Princeton Battlefield State Park - Mercer Oak and Colonnade

What a day! The weather was insane! I woke up to a downpour that only lasted less than 20 minutes and then there was a dark overcast sky. My husband told me that it was 65 degrees outside and I didn't believe him.

I sat down to edit photos for a while and looked up to see an amazing blue sky with the best clouds EVER!

I decided to get up and go for a drive to the Princeton Battlefield State Park which I've been wanting to visit for a while to see what it was all about.

The further I drove the darker the clouds got and then the rain came down. It was hard to even see where I was going. As it poured harder and harder I got sadder and sadder as I drove that my photo time was going to be ruined by the rain. I decided to drive to the park anyway to see if it was somewhere that I would like to return to. Funny thing was that when I got there the sun came out and suddenly there were some of the best clouds I've seen in a long, long time.

I stopped and parked and walked over to read the sign that explained what was special about this fenced-in area in the field. The placard read:



I set up my tripod to take this shot of the site of the former Mercer Oak:

The beloved Mercer Oak, which had seen and survived the Battle of Princeton and the birth and vibrant life of a new nation, state and municipality, was torn by high winds on Friday March 3, 2000. It was a sad sight to see the once giant oak finally succumb to nature's elements. Many came to mourn the tree, which had stood bravely alone on the battlefield for about 300 years.

Although the Mercer Oak is no longer it looks as if another tree was planted there.

This is an HDR shot of the site of the Mercer Oak:



Article on the Mercer Oak after it fell.

After I photographed the beautiful scene above I walked across the street to check out this Colonnade and Gravesite:



I set up the tripod again and took a series of HDR shots of the Iconic Colonnade.

The Iconic Colonnade which was designed by Thomas U Walter, architect of the US Capitol building. It is a stone patio which marks the graves of 21 British and 15 American soldiers killed during the Battle of Princeton.

Here is a sample of one of my Colonnade photos. I have a lot more to go through and decide which I want to edit:



Once I edit the rest of the Colonnade I will share more from other angles.

If you would like to see FULL SERIES OF THE COLONNADE PHOTOS that I completed click the link below to go to a later blog post where I posted the photos:

http://jenweaverphotography.blogspot.com/2008/02/completed-colonnade-series.html