Hamilton Square, NJ Outdoor Activities

Tucked alongside the Assunpink Creek, Trenton's Mill Hill neighborhood houses brick-faced 19th century homes and their lush gardens within a cozy 10-block area. For more than 200 years, residents of the historic neighborhood have taken pride in cultivating their scenic community. Each year, local homeowners open up their yards so that visitors can peek into their diminutive urban gardens. The scenic tour drew the attention of CBS Philadelphia, which wrote that “between and behind these historic homes, you'll discover some of the Delaware Valley's most cleverly designed compact gardens.”

Howell Farm spins an agricultural story stretching back more than 250 years to the site's initial settlement in the 1730s. Within that time, the land has changed hands from many different families; the years have found it transformed from a grain farm to a dairy farm, with various incarnations in between. Today, it enjoys a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, and it invites visitors to travel back in time to experience a taste of what farm life was like in the years between 1890 and 1910.

Depending on the time of year, guests may get to help plant or harvest crops, or shell and grind corn inside the 1800s barn before baking it into cornbread. Visitors often get to help care for the animals, learn to make soap, or churn fresh butter and ice cream––all using authentic, turn-of-the-century methods. Admission is free, but during autumn the farm raises funds by charging admission to a miles-long corn maze that challenges families and friends to navigate winding paths and resist the urge to butter and season their surroundings.

Delaware River Tubing launches tubes, rafts, and kayaks on five- to six-mile trips down scenic waterways just north of where George Washington historically crossed the Delaware River. Shuttles ferry groups to launch points, where watercraft journeys begin along the wide river. In addition to renting vessels, Delaware River Tubing's crew leads guided kayak tours that can highlight local wildlife and tackle class one rapids like a mall cop tackling a gummy-bear thief.

During river adventures, scents of barbecue waft across the water from the aptly named Famous River Hotdog Man. The riverside eatery, founded in 1987, partners with Delaware River Tubing to give each customer a hot meal, which they can devour at picnic tables in the water.

Over the course of its 22-year existence, Ocean Experience Surf School has helped somewhere in the neighborhood of over 15,000 students to safely discover and refine their passion for watersports. Students 6 or older hop atop surfboards, paddleboards, and kayaks for on-the-water practice under the care of experienced instructors during private lessons and group classes.

The local press and community showers the school's companion retail outlet with praise, which won both the Best Surf Shop and Best Skate Shop in CityBeat's 2010 Readers' Poll. In an effort to give back to the community, the organization runs an afterschool sports program offering surfing and skateboarding lessons to kids up to 18 years old and adults with a note from a certified kindergarten teacher.