Visit the ‘Tusculum House’ for a special alumni event on September 25

tusculumhouse3Mark your calendars and join Tusculum College representatives at a special alumni event September 25 at the historical “Tusculum House” in Princeton, NJ.

Through the hospitality of the house’s current owners, the College will be having an alumni event at the regal home that is significant in both the histories of Tusculum College and Princeton University.

Tusculum House was the home of the Rev. John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the sixth president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Rev. Witherspoon was a prominent evangelical Presbyterian minister in Scotland prior to accepting the presidency at the College of New Jersey. Upon his arrival, he transformed a college designed predominantly to train clergymen into a school that would equip the leaders of a revolutionary generation. Rev. Witherspoon was influential in leading the colony of New Jersey toward the revolution. But even as Witherspoon championed American liberty, he also espoused more conservative ideals such as order and national unity and was thus a strong defender of a national constitution.

In addition to managing the College of New Jersey’s affairs and preaching twice on Sundays, he bore the heaviest responsibility for instruction of the students. He taught moral philosophy, divinity, rhetoric, history and chronology and French.  He added substantially to the school’s library, securing a number of books to add to its resources, and increased the resources for teaching the sciences.

Among Rev. Witherspoon’s students at the College of New Jersey was the Rev. Samuel Doak, a Presbyterian minister who traveled to what was then the frontier and met not only the spiritual need of the settlers in the region but also established the first school in the area. Later, he traveled with his son, the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak, to the banks of Frank Creek where they established a school, naming it Tusculum Academy in honor of Rev. Witherspoon. The name “Tusculum” itself goes back even further in history as a reference to the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero and the Civic Virtues he espoused. Cicero had a villa in the village of Tusculum outside of Rome.

Tusculum House is Princeton township’s most historic estate held privately. It was built in 1773 by Rev. Witherspoon and was completely restored and enlarged by its present owners in 1998 under the direction of an architect. It is located just minutes from downtown Princeton and the university. The estate consists of the main residence, a magnificent stone barn, caretakers’ cottage and numerous 18th-20th century farm outbuildings.

More information will soon be forthcoming about the alumni event.