Michelle Garden

Step behind the historic facades of Trenton and discover the hidden gardens of Mill Hill! 🌿🌸

Every year, Mill Hill residents open their gates to share the private green sanctuaries tucked behind one of the city’s most beautiful historic neighborhoods. This year’s garden tour is especially meaningful as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday in the very city where the tide of the Revolution turned.

Just steps from the site of the Battle of Trenton, more than 20 private gardens and public spaces—from intimate courtyards to lush backyard retreats—will welcome visitors for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the neighborhood.

Whether you’re a garden lover, history enthusiast, architecture buff, or simply looking for a charming day out, the Mill Hill Garden Tour offers a unique chance to explore the creativity and beauty hidden behind Trenton’s historic streets.

🌼 Wander through vibrant plantings
🏛 Admire historic architecture
📍 Visit historic sites
🌿 Discover peaceful urban oases

Come celebrate 250 years of American history where it happened—right here in Trenton—and experience the gardens where liberty took root.

Info: Self-guided tour of more than 20 gardens throughout Trenton's historic Mill Hill neighborhood. Pick up tickets and park at Artworks, 19 Everett Alley. Food trucks and private beer garden available.

Info: The land on which the William Trent House stands was territory that was home to Indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European colonization. Early colonists, Mahlon Stacy and later William Trent, established settlements at the ‘Falls of the Delaware.’ “Trent’s Town” – Trenton – became a major industrial city with many factories and working class neighborhoods, including those surrounding the William Trent House.

Info: Located in downtown Trenton, Mercer Cemetery is significant for its connection with local history and its embodiment of 19th century urban cemetery ideals including highly decorative monuments and its use as a greenspace. Over 4,000 people, including 160 veterans and countless prominent Trenton citizens, are buried here. The cemetery features a variety of high-style monuments and simple gravestones with motifs and sculptural forms prevalent in the Victorian era including weeping willows, flora, hands, urns, funerary cloth, and masonic symbols.

Info: The Barracks, and Trenton, are most known for the events of December 1776. At the beginning of the month, British and Hessian troops occupied Trenton, and briefly stayed in the Barracks prior to the Battles of Trenton. Colonists, loyal to the English king, also arrived, seeking protection from the soldiers, and were believed to be staying at the Barracks when Washington and his troops marched into Trenton on the morning of December 26th. After the miraculously successful Battles of Trenton and Princeton, the Americans returned to Trenton in January 1777 and made use of the now empty Barracks, primarily as the aforementioned hospital.

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Host or Publisher Terry West, OMHS Holiday House Tour Chair