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East Windsor, New Jersey

East Windsor is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the southwest and the Raritan Valley region to the northeast, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, but directly borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. Since East Windsor is situated at the confluence of several major highways that serve both the major cities of New York City and Philadelphia, and even the local commercial hubs of nearby Freehold, Princeton, and the state capital of Trenton, the community has been a longtime residential, commercial, and industrial hub in the heart of Central New Jersey.

As of the 2020 United States census, East Windsor's population was 30,045, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 2,855 (+10.5%) from the 27,190 recorded at the 2010 census,  which in turn reflected an increase of 2,271 (+9.1%) from the 24,919 counted in the 2000 census.

Both East Windsor and West Windsor were formed when Windsor Township was split on February 9, 1797, while the area was still part of Middlesex County. It was incorporated by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships. Portions of the township were taken to form Hightstown borough (March 5, 1853, within East Windsor; became independent c. 1894) and Washington Township (March 11, 1860, and known as Robbinsville Township since 2007). The township was named for Windsor Township, which was named for Windsor, England.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 15.66 square miles (40.55 km2), including 15.57 square miles (40.32 km2) of land and 0.09 square miles (0.23 km2) of water (0.57%).

Twin Rivers (2010 Census population of 7,443 ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within East Windsor Township. According to "New Jersey: A Guide to the State" by Barbara Westergaard, Twin Rivers was "New Jersey's first planned unit development" and "has attracted the scrutiny of countless researchers, from sociologists and anthropologists to specialists in energy conservation." Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located completely or partially within East Windsor include Allens Station, Eilers Corner, Etra, Hickory Corner, Locust Corner, Millstone and Washington Oak.

The township borders Robbinsville Township and West Windsor Township in Mercer County; Cranbury Township, Monroe Township and Plainsboro Township in Middlesex County; and both Millstone Township and Upper Freehold Township in Monmouth County. East Windsor completely surrounds the independent borough of Hightstown, making it part one of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another.

The Meadow Lakes continuing care retirement community occupies a 100 acres site that straddles the East Windsor-Hightstown boundary line.

2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 27,190 people, 10,224 households, and 7,167 families in the township. The population density was 1737.6 /sqmi. There were 10,851 housing units at an average density of 693.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 62.08% (16,880) White, 8.62% (2,343) Black or African American, 0.53% (145) Native American, 17.66% (4,802) Asian, 0.06% (16) Pacific Islander, 8.31% (2,260) from other races, and 2.74% (744) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.64% (5,340) of the population.

Of the 10,224 households, 34.7% had children under the age of 18; 56.3% were married couples living together; 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 29.9% were non-families. Of all households, 25.0% were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.18.

24.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.2 years. For every 100 females, the population had 95.2 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 92.1 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $84,503 (with a margin of error of +/− $4,345) and the median family income was $100,411 (+/− $4,485). Males had a median income of $70,057 (+/− $6,291) versus $44,089 (+/− $2,948) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $37,876 (+/− $1,490). About 3.0% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census there were 24,919 people, 9,448 households, and 6,556 families residing in the township. The population density was 1,592.8 PD/sqmi. There were 9,880 housing units at an average density of 631.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the township was 74.42% White, 8.90% African American, 0.20% Native American, 9.55% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 4.61% from other races, and 2.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.28% of the population.

There were 9,448 households, out of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% were married couples living together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.12.

The population of the township was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 35.2% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $63,616, and the median income for a family was $73,461. Males had a median income of $50,875 versus $35,260 for females. The per capita income for the township was $28,695. About 2.8% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Pharmaceutical firms located in East Windsor include Hovione, CoreTech, Aprecia, Sabinsa, Novotec, Aurobindo and Windsor Labs.

For shopping, numerous businesses are dotted along U.S. Route 130 in the township. Neighboring Hightstown's Downtown has restaurants, boutiques, art galleries and historical sites. Downtown Hightstown, Inc., established in 2008, is an organization of businesses owners and stakeholders in the community of Hightstown, dedicated to promoting the "unique ability to be a town big enough to provide a diverse offering of business services while being small enough to offer excellent personal service to residents, visitors and customers."

