A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Princeton Battlefield Park Wednesday morning to honor the newly annexed D'Ambrisi 4.6-acre property into the park.
PRINCETON - The D'Ambrisi family purchased 4.6 acres of land bordering Stockton Street in 1985, not knowing that 208 years prior one of the most crucial battles of the Revolutionary War occurred there.
In the early-morning hours of Jan. 3, 1777, the property was the site of two British units that lined up to battle Colonial forces in what is referred to as the Ten Crucial Days. Michael D'Ambrisi said he remembers it as the place where he and his siblings would "play football."
After Michael D'Ambrisi's father, Joseph D'Ambrisi, passed away in 2011, his mother, Frances D'Ambrisi, and brothers, Jim D'Ambrisi and Joeseph D'Ambrisi, Jr., sold the land to New Jersey so it could become part of the Princeton Battlefield Park.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the addition was held Wednesday morning in front of the park's Colonnade.
"I'm happy to be here today to honor two groups of American heroes," Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert said. "The first group is men who we've read about in our history books. ... We remember those heroes today, they're bravery, their vision for a Democratic government and their heroism. We're also here today for a group of modern heroes."
Lempert said modern heroes include those present at the ceremony The Princeton Battlefield Society, New Jersey, Mercer County, the municipality of Princeton, the non-profit Princeton Open Space and the Civil War Trust and its Campaign 1776, which made the purchase possible, as well as the D'Ambrisi family.
"The D'Ambrisi family, I want to thank you," Lempert said. "This was a very long process, and there might have been some other homeowners who would have pulled out of the preservation, but you had a vision to make this property part of the park."
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"It was a very long process, as they all say," Frances D'Ambrisi said. "I'm glad it's done."
The process took seven years, according to Mark Texel, director of the New Jersey State Park Service.
Kip Cherry, first vice president of the Princeton Battlefield Society, said the discovery of two anomalies of interest buried 5 feet down was the result of the society's $47,100 grant from the National Park Service to conduct ground-penetrating radar.
"Of course, just because they're of interest does not mean they are anything of importance at all, but it's kind of exciting to think we might have found something," Cherry said.
The purchase of the property also allows for a trail system that will run from downtown Princeton along Route 206 into the Princeton Battlefield Park, Texel said.
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said he is happy the land will be preserved as open space.
"It's another step in what we are trying to accomplish here in Mercer County," Hughes said.
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.