet to be born. So, when my time is up, I pray that I am remembered as a faithful steward. A lot of freestanding divinity schools have closed or merged in recent years. Tell us your thoughts on the future of theological education and its
24 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
challenges. How might you and Princeton Theological Seminary meet those challenges? I ask myself this question every day, and working toward the answer is what drives my service. The church is changing. Higher education is changing. Society is changing. As the mission of Princeton Seminary, we are committed to preparing serious faithinformed professionals to serve the church and society through ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy. Yet how and who we prepare must always be an open question. And our answers must reflect current realities that all higher education institutions are facing — demographic trends, rising costs, the growing use of technology, pressing social problems, and culture wars that feed antiintellectual currents. Given all these challenges and demands, where does our learning community for life go from here? Experts tell us that the most significant pool of learners over the next generation are those once called “nontraditional learners.” People who are committed to developing faith-informed solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges.
There is so much to be excited about, especially as we grow our reach around the world. Princeton Seminary has long been a leader in continuing education and convening the world’s best theological minds. We are scaling our offerings to reach new learners in all fields seeking to integrate their Christian faith with their professional lives. We already see evidence of this learner in our offerings at the intersections of faith and ecology at the Farminary — our 21-acre agricultural learning laboratory off Princeton Pike. Similar is the case for our recently launched hybrid degree in justice and public life. Current students in the inaugural MAT cohort range in age from 23 to 63, and include legal professionals, a finance professional on Wall Street, and a nonprofit leader, among other faith-informed professionals. At Princeton Seminary, we’re bridging faith with a future-ready educational portfolio. I am confident that this work together will solidify our role as a leader in theological education at Princeton Theological Seminary. We are neither confined to the constraints of an “online” school nor limited to the walls of a traditional residential campus. We engaged more than 1,000 learners from across the globe last academic year. We can expand this number exponentially with a better alignment of resources to enhance our digital learning environment to benefit learners, whether they live in Brown Hall for three years or stay at Erdman Hall for three days.
Be a part of our learning community!
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
No matter what you do or where you are, our flexible and accessible programs will inform your work and accelerate your impact. Learn more about upcoming events, lectures, and learning opportunities at Ptsem.edu/the-quad
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Dorothea von Moltke and Cliff Simms at home in Princeton.
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BOOKS Labyrinth’s Founding Family BY WENDY GREENBERG PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW WILKINSON
“L
o the Poor Bookseller,” H. L. Mencken wrote in a 1930 essay: “The marvel is, indeed that [the bookseller] ever survives at all. It is as if a haberdasher, in addition to meeting all the hazards of the current fashion, had to keep in stock a specimen of every kind of shirt, collar, sock, necktie, and undershirt in favor since 1750.” The picture of the underappreciated bookseller was brushed up when Jeff Deutsch wrote in the introduction to his 2022 book, In Praise of Good Bookstores: “The good bookstore’s collection comprises books that might have been published a month ago, a year ago, a half century ago, a couple of millennia ago. The attuned bookseller must provide a selection of books of all vintages.” To be successful, he continued, bookselling “demands a firm grasp not just of the literature of the ages but also of the literature of one’s lifetime and of the thousands of new publications announced in the publishers’ catalogs that arrive seasonally, and by the dozens. Only a minute fraction of the books one considers will make the shelves. Discernment is the primary quality of a good bookseller; filtration, selection, assemblage, and enthusiasm (for) their work.”
Deutsch, the director at the renowned Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Chicago, offers this guideline: “Good bookstores reflect their communities; exceptional bookstores both reflect and create their communities.” The owners of Princeton’s Labyrinth Books — brothers Cliff and Peter Simms and Dorothea von Moltke, who is married to Cliff — know all too well the intricacies and tribulations of the book business. But they seem to have met the threshold for both reflecting their community, and creating one. At a Princeton Public Library event with Deutsch a few years ago, Cliff Simms recounted that when he first walked into Seminary in Chicago, he realized that it was the model for the bookstore he wanted and recounted, “It has been that receding image that I have been chasing variously for 30 years.”
THE “SECRET SAUCE” How Labyrinth Books realizes that model is referred to by Cliff as the “secret sauce.” Housed in a nondescript low brick building with obscure signage off Route 27 in Pennington — between a golf center and a Burger King — is Great Jones Books, which buys overstocks at steep discounts from publishers. It is also owned by the partners. FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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Inside Great Jones are what seem to be endless shelves of books, books on tables, books in cartons — a browser’s delight without the comfort of a retail store. Great Jones purchases more than a million books a year and reserves the best for Labyrinth while selling to stores all over the world. It is the source of the sizable discounted inventory in the Labyrinth store (about 70 percent), while maintaining a scholarly and diverse subject selection. “It’s in this sense that Great Jones is the ‘secret sauce’ that is a crucial part, that makes Labyrinth what it is,” says Peter, who runs Great Jones with Cliff and who also manages the financial and business operations of both Labyrinth and Great Jones. In the early 1990s, before the three opened an early version of Labyrinth Books on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, they were looking at a space on the corner of Great Jones Street in a second floor, 6,000-square-foot loft. “We were enchanted with it in part because we were sure it is the space where the (Don) DeLillo novel called Great Jones Street takes place — a great book about the impasses of rock and roll and celebrity culture,” explains Cliff. “We didn’t take the space, but kept the name to memorialize the moment.” Without Great Jones, says Peter, “it would be financially impossible to sustain the depth and diversity of the store’s collection or to realize our desire to be both a bookstore for an exceptionally literate and curious town-community and a scholarly bookstore for a wonderful University.” “We skim the cream,” continues Peter. “We’ve become our own supply line; we can extend the life of the books. You can find what you can’t find elsewhere.” Chain stores don’t keep books out for very long, he notes. Great Jones’ books are from varied sources. Last year, for example, Great Jones bought a classics library of 1,500 books from the widow of a professor they had known in New York. Cliff had mentioned he was interested 20 years ago, and the book owner’s survivor remembered him.
THE EARLY YEARS
Peter, left, and Cliff Simms at Great Jones Books.
32 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
The Simms siblings grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and then in Oceanside, Long Island. In his youth, Cliff had been
Great Jones Books in Pennington.
a good soccer player (not a great reader, he says) and went to Columbia University where he played soccer. He was soon captivated by his academic mentors. He majored in 17th-century English literature and philosophy, and worked part-time in bookstores. In fact, after graduation, he felt that bookstores were a good continuing education. Dorothea was a graduate student at Columbia majoring in German literature in 1992 when she “spotted” Cliff, who at the time was co-owner of a bookstore across from Columbia, as she got her coursebooks. Intrigued by him, and his discussions of books with his customers, she engaged in a conversation herself and they soon began taking walks together. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., where her father was a professor of history, Dorothea grew up in Hamburg and Bonn, Germany. Her grandparents had been in the resistance in Germany during the World War II years. She moved to Vermont for her last year of high school. After spending time in France and Italy, she graduated from Yale, moved to East Berlin when the wall came down, and worked for a roundtable against xenophobia before starting graduate school.
Soon, the siblings and Dorothea rented a warehouse in Yonkers, N.Y., initially to move out the boxes of books that filled Cliff’s apartment so Dorothea could move in, and with the thought of starting a book remainder business. Peter had worked in real estate in New York and was between careers when Cliff was managing the bookstore at Columbia University. Peter came in to run Great Jones, starting with 20,000 books, many Yale University Press returns.
THE COLUMBIA YEARS “Before we opened our first bookstore, we understood why the kinds of bookstores that we admired were disappearing,” says Dorothea. “We loved stores that keep extensive collections both of backlist and newly published titles, and where you could browse through extensive subject areas and find what was important to the past and present of those fields.” In the late 1990s, when Columbia University wanted to open its own bookstore they came to Cliff, then age 39, who had run a bookstore with a former partner. As the New York Times reported before the 1997 opening, the new store
would buck a trend: there would be no cappuccinos or scones, but there would be at least 50,000 academic and scholarly titles, sorted into about 100 categories. A Columbia University news release at the time predicted that the Columbia-located Labyrinth Books would be “the largest and most comprehensive scholarly bookstore in New York City. Indeed, with 6,500-squarefeet of space and a 100,000-volume, $1.5-million inventory that includes 70,000 titles, the store will be larger than the famous Seminary Co-op Bookstore, the University of Chicago fixture that was the model for Labyrinth.” Then in around 2006, Princeton University came calling. The community missed the closed Micawber Books, which had been named for a Dickens character and run by Logan Fox (son of Random House editor Joseph Fox, whose name is used in the film about bookstores, You’ve Got Mail). The landscape was changing with the University Store looking to get out of the coursebook business. Aware of Labyrinth’s reputation in Manhattan as a scholarly and community bookstore, Princeton approached the Labyrinth owners and invited them to open on Nassau Street. FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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Labyrinth Books in downtown Princeton.