Area shopping malls include Freehold Raceway Mall in Freehold Township, Quaker Bridge Mall in Lawrence Township, and Princeton Market Fair in Princeton, are a short distance away.

Local government
East Windsor has been governed since 1970 within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Council-Manager form of government. The township is one of 42 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The council is comprised of seven members elected at-large for four-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either three or four seats up for vote in odd-numbered years as part of the November general election. In a reorganization meeting held each January, the council selects a mayor and a deputy mayor from among its members for a one-year term.

, members of the East Windsor Council are Mayor Janice S. Mironov (D, term on council ends December 31, 2027; term as mayor ends 2025), Deputy Mayor David Russell (D, term on council and as deputy mayor ends 2025), Denise Daniels (D, 2025), Anthony Katawick (D, 2027), Marc Lippman (D, 2027), Johnnie Whittington (D, 2025; elected to serve an unexpired term) and John Zoller (D, 2027).

Johnnie Whittington was appointed to fill a seat expiring in December 2025 that became vacant following the death of Alan Rosenberg and served on an interim basis until the November 2023 election when he was chosen by voters to serve the balance of the term of office.

In December 2015, the Township Council appointed Denise Daniels to fill the seat expiring in December 2017 that became vacant following the death of Hector Duke earlier that month.

Designed during the 1970s energy crisis and constructed in 1982, the township's municipal building was erected within a landscaped man-made hill, with only its south side exposed. The design allows the building to maintain a comfortable climate inside for most of the year, with greatly reduced energy needs. The passive solar design allows the building to reduce energy consumption by 60% compared to conventional office buildings of the same size.

Cyber breach
On February 24, 2022, the computer servers of the East Windsor Municipal Offices were breached. Numerous residents contacted the Township to report the issue, which went unacknowledged for nearly two weeks. East Windsor officials said they first became aware of a municipal cyber breach on March 7, but a letter confirming receipt of an insurance claim contains a loss date from six days earlier. The Windsor-Hights Herald contacted Mayor Mironov by email March 7 and March 14 for comment and explanation, but she did not respond. By March 17, the Township was still attempting to restore operations. Several residents who were professional IT managers and cybersecurity experts offered to assist for free, but were never contacted back by the township. Two months after the initial incident, Township officials had not divulged who was behind the hack or any of the steps taken to prevent future incidents. On May 9, a local cybersecurity expert filed a 13-item Open Public Records Act request with the Township, including requests for "All documentation as to the scope and nature of the incident that is currently known” and “all documentation as to what personal records were released”. Those records were received on May 19 by the resident and the Windsor-Hights Herald. The records contradicted the timeline provided by the Township. The incident received national and international coverage, as it was reported nationally by MSN. It was reported on NJ.com on May 10 that while the Township had claimed to first be aware of the breach on March 7, the Township had actually submitted an insurance claim six days earlier. On May 26, it was reported that unauthorized access to the system also allowed access to certain data relating to individuals associated with the township. It was reported on May 31, 2022, that Township Manager Jim Brady received an email March 2 from a cyber threat intelligence analyst from the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), which stated that the agency's email security tool had picked up a few emails that used a display name to spoof—or impersonate—East Windsor Township email users. Brady replied March 3 to the cyber threat intelligence analyst, and wrote that the Township was aware of the issue despite the later claim that the Township was not yet aware of the incident It was also reported that over 900 people have had their personal information compromised—potentially including their birth date, driver's license and social security number—following the cyber breach.

Emergency services
East Windsor is served by East Windsor Rescue Squad District I (Squad 142) and Rescue Squad District II (Squad 146). Fire protection is provided by East Windsor Volunteer Fire Department 1 (Station 42) and Volunteer Fire Department 2 (Station 46). The Township is split for faster response times, with Rescue Squad District II and Fire Department 2 serving Twin Rivers and the eastern portion of the Township.

