Old Barracks Museum

The barracks were constructed by the colony of New Jersey in 1758 after local residents protested the quartering of British soldiers in private homes during the French and Indian War. The U-shaped stone building could house approximately 300 soldiers. During the Hessian occupation of December 1776, troops from Colonel Rall's brigade were quartered here and in houses throughout Trenton. When Washington's forces attacked on the morning of December 26, fighting swept through and around the barracks as Hessian soldiers scrambled to form defensive lines. After the Revolution, the building served as a residence, boarding house, and at one point nearly faced demolition before being preserved in the early twentieth century.