THE PRINCETON YEARS Now long settled in the Princeton community, Cliff and Peter have short commutes to the Pennington warehouse. Dorothea can bike to the store from a nearby tree-obscured house where she and Cliff raised their two daughters, Thalia and Nora, who went to Princeton schools and grew up stopping by the bookstore. Peter, his wife Jennifer, and daughter Sophia live in Hopewell between the store and the warehouse. “Moving to Princeton and having only one bookstore, and moving the warehouse to Pennington, consolidated our lives,” says Dorothea. A mobile hanging from a tree in the backyard of Cliff and Dorothea’s house echoes the yellow spoons that have become iconic at Labyrinth, which were made by Dorothea’s mother’s partner. Inside, the bookshelves are plentiful as one might have guessed. The fiction is in the bedroom. The living room has philosophy, critical theory, psychoanalysis, and religion. Art books are in the hallway. Poetry is in the dining room. Dorothea’s books in other languages are in her study,
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and Cliff’s study holds the history books. Art fills the walls. Naming “favorite books” is not for Cliff and Dorothea. “Both of us look for books that disrupt us, make us feel differently than before,” says Cliff. Today, almost two decades after Labyrinth opened, it is still both a community and scholarly bookstore, blending new books across all genres and disciplines, used and rare books, kids’ books, remaindered and bargain books, as well as coursebooks for Princeton University classes. “I love the new release tables in the store,” says Dorothea. “The books talk to you and to each other.” “Books are aspirational,” said Cliff. “If you buy a lot of books you don’t usually get to buy at lower prices, you can aspire to more.” The customer experience is important, and it starts with the discount tables outside the store, which Dorothea jokingly calls “a gateway drug” to the books inside. Peter Simms says that the customer experience for many relies on a “wellorganized website.” And all three agree that having good staff is essential. “We
have been fortunate to have a core group of people. They make everything possible,” says Peter. Agrees Dorothea, “You can’t have a good bookstore without good booksellers, and from its inception, Labyrinth has been incredibly fortunate in its knowledgeable and dedicated staff, who have helped shape the store and continue to do just that every day. Basically, at Labyrinth, everyone is a bookseller. At Great Jones we are equally dependent on a core group of knowledgeable, hard working, and devoted colleagues, who routinely deal with a variety of complex issues,” including the sale and shipment of books to retail stores domestically and abroad, and navigating an often complex landscape of regulations and customer requirements.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT For several years now, the Princeton Public Library and Labyrinth have presented a series of joint events — Labyrinth and the Library Live, or LLL. It is events such as these and interactions in the community that have helped Labyrinth create its own community. Some are
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held at the store, some at the library, and Dorothea considers her programming counterparts at the library, Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts, the Princeton University Humanities Council, and others, “cross-institutional colleagues.” The Labyrinth author events are characterized by pairing an author with a fellow writer in the field — a like-minded intellectual or an interesting discussant. “If there is one guiding principle for how we approach our events programming and, more generally, our work with and in the communities to which we belong, that principle is collaboration,” says Dorothea. “We have come to know and deeply value so many both on campus and in town by partnering with them when planning events.” When putting together a season of events, says Dorothea, “we are more guided by the issues that we believe we need to grapple with collectively as well as by the wish to celebrate writers who can move us and help us to see the world differently.” Thus, there was a special event this fall on banned books, one last year on abortion rights, and even a discussion on civic storytelling. The Simms brothers and Dorothea see Labyrinth as having a role to play in the community. “We have come to bookselling to connect with events that are shaping the future of the moment,” says Cliff. “I always thought cultural institutions are social institutions.” The bookstore is known for its
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community activism. “We regularly open our space to and support groups doing the hard work of helping where help is urgently needed, be this HomeFront, Housing Initiatives of Princeton, the ACLU of NJ, or Planned Parenthood, to name a few. The project of building libraries inside prisons is one we have longed cared about in particular,” says Dorothea. “While we were able, with the help of the prison education program NJ-STEP, to build such a one at Rahway, this work stalled out during the pandemic and we are currently looking for ways to revive it.” A new collaboration with Princeton High School this fall is focusing on a book on food insecurity. One planned for next spring about mass incarceration in the U.S. will be another case in point. “We’ve gotten to know and share in the community concerns,” says Dorothea. Housing equity is an important issue in Princeton, she says, and directly affects local businesses as Princeton is not affordable for the vast number of the town’s employees. She and neighboring businesses are also concerned about the parking and traffic flow in the downtown area. Dorothea serves as vice chair of the Board of Princeton University Concerts; is a member of the Princeton University Art Museum’s Community Leadership Council; a member of the McCarter/ Princeton Conversation Council; the
Princeton University Public Lecture Nominating Committee; and the Economic Development Committee of Experience Princeton. Both she and Cliff are members of New Jersey’s Main Street Alliance. Cliff, Peter, and Dorothea have never wavered from their original bookstore model. Before Labyrinth opened in Princeton in 2007, a University news release portended the bookstore’s role today, quoting Cliff: “We believe we can create a store that will be a real civic space in which knowledge in all fields can be celebrated and discussed. We also take very seriously our obligation to serve the needs of students and faculty in providing course books in reliable, efficient, and cost-effective ways through the availability of used, as well as new books.” He noted, in a 2017 interview with Princeton University, that the “combination of a store providing coursebooks, working to be a premier academic bookstore, and integrating itself into the broader cultural and civic fabric of a town and campus has in fact become rare.” As Cliff has said, good bookstores “share a reverence for books, and they know and believe in what books can do.” As its owners have shown, so does Labyrinth Books. Labyrinth Books is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. 609.497.1600; labyrinthbooks.com.
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Spotlight Q&A with Dr. Taher Modarressi, Cardiometabolic Specialist at Princeton Cardiometabolic Health Interview by Laurie Pellichero What are some of the newer advances available to patients? One of the most exciting areas is in personalizing cardiovascular risk assessments. Beyond a typical cholesterol blood test, we can use an easy scan called a coronary artery calcium score and we can check lipoprotein(a) — pronounced “lipoprotein little a” — to fine tune our assessment of heart attack risk. This allows for a more personalized and nuanced discussion about each person’s individualized risk. Unfortunately, most people who could benefit from a calcium score have not had it done, and very few people know their lipoprotein(a) level even though many guidelines strongly recommend its testing. Second, the world of cholesterol disorders has undergone a revolution. There are so many ways to assess risk, intervene when necessary, and choose the right path for each patient. The days when side effects to statins meant that you had no other options are long gone. Lastly, there has been intense interest in medical treatment of obesity. Current and near-future therapeutic options offer people the potential of avoiding the complications of obesity and preserving their health and vibrancy. The same holds true for type 2 diabetes, where new discoveries have powered an era of safer and more effective medications, and new devices allow for more precise and targeted care.
Cardiometabolic medicine is a blend of endocrinology and preventive cardiology. It is about finding and addressing the root causes of chronic ailments. Conditions like high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, and others are often an interconnected web rather than isolated issues. People often end up on many medications — some of these are appropriate and necessary, but some work against each other. The goal is focusing therapies for prevention: preventing cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes, or treatment of diabetes in ways that also protect the heart, kidneys, and liver. There have been many recent advances in our understanding of these conditions and an expansion of treatment options. What is your background, and how did it lead to starting a cardiometabolic practice? I grew up in Princeton and went to Princeton University for my undergraduate studies, followed by medical school at NYU School of Medicine. I had the privilege of training at Harvard Medical School’s Massachusetts General Hospital for internal medicine residency and completed fellowship in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation and board certification in endocrinology, I achieved additional boards in clinical lipidology and obesity medicine. Throughout this journey, I found myself wishing there was more emphasis on prevention and maintenance of good health. Starting a cardiometabolic practice was a natural step.
