Old Barracks
- Also Known As: Trenton Barracks
- Address: S Willow St
The Old Trenton Barracks was one of five similar structures built at Burlington, Elizabethtown, Perth Amboy, and New Brunswick to avoid the necessity of forcibly billeting British troops on New Jersey private householders. The other four barracks no longer stand. Constructed of native undressed stone, the U-shaped Trenton Barracks was two-and-one-half stories high and had a narrow two-story balcony running the length of its inner side. The first troops, the Inniskilling Regiment of Foot, occupied the building in December 1758. Soldiers and officers continued to use the barracks during the winter months until the close of the war, May 1763 when British soldiers were no longer needed in the colony. The economy-minded Assembly then ordered the barrack-master to sell the furnishings and rent the building.
The outbreak of the War for Independence brought the Trenton Barracks back to its original purpose. It was occupied by British, German, and American soldiers at various times, depending on who had control of New Jersey and the village of Trenton, then a small town of about 100 houses. The Battle of Trenton was fought around and near the Trenton Barracks, then serving as quarters for 300 Hessian soldiers, in the early morning hours of December 26, 1776. The Barracks was later used as a hospital for sick American soldiers; 600 were brought here after the Siege of Yorktown, in November 1781. - NRHP