Dyson: Battlefield Park Does Not Need to Include Entire Area Where Fighting Took Place

Dear Editor:

I am a retired professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. I have enjoyed the beauty of our Battlefield Park and the memory of its history for more than fifty years. To serve as a fitting memorial of the battle, the Battlefield Park does not need to include the whole area over which fighting took place.

Fighting took place over a wide area extending into the center of Princeton and including the Institute buildings. Nobody suggests that the town or the Institute should be demolished in order to include the whole area of the fighting within the Park. So I find it strange that the building of eleven houses for Institute faculty on Institute land should be opposed, just because this little piece of Institute land was included in the area of the fighting.

The building of these houses will do no damage to the beauty and solemnity of the Battlefield Park. They will be as harmless and as respectful to our history as the existing Institute buildings.

Yours Sincerely,

Freeman Dyson

Mr. Dyson is a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study.