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What is unique about the way you approach patient care? I usually hear the same desires echoed by my patients: to feel well, maintain a vibrant quality of life, take less medications, and to be viewed as an individual rather than having a formula or calculation determine their health journey. My focus is on delivering evidence-based, cutting-edge care to patients that is personalized and tailored towards prevention. I enjoy finding opportunities to optimize medications, determining which are still appropriate and which can be consolidated or stopped. I also try to be very honest about what we don’t know or haven’t figured out yet, which is a lot — this is the nature of medicine! What do you see as the future of cardiometabolic health? It’s all about personalized medicine. For some, this could mean harnessing the power of insights from genetics and data from wearable monitors to make precise and individualized lifestyle and treatment recommendations. For others, it could mean making the right choices out of an ever-expanding range of therapeutic options that offer pluripotent benefits. It is an exciting time to be in this emerging field. Princeton Cardiometabolic Health is located at 21 Route 31 North, Suite B6, in Pennington. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 609.951.3944 or visit www.princeton.health.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. TAHER MODARRESSI
What is cardiometabolic medicine?
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
What is Lipoprotein(a) and why is it important to check for it?
Type 2 Diabetes & Heart/ Kidney Complications Weight Management Cholesterol and Triglyceride Disorders High Lipoprotein(a) Familial Hypercholesterolemia Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention Medication Optimization
609.951.3944 www.princeton.health
Dr. Taher Modarressi
Lipoprotein(a), often called Lp(a), is a kind of particle found in our blood that is made up of protein and lipid. It is similar in size to LDL. Lp(a) causes heart problems, including heart attacks, clogged arteries, and a heart valve problem called aortic stenosis. High levels are very common — about 1 in 5 adults has an elevated Lp(a) level. Lp(a) levels can be high even if your LDL-Cholesterol level is reasonable. Lp(a) is passed down in families, meaning that it is mostly genetically inherited, and it is mostly unrelated to diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors. With a few exceptions, Lp(a) levels remain relatively stable over a lifetime.
Lp(a) is not part of a standard lipid panel and unfortunately very few people know their Lp(a) level. Guidelines support its testing, with some recommending checking every single adult. When someone is found to have high Lp(a), there are numerous strategies we can take to reduce cardiovascular risk, and lowering of Lp(a) is possible through several current and upcoming treatment options.
PRINCETON CARDIOMETABOLIC HEALTH Suite B6
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MAKING MEDICINE PERS NAL
How Precision Medicine is Analyzing our Genetic Data BY TAYLOR SMITH
T
David Fajgenbaum draws upon his own experience as a Castleman disease patient to help others cure their own. (Photo courtesy of Perelman School of Medicine, Office of David Fajgenbaum)
hanks to precision medicine, medical care is getting personal — highly personal. Described as the future of medicine, precision medicine technologies enable doctors and researchers to analyze what a person’s genes say about them and how that relates to a specific diagnosis. The intention is that precision medicine can provide more accurate care, especially when it comes to cancers, COVID-19, and other rare disorders. One leader in the field of precision medicine is David C. Fajgenbaum, M.D., MBA, MSc. Dr. Fajgenbaum is an associate professor of medicine in translational medicine and human genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the founding director of the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment and Laboratory (CSTL), which aims to identify and treat patients with Castleman disease,
COVID-19, and other cytokine storm disorders. CSTL works to uncover “novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutics, identify optimal treatment approaches, and to provide world-class patient care,” as noted on med.upenn.edu/CSTL.
Dr. David C. Fajgenbaum
Fajgenbaum and his fellow researchers at CSTL view precision medicine technology as central to their work. By examining how the specific genes in a person’s makeup correlate and relate to a diagnosed or undiagnosed illness, physicians can determine the best course of action.
A genetic profile may be produced by checking for biomarkers. A biomarker is a measurement of what is happening in an organism or cell at any given moment. This could include having your blood or urine tested or a doctor sampling a piece of tissue during a biopsy. Biomarkers have even more roles to play in the application of precision medicine. Not only can they be used for diagnostic purposes, but they are also helpful for prognostic and therapeutic support. Specifically, prognostic assessments will aid in predicting a patient’s outcome and therapeutic biomarkers will potentially predict how a patient will respond to any given treatment. CSTL is dedicated to the discovery of new uses for existing drugs that can save people’s lives. This issue hits particularly close to home for Fajgenbaum, who literally saved his own life through diagnostic research. A former Georgetown University football player, Fajgenbaum was a walking health advertisement. He was a regular at the gym, even during his time in medical school at UPenn. However, in 2010 his body started to betray him, and his fellow doctors had no clear perspective on what exactly was FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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The University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine research building in Philadelphia. (Shutterstock.com)
going wrong. With swollen lymph nodes, his organs straining to continue, brain fog, and severe exhaustion, Fajgenbaum endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy, which weakened him further. Eventually a sample of his lymph node was sent to the Mayo Clinic, and they determined it was Castleman disease, a rare disease that acts like a cross between cancer and an autoimmune disorder.
immune system. I discovered that an important communication line called mTOR seemed to be in overdrive and began testing an FDA-approved mTOR inhibitor on myself for the first time ever for my disease. I’ve been in remission for over nine years. This is an example of truly personalized, precision medicine. Since launching my Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment and Laboratory, we’ve
“After nearly dying five times in three years, I performed experiments on my own blood samples to dissect what was going wrong in my immune system.” — Dr. David C. Fajgenbaum Even with the Castleman disease diagnosis, it was unclear how Fajgenbaum would fight and beat the illness. “I became ill with idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease when I was a third-year medical student at UPenn,” says Fajgenbaum. “After nearly dying five times in three years, I performed experiments on my own blood samples to dissect what was going wrong in my
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repeated this precision medicine approach several times, identifying mechanisms underlying disease processes and then repurposing existing drugs from other drugs to treat them.” After graduating from medical school, Fajgenbaum entered UPenn’s Wharton School with the intention of continuing to study how better to identify and treat other people with rare diseases. He founded
the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN), where he initiated a novel “collaborative network approach.” Not only does the CDCN research new ways to use the 1,500 already existing FDA approved drugs to treat the 7,000 rare diseases with no known treatment options (or very few), the CDCN encourages patients to submit their anonymous blood samples and medical data to fight for better patient care. Patients can join the fight at cdcn.org. Fajgenbaum says that precision medicine is now being used across all of Penn Medicine. “Over 10 years ago, Penn Medicine began utilizing precision medicine in oncology,” he says. “Specifically, we would perform genetic testing of patients’ cancers to determine the precise genetic issues driving the cancers in those patients so a precise/targeted therapy could be used. Now, we’re seeing it across Penn Medicine. We’ve seen the adoption of genetic testing to predict which patients are likely to experience a medication side effect in many areas outside of cancer. In the center that I lead at Penn [Center for Cytokine
Human DNA structure. (Shutterstock.com)
Storm Treatment and Laboratory], we are performing deep immune profiling of patient samples to understand perturbations that can potentially be treated with existing drugs approved for other diseases.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently exploring new ways to advance breakthroughs in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of diseases. Their cloud-based sharing portal precisionFDA, at precision. fda.gov, is “a secure, collaborative, highperformance computing platform that builds a community of experts around the analysis of biological datasets in order to advance precision medicine.” Since the growing success of precision medicine treatments, the FDA has approved several new cancer treatments associated with genetic and molecular changes. These include Crizotinib (Xalkori) for patients with non-small cell lung cancer that contains a mutation in the ROS or ALK genes; Dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) for patients with melanoma containing a specific mutation in the BRAF gene; Imatinib (Gleevec)
for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) that contains a genetic abnormality called the “Philadelphia chromosome”; and Trastuzumab (Herceptin) for patients with breast cancer that produces high levels of a protein called HER2 (fda.gov). While health care is undoubtedly expensive, precision medicine technology could potentially reduce medical costs since it is easier to avoid care or pharmaceuticals that are unlikely to work or will make you ill (such as unwanted side effects). Conversely, genetic testing will involve gene or protein testing that may not be covered by everyone’s health insurance. In addition, those who have a heightened risk of cancer due to family history might undergo numerous genetic tests, which are also expensive. The Penn Center for Personalized Diagnostics (CPD) is a joint initiative between Penn Medicine’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center to support precision medicine at Penn. CPD provides the highest volume of genome testing in the region. Patient care is centered around
