And yet, in size and development, Princeton remains a modest community of many different and distinct neighborhoods offering a great range of housing from Victorian, Tudor, and Colonial mansions to more modest homes, townhouses, and apartments. Its downtown area is focused along two streets that intersect, Nassau and Witherspoon, and the charming Palmer Square, full of quaint shops and fashionable eateries. Across Nassau Street lies the Princeton Campus including historic Nassau Hall, McCarter Theatre, Richardson Auditorium, the Art Museum, the new Lewis Library designed by Frank Gehry, and the Universitys many sports venues. Slightly farther away stretches placid Carnegie Lake and its scenic towpath, popular with joggers and bicyclists, as well as the towns many parks and open spaces. Few towns of 30,000 have so much to offer. Within an-hour-and-a-halfs drive beckon New York City, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore, New Hope and many other picturesque towns along the Delaware River.

The Arts
Opportunities to become involved in the arts or attend performances are numerous and varied in Princeton. The University offers a great range of performances at McCarter Theatre, Richardson Auditorium, the University chapel, as well as in its many smaller theaters. Several professional musical and dance groups make their home in Princeton and perform locally. Acting classes for adults and children at McCarter are open to the public. Faculty at Westminster Choir College, many local musicians as well as some college students offer music instruction. The Universitys Art Museum and Natural History Museum are open to the public for talks and hands-on workshops, as well as traditional viewing.

Westminster Choir College of Rider University similarly offers a schedule of events open to the public, as does the Arts Council of Princeton/Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in its newly renovated headquarters designed by the renowned architect Michael Graves, and located near the center of town.

The all-new Princeton Public Library offers regular talks and readings by prominent writers and public figures, in addition to cultural and education functions for children of all ages.

Education
Since 1746, Princetons primary business has been education. The university is now among the foremost in the world. Adjacent to this Ivy League school sit the Princeton Theological Seminary (affiliated with the Presbyterian Church), and the Institute for Advanced Study, built to lure Einstein to Princeton. Not far away (within the township), is Westminster Choir College of Rider University.

The Princeton Regional School District, serving a diverse population of approximately 3,100 students, encompasses: four elementary schools (K-5,), one elementary charter school (K-5), one middle school (6-8,) and one high school, all recently enlarged and renovated. Enrollment in the district schools grows by about a hundred students annually. Princeton High School is among the top-ranked secondary schools in New Jersey. Eighty-five percent of its graduates go on to higher education.

The area is also rich in private schools providing pre-school, elementary, and/or secondary education. The list of private schools includes:

              -The Princeton Friends School, co-educational, Quaker, Pre-K through 8.
              -Princeton Montessori School, co-ed, Infant through 8.
              -The Waldorf School of Princeton, a Rudolph Steiner School, Infant through 8.
              -Chapin School, co-ed, Pre-K through 8. 
              -Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, all boys, Catholic, pre-K through 8.
              -The Princeton French School, co-ed, K through 8, instruction in French and English.
              -St. Pauls School, co-ed, Catholic, parochial, K-8.
              -American Boychoir School (ABS), all boys, 3 through 8, boarding and day.
              -Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, all girls, Catholic, pre- K through 12,
               college prep 9-12.
              -Princeton Day School (PDS), co-ed, K through 12, college prep 9-12.
              -The Lewis School, co-ed, K-12, college prep, for dyslexic and learning-different students.
              -The Hun School, co-ed, 6 through 12, college prep, boarding for grades 9-12.
              -The Lawrenceville School, co-ed, 9 through 12 and a post-grad year, college prep,
                boarding and day.

The Princeton area also boasts 23 day-care and pre-school centers and 4 special-education centers.

Parks and Open Spaces
Princeton is fortunate that its forward-looking residents have provided the town with an unusually extensive collection of parks and playing fields in both the Borough and Township. In the Borough, Barbara Sigmund Park on Hamilton Avenue, across from Westminster Choir College and close to the center of town, is a pocket park for young children. Marquand Park, to the west between Stockton Street and Mercer Road, is a playground for toddlers, a ball field for juniors, and a virtual arboretum for adults.

The Universitys many fields provide unofficial space for games, walks, and picnics.

In the Township, arrayed in a great half-circle around the Borough, lie a number of very different parks offering a range of outdoor activities. To the west along Mercer Road stretches the spacious, grassy acres of the Princeton Battlefield State Park. Two new parks and playing fields grace Rosedale Road and the Great Road: Greenway Meadows and Farmview Park, respectively. In the northwest corner of the Township, is an extensive preserve, the Woodfield Reservation. North of the Western Section stretches the wooded Mountain Lakes Park and adjacent Tusculum Park and Witherspoon Woods Park, offering wooded trails and the pleasure of a woodland pond, called Mountain Lake. To the east are collected Barbara Smoyer Park, Hill Top Park, and Grover Park, each with extensive playing fields. The Herrontown Woods and the Autumn Hill Reservation provide woodland retreats and trails. Shadybrook Park, to the far east of the Township, and the unofficial stretch along Carnegie Lake and Route 27 (the extension of Nassau Street), with its boat launch and viewing areas for university crew races, completes Princetons exemplary collection of parks, preserves, and open spaces.

Shopping Centers, Malls and Restaurants
The easily accessible and parking-rich Princeton Shopping Center, in the Township, now newly renovated and landscaped, provides a convenient source for much of ones shopping and dining needs. In warm weather, Main Street bistros outdoor garden offers peaceful dining in a very pleasant setting. Chinese, vegetarian, and fast-food establishments are also an integral part of this shopping center.

Beginning a mile to the east of Princeton, and extending in great profusion north and south along U.S. Route 1 are several popular shopping malls. These include Market Fair, Nassau Park, and Quakerbridge Mall, but there are others tucked in between and ranging farther south. Each of these malls has a selection of restaurants, cafes, and fast-food courts.

Office Parks, Medical Facilities, Hotels and Motels
The office parks in and around Princeton are handsome and well manicured and offer investing services as well as scientific research and other services and businesses.

Both in and near the Princeton Shopping Center, a full range of medical services are available along North Harrison Street, Terhune Road, Ewing Street, and Bunn Drive. The Princeton Medical Center (hospital), and associated doctors offices cluster, at the present time, between Witherspoon Street and Henry and Franklin Avenues.

In addition to the Nassau Inn on Palmer Square in the heart of Princeton, there is a range of hotels and motels extending along the Route 1 corridor from well north to south as far as Lawrenceville.

Princeton Borough and Princeton Township
Princeton is divided into two political entities, Princeton Borough and Princeton Township, each with its own government, police station, firehouse, and other services. The Borough occupies the center of town, a 1.76 square mile area that includes the downtown area, most of the university, and adjacent residential neighborhoods. Its population in the 2000 census was 14,203, housed in part by 1,418 single-family homes.