With a history of staging fairs going back to 1745, this 100-acre plot became the site of New Jersey's enormously popular Inter-State Fairs in the late 1800's. Along with displays of horses, cattle and other livestock, agricultural products and farming equipment, culinary arts and needlework, these gatherings also featured entertainment including daredevil stunts and horse races.
Special events included a shooting match between Annie Oakley and Miles Johnson, and demonstrations of horsemanship and lassoing by cowboys and Indians from Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show. Parachutists jumping from hot-air balloons thrilled audiences in the 1890s. Starting at the turn of the century, death defying shows starring pioneers of aerial navigation, including Harriet Quimby, one of the first women to hold a pilot's license, and automotive racing, were booked to entertain the crowds filling the grandstand. As horses were replaced by automobiles for transportation, cars became the main attraction on the fairground's racetrack.
Located just north of Trenton and under two hours south of NYC, the sculpture park also features the lively Rat's (from Wind in the Willows) Restaurant, with executive chef Shane Cash, a relation of singer Johnny Cash, at the helm.
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