personalized treatment options that are all based on genetic testing. There is also a great emphasis placed on avoiding treatments that are excessively harsh or aggressive. CPD is led by a team of molecular geneticists, researchers, and physicians. All the data compiled at CPD is shared with the patient’s physician so that individualized patient care is of the utmost practice and concern. The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center signifies a collaboration between scientists, geneticists, physicians, and genetic counselors. The Basser Center recently celebrated its 10th anniversary as a leading treatment center for BRCArelated research, education, and cancer treatment. The Basser Center offers detailed genetic testing and counseling, both of which are key to treating BRCArelated cancer risks. For those who are interested in meeting with a genetic counselor at Penn Medicine and how to be evaluated for BRCA testing, contact the MacDonald Cancer Risk Evaluation Center at 215.349.9093 or visit basser.org/ genetic-testing-resources. FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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David Fajgenbaum is always chasing the cure at the Castleman Disease Research Program at Penn. (Photo courtesy of Perelman School of Medicine, Office of David Fajgenbaum)
“Specifically, we would perform genetic testing of patients’ cancers to determine the precise genetic issues driving the cancers in those patients so a precise/ targeted therapy could be used.” — Dr. David C. Fajgenbaum When asked how the technology behind precision medicine for the treatment of cancer and other illnesses may advance in the near future, Fajgenbaum says, “The sequencing technology that enables precision medicine is becoming less expensive and much faster, so we’ll see more breakthroughs and more examples of precision medicine in practice at Penn Medicine.” RWJBarnabas Health has numerous cancer treatment centers throughout Central New Jersey where precision medicine treatment is offered. By closely examining the evolution of each patient’s cancer cells, it aims to recommend the most effective treatments for cancer remission and recovery. These may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation
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therapy, immunotherapy, and clinical trials. Precision medicine may also include further individualized treatment such as a unique combination of cancer care. Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey received the state’s highest score in cancer specialty by U.S. News and World Report in July 2022. A RWJBarnabas Health hospital, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital serves as the primary teaching hospital for Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. RWJBarnabas Health will continue to expand in 2024 with the opening of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, which will be New Jersey’s only freestanding cancer hospital. Dr. Shridar Ganesan co-leads Rutgers
Cancer Institute’s Clinical Investigations and Precision Therapeutics Program and is currently exploring how DNA repair defects in cancer can be exploited to develop novel effective treatments. Ganesan is the principal investigator of a clinical trial that uses DNA analysis of rare and resistant cancers to apply nextgeneration sequencing technology to identify how best to treat them. Ganesan explains, “In recent years we have learned that cancers that arise in one organ, such as breast cancer or lung cancer, are not just one disease, but rather a collection of distinct diseases with varying responses to different treatment strategies. We therefore need to examine many features of each cancer to better classify it and identify effective treatment.” (cinj.org). Monmouth Medical Center’s Southern Campus in Lakewood now uses a landmark tumor profiling system to closely examine genetic cancer growth. With tumor profiling, doctors send a sample of the tumor to a lab to be analyzed for biomarkers. Dr. Seth Cohen stated, “In the old days, we just gave a report saying there is a cancer. It’s better to say, ‘this is a cancer, this gene is promoting this cancer, and if you use this drug for that gene, you could have a great impact on a person’s life.’ Patients are living longer because these targeted drugs are out there.” (rwjbh.org). Cohen says the treatment of lung cancer has changed in many ways. “The way we treat lung cancer today is not just by knowing it’s a lung cancer,” he says. “We treat lung cancer by knowing about the genetic profile of that lung cancer.” (rwjbh.org). Thus, by knowing a tumor’s genetic profile, the cancer treatment and protocol is much more effective. Many patients also have the bonus of feeling better taken care of and understood thanks to their physician’s tailored approach. Finally, while not all cancers are alike, and no two people are the same, it appears that precision medicine may offer a hopeful new way to treat afflictions that used to be handled in a one-size-fits-all approach. In fact, advancements in gene sequencing, data analysis, and genomic medicine means that precision medicine may soon be increasingly applied to even more diseases.
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LABRADOR SEA HUDSON BAY
ATLANTIC F L Y W AY
GULF OF MEXICO
CARIBBEAN SEA
Barn Swallow
The Atlantic Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in North America. The route generally starts in Greenland, then follows the Atlantic coast of Canada, then south down the Atlantic coast of the United States to the tropical areas of South America and the Caribbean. (Illustration by Jeff Tryon, after Perky-Pet; Wikipedia)
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shutterstock.com
MIGRATING SONGBIRDS ARE COMING TO A SKY NEAR YOU BY ILENE DUBE American Goldfinch
IN
J.D. Salinger’s 1951 bildungsroman The Catcher in the Rye, narrator Holden Caulfield obsesses over where the ducks in the Central Park Lake go in winter. They fly south for the winter, a taxi driver tells him. Not necessarily, according to the park’s website. “The answer is that most stay put in Central Park, while some will migrate south during the winter months. It is not unusual to see them huddled together around the various bodies of water in the park.” With avian migration, it’s complicated.
Common Yellowthroat Warbler
Birds migrate primarily for food and nesting locations. In the Northern Hemisphere, they migrate north in spring for insects, plants, and an abundance of nesting locations. As winter approaches and the availability of insects and other food drops, the birds move south again. Just as with some humans, escaping the cold can be a motivating factor, but many species, including hummingbirds, can withstand freezing temperatures if an adequate supply of food is available. “Every hour of every day, somewhere, some place, animals are on the move —
flying, walking, swimming, or slithering from one destination to another,” writes Princeton Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Public Affairs David Wilcove in his 2008 book The Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations. “Cole Porter was right. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.” The journeys are among the greatest miracles. Arctic terns migrate from nesting grounds in the Bering Sea to the Antarctic Ocean, “a circumpolar voyage that is without equal in the animal kingdom,” writes Wilcove. FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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shutterstock.com
Blue Grosbeak
The Atlantic Flyway migration route follows the Atlantic coast and the Appalachian Mountain range, giving Garden State residents a front-row seat as hundreds of species head south in fall. In the next couple of weeks, raptors — especially hawks, falcons, and eagles — will pass through New Jersey on their southward migration, according to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. “They conserve energy as they follow our state’s mountain ridges and coastline, taking advantage of thermals, wind currents, and updrafts. “And this is just the beginning! New Jersey’s fall bird migration is an amazing spectacle that runs through November.” New Jersey Audubon Birding Ambassador Pete Dunne points out that while November and December are “migratory prime time” for some species of raptors and water birds, migration continues until February. “Blanketing snow is another migratory trigger,” he writes. “You can’t catch what you can’t see, and when rodents lie under an eye-
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Eastern Towhee
defeating blanket of snow, rodent-eating raptors must travel on or go hungry.” The strategy for many birds is to migrate just far enough south to ensure survival, but get a head start on the competition come spring, continues Dunne, the author of 16 bird books and a founder of the Cape May Hawkwatch. Dunne also created the World Series of Birding, a competition held once a year. “It’s a gamble,” he writes. “Belted kingfishers and great blue herons play this game. If the winter is mild and they maintain access to open fish bearing water, they win. If a prolonged freeze grips the region, they lose. Most of these envelope pushers can survive several days of freeze but without food in the gizzard, their primary defense against winter cold diminishes. It’s all about food and access. Winter is a genetic culling device. It helps ensure only those hardy birds that play a winning hand survive to pass those genes on.” Remember Winged Migration, the 2001 nearly wordless paean to the beauty of
birds in flight? Filmmaker Jacques Perrin reminds us more than once that migration isn’t a mystical spiritual pilgrimage but a matter of survival, and during migration many of the birds die. “Their flight is a fight for life,” he says. While mesmerized by the grace, beauty, and choreography of birds in flight, humans can be a destructive interloper. Bird populations have dropped by nearly 3 billion since the 1970s, and the 350 species of North American birds that migrate in autumn are facing increasing threats. Climate change, habitat loss, storms, feral cats and other predators, pesticides, and collisions with buildings further complicate the flights of migrating birds. In Princeton, the 39-acre Charles H. Rogers Wildlife Refuge bordering the Institute Woods used to be a spring mecca for warblers and other spring migrators, but due to deer browsing and habitat destruction by development, numbers are down. Invasive birds, such as grackles and starlings, make it harder for migrators to get the resources they need.
Deforestation in Borneo, due to the harvesting of palm oil, among other things, also effects the bird population migrating through New Jersey, according to Thomas Southerland, who played a key role in establishing the Refuge. Without the large blocks of inter-connected forest, hundreds of species could become extinct. Southerland cites research by Princeton University’s Wilcove on how climate change and the fragmenting of the forest negatively effects animal migration. Wilcove’s newest research may help conservation efforts by alleviating some of these challenges. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a network of protected forested land distributed across the eastern U.S. is key to maintaining healthy populations of migratory land birds. “This is the first time we’ve had a comprehensive picture of where songbirds are stopping over for the entirety of the
eastern United States,” says Wilcove. “It gives us a powerful new tool for identifying the key habitats these birds are using during their epic migrations.” The researchers — Fengyi Guo, Jeffrey Buler, Jaclyn Smolinsky, and Wilcove — mapped stopover density of land birds during autumn migration for the eastern United States using radar data. “At a coarse scale, we found that birds migrate across a relatively broad front, underscoring the importance of widespread, locally based conservation efforts,” they say. “At finer scales, we identified stopover hotspots that consistently support high densities of migrants. We demonstrate that forests provide the most important habitats for autumn migrants and that deciduous forest fragments in heavily deforested regions support especially high densities of migrants. We also present evidence that the now-agriculture-dominated Midwest
Van Doren, B. M. and Horton, K. G. BirdCast forecast migration map images, evenings of September 16-17, 2023. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Colorado State University)
constitutes an inland migration barrier for forest birds.” The authors urge the protection of broadleaf forests, especially the remaining forests in the agriculturally dominated Midwest. Locally based conservation efforts across the eastern U.S. will be key to protecting bird species along their migratory journeys. “Pick the right night and you will hear them,” writes Wilcove. “A September night, perhaps, when a northwest wind has swept the clouds from the sky and the stars are out in full force. As midnight approaches, find a quiet spot away from the rumbles and groans of urban life and listen carefully. Soon you will hear soft chirps and whistles drifting down from the sky. These are the calls of migrating songbirds. A thousand feet above you, extending for hundreds of miles in all directions, is a vast highway of little birds heading south.… The sky is alive.”
Dokter, A. M. BirdCast live migration map images, September 15, 2023, at 2 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, birdcast.info/migrationtools/migration-forecast-maps) FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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shutterstock.com
Snow geese
FOR THE BIRDS There are many steps citizens can take to help the birds, according to the Audubon Society. These include: Planting a garden: Provide the five basics: clean water, plants with flowers for nectar and insects (songbirds feed insects to their young), fruit-bearing plants to provide fuel for migration and winter, layers of plants for cover and thermal protection, and nesting habitat and materials. Native plants are key — their architecture, flowers, fruits, and scents are ideal for restoring the communities and relationships birds depend on. Yards that mimic surrounding natural plant communities not only attract more kinds of birds, but they could also help reverse the loss of urban biodiversity. And forego pesticides, which result in massive bird die-off. Shop for the birds: Buying grass-fed meat supports grassland birds, which, because of habitat loss, are showing the most sustained declines of any bird group in the U.S. Switch to shade-grown coffee. Each cup preserves roughly two square feet of rainforest. Join Lights Out: Up to a billion birds — mostly migrants — are killed in building collisions in North America each year. The U.S. Lights Out movement began in Chicago, where bird deaths at one building dropped by roughly 83 percent after the lights were turned off. Researchers estimate Chicago’s program saves 10,000 birds each year. Since 2005 in New York City, many of the city’s towers, including the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center, turn off their lights from midnight to dawn during peak migration season, September 1 to November 1.
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Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Lights Out tips: 1. Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights. Every light that’s not needed can be switched off to create a more natural, darker environment for these travelers. 2. If you need outdoor lighting for safety, try motion sensors or timers to ensure lights are on only when needed. 3. Close curtains and blinds to prevent indoor light from spilling outside. 4. Spread the word: Share this message with your friends and neighbors. The more people who know, the bigger the impact. Part with plastics: Every year the floating “bladders” of plastic bags at sea kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds, along with sea turtles and marine mammals, which mistake them for jellyfish and squid, and then starve to death after filling their guts with plastic. Using less plastic also saves energy and, thus, bird habitat. Curb your cats: Keep felines inside or in outdoor “kitty condos.” America’s estimated 150 million outdoor cats kill serious numbers of birds — up to 3.7 billion a year, according to a new report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center. Places to view birds in Mercer County include Abbott Marshlands, Bordentown; Mercer Lake, Mercer County Park, West Windsor; Charles H. Rogers Wildlife Refuge, Princeton; Pole Farm at Mercer Meadows, Lawrence; and St. Michaels Farm Preserve, Hopewell. Princeton Adult School’s class “Focus on Birds” offers field trips this fall, including October 28 to the Edwin P. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge and other spots, for experienced birdwatchers.
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Spotlight Q&A with Andrea N. O’Brian, Head of School at Princeton Montessori School Interview by Laurie Pellichero (8 weeks-18 months), Toddler (18 months-36 months), Primary (3-6 years), Lower Elementary (grades 1-2), Upper Elementary (grades 3-5), and Middle School (grades 6-8). How does a Montessori education prepare students for furthering their schooling?
Montessori education is a child-centered and time-tested approach to learning founded by Dr. Maria Montessori in the early 1900s. Montessori cultivates a school environment where creativity thrives, independence flourishes, and lifelong skills are forged. At its core, the philosophy is based on a deep respect for the child. Learning is tailored to each student’s readiness level. This ensures that the child is not only well-prepared academically, but also that they enjoy learning and build confidence. Montessori classrooms, materials, and physical spaces are designed to support the students. The rooms are full of natural light, the shelves are neat and orderly, and the materials are engaging. At Princeton Montessori School, every child’s unique potential is nurtured, curiosity is ignited, and a love of learning blossoms, shaping future leaders who will make a lasting impact on our world. Not all Montessori schools are created equal. It’s important to look for a school that is accredited by the American Montessori Society (AMS), the gold standard for authentic Montessori education.
What do Princeton Montessori School students do after graduation?
Princeton Montessori’s middle school is an authorized International Baccalaureate Middle Years Why does Montessori have multi-age classrooms? Programme. IB schools share a common philosophy: a Mixed age classrooms allow for self-paced and commitment to high quality, challenging, internationallyaspirational learning. Younger students observe and minded education that we believe is important for future learn from their older peers. The younger students aspire leaders. to become the “classroom leaders.” Older students Princeton Montessori School students attend various Andrea N. O’Brian synthesize their learning and reinforce their skills by independent day high schools and boarding schools teaching the younger children. They take pride in having additional throughout the country. After high school, many graduates attend the responsibilities and opportunities. All students develop the emotional most prestigious universities. literacy needed to work with people of different ages, mirroring No matter where they go next, students leave as responsible, the adult workplace and society at large. The leadership traits and poised, competent, and compassionate human beings equipped with self-confidence gained in the final year of a multi-age classroom are the problem-solving and critical thinking skills needed for the future. invaluable. Our graduates thrive! When should children begin their education at Princeton Montessori School?
Princeton Montessori School serves children from infancy through eighth grade. Although it’s ideal to start at the beginning of a program cycle, children can easily assimilate at any point in our programs, including mid-year. Programs include Infant
54 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
What steps should families take to learn more about Princeton Montessori School? To learn more about what sets Montessori education apart, contact Tracey Baskin, admissions director, at tbaskin@princetonmontessori. org or 609.924.4594 to schedule a private tour.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAMARA GILLON, AND PRINCETON MONTESSORI
What is the Montessori method of education, and why is it valuable?
A Montessori education is known for preparing students for life beyond the classroom. Princeton Montessori School offers exceptional academics, but what sets Montessori education apart is how the curriculum also emphasizes peace education, compassion, inclusion, and a respect for other cultures which is so needed in our society today. These qualities enhance a student’s academic readiness and equip them with the skills needed to thrive in a diverse and everchanging world. Peace education is an integral part of the Montessori curriculum. Students learn the importance of conflict resolution and peaceful coexistence, which creates a positive learning environment for all. These skills are transferable to future educational experiences, whether moving into first grade or high school. Compassion and empathy are crucial in building positive relationships. Montessori classrooms prioritize the development of emotional intelligence and social skills by teaching children to respect the feelings and perspectives of others. This starts as early as the toddler program and continues through middle school. Montessori education places a strong emphasis on cultural awareness and respect for diversity. Students are exposed to a wide range of cultural materials and activities, fostering an appreciation for different traditions, languages, and perspectives. This exposure, alongside our International Baccalaureate (IB) middle school curriculum, fosters a worldly mindset and prepares students to responsibly act as global citizens.
THRIVING Montessori makes a difference. Programs for Infants - 8th Grade princetonmontessori.org • 609-924-4594 487 Cherry Valley Road, Princeton
The Power of
BY ANNE LEVIN
56 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
It’s
a little embarrassing to admit, but I have watched the scene of the Sex and the City episode where Mr. Big finds Carrie in Paris, and confesses that she’s “the one,” countless times. And it never fails to make me weepy. Yes, it’s touching. But I have realized, over the years, that the reason I tear up isn’t just the acting or the dialogue. It’s the music. And it gets me, every time. What is it about music that is so affecting? Why do some songs, instrumental phrases, or percussive rhythms make us feel sad, elated, energized, calm, distressed, or any number of other emotions? All the arts are powerful. But music is particularly, and immediately, relatable. No matter the culture or the language, it has a universal appeal. It turns out that our brains are wired for music. That relationship is the focus of Princeton University’s Music Cognition Lab, overseen since 2019 by Professor Elizabeth Margulis. In a converted space at the University’s Woolworth Music Building, Margulis heads a group of students from different disciplinary backgrounds in the exploration of music and the mind. Since coming to Princeton, she has developed several new undergraduate and graduate courses centered around an interdisciplinary approach to music and the sciences. The idea is to explore the potential and the challenges that characterize work at the intersection of science, the humanities, and the arts.
A mix of graduate (mostly) and undergraduate students, these “music scientists” have diverse interests. Where one is fascinated by the way musicians synchronize during performances, another is focused on how music affects people living with dementia. One works as a DJ at night. Several are singers who take part in the University’s choir program. Music cognition “has its tentacles in everything,” Margulis says. Asked why some people are musical while others are not, she says, “This is a huge topic that people argue about a lot. There is a huge surge right now in large-scale approaches to music and genes.” Research questions Professor Elizabeth Margulis. what part of musical After graduating from high school aptitude, such as skill on an instrument, is inherited. “And they keep in St. Louis, she entered the prestigious Peabody Institute in Baltimore, ready to finding that more significant than the skill focus four years on honing her artistry and is the motivation to pursue the skill, and practice. The proclivity to do that seems to technique. But something nagged at her. Margulis sensed there was something be genetically encoded,” Margulis says. more to the study of music than practicing. Her own involvement in music began with serious piano study, with an eye toward Since high school, she had been curious about cognitive science, which focuses a possible professional career. Margulis on how the mind manipulates knowledge was a dedicated piano student as a teenager, and how mental processes are realized spending hours in the brain. As she tried to concentrate each day doing on perfecting her piano technique, the what serious questions only intensified. musicians do: “I had decided at the end of high practicing.
What is it about music that is so affecting? Why do some songs, instrumental phrases, or percussive rhythms make us feel sad, elated, energized, calm, distressed, or any number of other emotions? FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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Rossen Milanov conducted the Princeton Symphony Orchestra this September in performances featuring saxophonist Steven Banks, at Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. (PSO Staff Photo)
“I saw that you could take all these kinds of approaches and transfer them from questions about language, shift over, and ask them about music in a very similar way. I learned something that you couldn’t at a conservatory.” — Elizabeth Margulis school that I was going to go to a conservatory and give myself four years to focus on playing, and not be distracted,” says Margulis. “I tried. But it didn’t take me long to get a little restless on some topics. Why does music sound better if you hold it longer? Why do we return again and again to certain songs or phrases? Things like that. I started looking through the [Johns] Hopkins catalogue, and I found a course — Minds, Brains, and Computers. I wanted to enroll. My piano teacher said no, but I did it anyway.” That rebellious move made it clear to Margulis that she needed to branch out. “I saw that you could take all these kinds of approaches and transfer them from questions about language, shift over, and ask them about music in a very similar way,” she says. “I learned something that you couldn’t at a conservatory.” Involving children in music from an early age is the goal of Capital Harmony Works, the Trenton-based nonprofit encompassing the Trenton Children’s Chorus, Trenton Music Makers, and Music for the Very Young.
58 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
“Children spend so much time in school where the measure of success is often a test score,” says Paul Chapin, executive director of the organization. “Being part of a musical ensemble, or being a soloist, holds us to a higher standard of beauty, trust, partnership, and connection. And we’re responsible for creating something that moves us, moves our audience, and brings us all to a higher level. If we look at just test scores, we are excluding knowledge gotten in other ways. As growing musicians, we’re far more inclusive, diverse, and equitable. Little kids know it. Five-year-olds know it.” Taking part in a musical endeavor can also help young people learn how to handle failure. “You work and rehearse and practice, and you’ve got a vision of what a piece should be. You get on stage and maybe you achieve that, maybe not,” says Chapin. “Students learn how to work through that, which is important in life.” Programs for youth are key to the extra-curricular activities of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO). Musicians interact with elementary school students
through its PSO BRAVO! programs. Members of the PSO’s string, winds, brass, and percussion ensembles make classroom visits, and the children make field trips to actual concerts. “The transformative power of music is a two-way street,” says PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov. “It requires an active participation on the part of the audience, some experience, patience, and preparation. One can attain it by starting early, having someone that can guide you through the process, and by being exposed to the appropriate repertoire. Expect smaller steps rather than giant leaps — similar to studying a new language.” For amateur musicians, playing in a band, orchestra, trio, or any kind of ensemble can provide a creative release. “I enjoy playing live music and I like the interactions between bands and the audience,” says Jeff Tryon, art director at Witherspoon Media Group. “My feelings on stage are somewhat dreamlike — a mix of nervousness and confidence, and the darkness around me except for bright lights shining in my face. I’ve played with all sorts of bands over the years — from metal, to a drum and dance group, to indie rock. For me, playing heavy music really helps get out my aggression. And with all the energy spent on playing, it can be a workout, too.” Those who are especially attuned to music are often entertained — some would say plagued — by “earworms,” those little musical phrases that get stuck in the brain long after they have been heard, played, or spoken about. “They are incredibly prevalent. Until there was some research, I don’t think people suspected how prevalent,” Margulis says. “But over 90 percent of people say they get them once a week. There are people who have a pathological level of it. Overall, they are very common. And they are a great example of how not thinking about music limits the understanding of the human mind.” The power of music is broad and allencompassing, which can make it challenging to articulate. But many notables have been quoted on the topic, including Albert Einstein, who said, “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” Confucius said, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” And then there’s William Shakespeare with the immortal, “If music be the food of love, play on.”
A collaborative concert with Trenton Music Makers and the Trenton Children’s Chorus performing “Lift Every Voice” on MLK Day 2023 at Trinity Church in Princeton. (Photo courtesy of Capital Harmony Works)
Students from Princeton University’s Music Cognition Lab.
Trenton Music Makers’ youngest violinists are led by Daniella in a warmup at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton, where they practice weekly. (Photo courtesy of Capital Harmony Works) FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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| BOOK SCENE
Inspiring Young Climate Activists With Help from The Lorax and Greta Thunberg
“In
The Lorax I was out to attack what I think are evil things and let the chips fall where they might,” said Dr. Seuss of his favorite book. In a 1990 interview with Publishers Weekly, Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991) admitted “I was a preacher in that book, but I got away with it by disguising the message.” The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were a joy to read aloud to my infant son, but The Lorax was more, much more. On the other side of the typically bold and bright Dr. Seuss cover was a dark world of night-blue endpapers dwarfing the bushyyellow-mustached Lorax, who looked alone and afraid against a haunted night sky while the yellow eyes of the sinister, ever-invisible Once-ler peered through the slats of a boarded up purple window. My then-3-year-old son had no trouble identifying with the boy who finds himself on the Street of the Lifted Lorax at “the far end of town where the Gricklegrass grows and the wind smells slow-andsour when it blows and no birds ever sing excepting old crows.” The excitement of reading The Lorax aloud to my son had nothing to do with the “disguised” environmental message; it was because of something greater than the zany style and word play that made the other books such fun. This was Seuss on the grand scale, the artist at work on a project he truly believed in. The fact that my now much older son has an enlightened view of climate change may be thanks at least in part to the closing pages when the Lorax sadly lifted himself into the air and disappeared through the smog, leaving
68 | PRINCETON MAGAZINE FALL 2023
BY STUART MITCHNER behind a small pile of rocks engraved with the word “UNLESS.” As the repentant Once-ler who once ruthlessly harvested the Trufulla Trees finishes telling the boy his story, he says “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The book’s last page is stunning: at the bottom of a bulbous tower of white clouds, the boy’s hands reach for the last Truffula seed, thrown down
by the green arm of the Once-ler from his towering purple habitat (“Catch!”). At that point, my son knew it was Dr. Seuss himself telling him, “You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula seeds” and urging him to “grow a forest.” The stature of The Lorax among the numerous environmentally themed children/young adult books released every year is evidence of its enduring power. Besides topping the 8shades.com list of “8 Great Climate Change Books for Kids,” it’s near the top of TIME’s “14 Actually Good Books to Teach Kids About Climate Change,” posted by Emily Barone and Kyla Mandel, who composed the list with submissions from a range of experts, including members of the North American Association of Environmental Education.
SCHOOL BUS MAGIC Mentioned near the top of both lists is The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge (Scholastic Press 2010) by Joanna Cole, with Bruce Degen’s illustrations. According to Booklist, “Verbal and visual elements work seamlessly together as Ms. Frizzle takes her students soaring around the earth to study climate change, through the atmosphere to understand the greenhouse effect, above solar and wind power installations to see alternative energy sources, and above their town to observe carbon dioxide emissions. Back at school and at home, they start putting energy-saving practices into effect. Given the breadth and complexity of the topic, this may be the most ambitious book yet in the Magic School Bus series. Cole and Degen carry it off with their matchless combination of intelligence, style, and grade-school humor.” Another book on the TIME list is Sydney & Simon Go Green! (Charlesbridge 2015) by Paul A. Reynolds
with illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds. According to School Library Journal, “Sydney meets Greenie the sea turtle during a field trip to the aquarium. Greenie has been harmed by plastic waste that has made its way into the ocean. Sydney returns home and begins to track her family’s trash production. From there, she finds out, with the help of custodian Mr. Clutterbuck, that her school produces an enormous amount of waste. Her campaign inspires an original song as well as a series of major changes in waste management and recycling at the school. In the end, Greenie is ready to be returned to the ocean and Sydney and Simon pledge to help everyone ‘Go Green!’ The highly approachable text is beautifully complemented by Reynolds’s artwork.”
STAND UP! The same activist message is writ large in Andrew Joyner’s Stand Up! Speak Up!: A Story Inspired by the Climate Change Revolution (Schwartz & Wade 2020), a 2021 Malka Penn Award Honor winner about a young girl’s mission to inspire other kids to help the planet. Following the example of Greta Thunberg, the book
contains so roundly rousing a call to action that I checked to see if it had been banned in Red State schools. The story plays on variations of the word “up,” from everyday uses like “Dress up, Eat up, and Drink up” to the nameless girl’s cry of “Rise up!” before a huge crowd gathered at the steps of the Town Hall. Some parents
and political activists on the other side of the climate change debate will cringe at the two-page spread showing wildly enthusiastic kids holding signs saying “Denial Is Not the Answer” and “Science Not Silence.”
FEATURING GRETA The young Swedish activist is featured in Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet (Beach Lane 2019) by Jeanette Winter. Echoing Thunberg’s speech at the World Economic Forum in 2019 (“I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic … I want you to act as
if our house is on fire. Because it is.”), the book shows how she learned about the climate change crisis, what she’s done to take action, and how she spread the message that children like her can help change the world.
“ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGING” Julie Hall’s A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids (GreenGoat Books 2007), with illustrations by Sarah Lane, extends the message about global warming to kids around the world. According to Bill McKibben, author of Fight Global Warming Now and End of Nature, “What’s so dangerous about global warming is that it leaves many people feeling hopeless, as if nothing they could do would matter. This fine book makes it clear that that’s not the case, and from changing light bulbs to changing laws, it shows young people how they are able to help.” Katherine Applegate’a Willodeen (Feiwel & Friends 2021) was given a starred review in Booklist, dubbing it “a gentle yet honest tale” that “mixes magic with very real environmental messaging, both warning of humancaused harm and pointing to nature’s resilience and interconnectedness.... Applegate empowers her young characters by not only granting them courage but also ensuring they earn the respect of their elders.”
FOR OLDER KIDS Tony Bradman’s Under the Weather: Stories About Climate Change (Frances Lincoln Books 2012), is also aimed at older children and pre-teens, showcasing the various effects of climate change, from rising sea levels to changes in animal behavior and habits. As noted by the publisher, “These stories cover a wide range of localities from Siberia and Canada to Australia, UK, Sri Lanka and FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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the Phillippines. Writers include award-winning Linda Newbery as well as exciting newcomers like Australia’s George Ivanoff.”
Biographer Donald Pease says Seuss believed in the movement but didn’t care for its rhetoric. He thought it was “preachy and bossy.” He was also furious about construction going on in his La Jolla, Calif.,
THE LORAX AT 50 In August 2021, NPR marked the 50th anniversary of The Lorax by pointing out that the celebration coincided with the week the United Nations released an urgent report on the dire consequences of humaninduced climate change. According to Dartmouth anthropologist and evolutionary biologist Nathaniel Dominy, Dr. Seuss wanted to write a book that captured the effects of pollution on ecosystems, “and I would say it was really ahead of its time. The different species disappear from the narrative in succession. The Bar-ba-loots leave because they run out of food. The Swomee-Swans leave because the air is polluted. The humming fish leave because the water’s polluted.”
neighborhood. “They were destroying quite beautiful eucalyptus trees, and he wanted to do something about this, and he had to find a way to transform what he understood to be a
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propaganda-oriented perspective on these matters into a fable that even children could understand.” But, Pease adds, “he also was confronted with writer’s block,” which was broken during a visit to Kenya when “he caught a view in the mountains of elephants crossing” and “the logjam broke” and “he was able to write 90% of The Lorax that afternoon.” The use of “logjam” has ironic resonance since the most serious resistance to the book came from the logging industry, which actually published a parody response called Truax, with Seuss-like drawings of terrified trees. Adding another level of irony is the fact that trees are harvested for paper to make books like The Lorax and all the books now at risk in libraries in Texas and Florida and other states where political versions of the Once-ler are attacking not only books they don’t like, but the institutional essence of the library itself.
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RELIVING“ CHILDHOODS OF THE PAST ” Bucks County’s Noel Barrett Talks About Antique Toys By Donald H. Sanborn III
“C
hildhood’s joy-land, mystic merry Toyland,” rhapsodizes the title song of the operetta Babes in Toyland. The lyrics warn us, “Once you pass its borders, you can never return again.” Arguably, longtime Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pa., resident Noel Barrett has made a career out of challenging that idea. A collector, seller, and appraiser of antique toys, Barrett — who has been described by the Bucks County Herald as “the grey-haired, ponytailed toy expert on Antiques Roadshow” — has described toy collecting as “the best anti-aging medicine I know.” Barrett says that toy collecting makes it possible to “relive your childhood — or your parents’ and grandparents’ childhood. You’re in touch with childhoods of the past.” “Toys have a lot to tell us about the past,” Barrett observes. “They tell us about the prejudice and pastimes of our forebears. The toys reflect the period in which they were made, just as almost all antiques do.” History was Barrett’s favorite subject in high school, and he received his Bachelor of Science degree at Columbia University in American history. “That’s one of the reasons I love antiques,” he enthuses. “Because of what they tell us about the past.” Prior to his work with antique toys, Barrett became involved with film production. “I studied film in school, and eventually became a part owner of Gemini Films based in Alexandria, Virginia, my hometown; we made a feature film, Music City USA, a musical travelog of Nashville,
Noel Barrett (Photo by R. Scudder Smith, courtesy of Antiques and The Arts Weekly/The Newtown Bee)
Tennessee,” he recalls, adding, “but independent films are seldom moneymakers. It became our first and only movie, but it was an interesting experience.” “When that folded, I went to work learning film editing, working in Washington D.C. in two different agencies, the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Navy,” he continues. But as “the government’s film producing divisions started fading away,” Barrett gradually pivoted to the antiques business, specializing vintage playthings. He adds, “We moved to Carversville in April 1983. I wanted to be in Pennsylvania — better for antique business than Virginia. My then inlaws lived in Warrington, from which I visited a wonderful little antique shop in Carversville, my introduction to where I have lived since 1983.” Barrett is often asked how he came to specialize in old toys. “It all started when I found one my favorite toys in an Alexandria antique shop,” he says. “I had to have it, took it home, put it on a shelf — and it looked lonely. One toy led to another; thus, I became a toy collector!”
ROSEBUD ANTIQUES Barrett recalls, “While still working in Washington my wife and I opened up a little antique shop in Alexandria, a bit of a hobby in a way. It is not an uncommon path for collectors to become dealers. You start collecting, and then you have to start dealing to support your habit.” “So I started as a collector, then I became a part-time dealer,” Barrett continues. “When it came time to go fulltime, I realized being in Northern Virginia wasn’t the optimum place; Pennsylvania is really one of the major areas of antiquing.” He explains that Pennsylvania is a robust market for antiques because of “early industrialization. Just as in New England, another antiquing hotbed. There was a lot of manufacturing and a moneyed economy and a resultant middle class that could buy stuff and, not like today’s throw-away culture, much of what they purchased survived.” Barrett adds, “I fell in love with Bucks County. So I found a building I could live in and have a store, and that’s how I ended up in Carversville.”
Children play with toys of the past. (Courtesy of Shutterstock.com)
His love of film was reflected in his shop’s name. In both Alexandria and Carversville, his store was called Rosebud Antiques. In the film Citizen Kane, “Rosebud” is the name of a sled that the title character had as a child and was forced to leave behind. At the end of the film, the sled is burned along with some of his other possessions. Barrett pensively describes the sled as the “ultimate lost toy.” Barrett’s home and office are in a storefront building said to have been the first department store in Bucks County. A 1985 New York Times article reports that two years prior, he and his first wife, Lynne, “bought the old Pickering & Walton department store, moved into an apartment on the second floor, and turned what had been used as a pipe-tobacco factory into an antiques shop. In the window they put a bigger than life-size clown puppet juggling the letters A-N-T-I-Q-U-E-S. Inside the shop ... a life-size Betty Boop relaxes in red amusement-park bumper car.” A 2021 Bucks County Herald piece reports that Barrett lives above the store with his current wife, Anne. Observing the “photo studio ... walls lined with a personal and reference book library along
with a scattering of vintage toys and some of his personal antiques collections,” the article notes that the “third floor loft houses a “large collection of vintage toys, folk art, and commercial antiques.” Asked whether the store is still open, Barrett tells me, “No, that’s a thing of the past. I’ve had two stores, but over time much of the antique trade moved to the auction houses and I followed staging auctions of major collections, a highlight being two 2005 sales of the Walt Disney animator Ward Kimball’s train and toy collection grossing $5 million.” Semiretired from the auction business, Barrett keeps his hand in helping Pook & Pook Auctions in Downingtown, Pa., stage toys and collectibles auctions. His website, noelbarrett.com, announces, “Now accepting consignments for our fall 2023 toy auction.” Barrett points out that among the biggest events for toy collectors and dealers are antique toy shows. “Thirty years ago, there were a lot more shows, but the internet and auction online bidding have really almost killed the shows. The
best remaining is in Allentown, Pa., held twice a year at the fairgrounds. It attracts dealers and collectors from Europe and California and points in between.” Commenting on changes in the antique toy business, Barrett notes: “There are so many toy auctions; the main journal for the world of antique toy collecting is Antique Toy World, which is a good 60 pages — it’s almost all auctions. It’s taken the wind out of the sales for antique toy shows.” He continues, “I used to go California for the annual Glendale show; and to Chicago twice a year, for the Antique Toy World shows. There were toy shows in Florida, New York City — but they’re a thing of the past. There were major antique shows, like the old Atlantic City show, that had a strong toy contingent. But with the exception of Allentown, toy shows are a shadow of their former selves.” Barrett observes the effect of the internet. “You can stay home and bid online, and never have to go to a toy show to find a toy. Now, if you have 20, it’s a big crowd — because everybody’s staying home!” He notes that the importance of images, and the ease with which they can be exchanged online, have had a major effect on the retail antiques and collectibles market.
“With the quality of photography you can now do, and the number of pictures you can show somebody when they are looking for something that’s in your auction, bidders can get such a clear indication of the condition of the item that they are very comfortable bidding in auctions online,” he says.
“ANTIQUES ROADSHOW” Based on a British (BBC) show of the same title, Antiques Roadshow premiered on PBS in 1997. Barrett was part of the American version from its beginning, and he continues to appraise for it. “In the first season, we went to 13 cities,” he recalls. Eventually it went down to eight cities, in summer, “which was more than enough.” He adds, “In the first year or so, there were very few people coming in. But by the second season it just took off, went crazy. The third season, too — we just had incredible turnouts.” Barrett was the first appraiser on PBS’s premiere episode. The first guest brought in an item which she thought might have belonged to her grandmother or great-grandmother: a kaleidoscope, which Barrett describes as one of his “personal favorite toys” and “a real treasure.” Describing it as “the first and best American kaleidoscope,” Barrett identifies it as having been manufactured in the 1870s by the Bush company, in Providence, R.I. (The item had a patented reissue date of 1873.) Taking into account
a few missing or damaged parts, Barrett values it at $1,500 at that time. Asked about the research and thought process that the task of appraising an antique entails, Barrett says, “It’s interesting; when I first got into business, there weren’t a lot of price guides for the material I was interested in. I was buying, as a collector, stuff that just spoke to me. When it came time to start dealing with stuff, I would buy things that I thought would speak to somebody else — and maybe be worth more than I’d paid for it.” Now, dealers and collectors can refer to auction records online. He explains that when he started on Roadshow, “I had to carry binders of back issues of my catalogs to the roadshows, so I’d have reference material.” In the days before cell phones and the internet, he says, “You couldn’t be at the roadshow in Topeka, and call a friend in Ohio, and ask him what he thinks this is worth. So there was a very limited ability to do research. Of course, that all changed; and now, there are so many records online, and it’s fairly easy to narrow down values on most anything.”
Later he adds, “Now, there are so many price guides and reference books, it’s just staggering.” When I surmise that it must be somewhat difficult to know which reference to trust, because it is possible to get varied, conflicting prices for the same item, Barrett replies, “Well, if you’re in the business, and you’re going to antique shows and following auctions, it’s often not too hard to get a rough idea of values. You have to take into account various things in addition to sales results particularly in gauging the effect of condition issues on those results. When you see prices online, you must also look at the auction house; you’ll find that some auction houses have higher-end clientele and true expertise in the items on offer. You have to weigh these factors in making an evaluation.” One of Barrett’s favorite items that he appraised on Antiques Roadshow is a set based on the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, manufactured by Heyde, a German toy company in 1903. Two decades before appearing on the show, the owner had
Child in a police pedal car, circa 1964. (Courtesy of Shutterstock.com) FALL 2023 PRINCETON MAGAZINE
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Noel Barrett, right, appraises a Crandall hobby horse ca. 1880 in Raleigh, NC, on June 27, 2009. (Photo by Jeff Dunn for GBH, WGBH 2023)
bought the set for $400 at an auction (he recalls that at least one family member thought he had overpaid). In an episode (based in Providence, R.I.) from 2005, Barrett evaluated the surprisingly untouched set with an estimated auction value of $15,000 to $20,000. A complex toy in near mint condition, it is comprised of painted lead characters and buffalos, and outfitted with covered wagons, a stagecoach, and numerous trees. In a short
PBS video, the astonished owner recalls that he thought he had paid “a lot of money” for the set, but he thought, “I like it; I’ll just buy it.” (That was in 2005; in an Antiques Roadshow price update segment Barrett put the new auction value at $30,000!) This echoes a piece of advice that Barrett offers to beginning collectors: “Buy what you love if you can afford it,” he says in a Visit Bucks County interview. “You can always get rid of something you lose interest in, but you can seldom get that item you loved and passed up when you had a chance. Malcolm Forbes, a great collector, said, ‘I never regretted something I bought, only the things I didn’t buy.’” Of his life in Carversville, Barrett says, “I find that I’m extremely lucky to know Bucks County.” As an enthusiast of history, as well as theater and film, he appreciates the area’s “rich cultural heritage, having become home to such mid-20th century luminaries as George S.
Kaufman, Moss Hart, Dorothy Parker, and Oscar Hammerstein.” Barrett has been active in the Carversville community. In December 2021 he concluded a six-year term as a member of Solebury Township’s board of supervisors. Additionally, he has served as co-president of the Historic Carversville Society; and he has been a judge for an annual Carversville Day pet parade. “I’ve always been fascinated with Bucks County,” Barrett concludes. “I didn’t realize how much I loved it until I got here.”
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