The East Windsor Police Department, located on One Mile Road, is led by Chief James A. Geary, and employs 30 uniformed patrol and Traffic Enforcement Officers, 5 Detectives, 7 Dispatchers and Communications Officers and two Animal Control Officers, for a total of 43 sworn officers.

Federal, state, and county representation
East Windsor is located in the 3rd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 14th state legislative district.

Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 census, East Windsor had been in the 12th state legislative district. Prior to the 2010 Census, East Windsor had been part of the NJ's 4th congressional district, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 14,729 registered voters in East Windsor, of which 5,194 (35.3%) were registered as Democrats, 2,120 (14.4%) were registered as Republicans and 7,396 (50.2%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 19 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 66.0% of the vote (7,156 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 32.7% (3,548 votes) and other candidates with 1.3% (143 votes), among the 11,821 ballots cast by the township's 15,852 registered voters (974 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 74.6%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 66.5% of the vote (7,659 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 31.4% (3,624 votes) and other candidates with 1.2% (136 votes), among the 11,524 ballots cast by the township's 15,401 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.8%.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 58.4% of the vote (3,736 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 39.7% (2,537 votes) and other candidates with 1.9% (119 votes), among the 6,536 ballots cast by the township's 15,663 registered voters (144 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 41.7%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 47.2% of the vote (3,439 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 45.5% (3,319 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 5.6% (411 votes) and other candidates with 1.1% (79 votes), among the 7,288 ballots cast by the township's 14,999 registered voters, yielding a 48.6% turnout.

Education
Students in public school for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade attend the East Windsor Regional School District, which serves students from East Windsor and Hightstown. As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 5,138 students and 450.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.4:1. Public school students in seventh through twelfth grades from Roosevelt Borough (a community in Monmouth County) are sent to the district's schools as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Roosevelt Public School District. The seats on the nine-member board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent municipalities, with seven seats assigned to East Windsor.

Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Walter C. Black Elementary School with 480 students in grades K-2, Ethel McKnight Elementary School with 589 students in grades K-2, Perry L. Drew Elementary School with 579 students in grades 3-5, Grace N. Rogers Elementary School with 611 students in grades PreK / 3-5, Melvin H. Kreps Middle School with 1,176 students in grades 6-8 and Hightstown High School with 1,644 students in grades 9-12.

Eighth grade students from all of Mercer County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the Mercer County Technical Schools, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at its Health Sciences Academy, STEM Academy and Academy of Culinary Arts, with no tuition charged to students for attendance.

Roads and highways
, the township had a total of 93.45 mi of roadways, of which 68.99 mi were maintained by the municipality, 10.71 mi by Mercer County, 9.80 mi by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 3.95 mi by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Several major highways serve East Windsor. The most prominent among them is the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95). One exit, Exit 8, is located within East Windsor, connecting the turnpike to Route 33 and Route 133 ("Hightstown Bypass"). Route 33 runs east to west across the southern and eastern portions of the township while Route 133 forms a bypass of Hightstown, connecting Route 33 on the east side of East Windsor to County Route 571 on the west side. U.S. Route 130 crosses the western portions of East Windsor with a north–south orientation parallel to the turnpike, forming a concurrency with Route 33 in the southern portion of the township. The township is also served by County Route 535 and County Route 539.

Public transportation
Suburban Transit offers commuter service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 300 Route and to and from Wall Street in Downtown Manhattan on the 600 Route.

The nearest NJ Transit rail service is available at the Princeton Junction station. Shuttle bus service to the Princeton Junction station is available during rush hour.

Mercer County offers a shuttle service providing access to major businesses and transportation hubs in the area along Route 130 as well as a local shuttle within the area.

Healthcare
East Windsor is served by CentraState Healthcare System, which is a 287-bed regional hospital affiliated with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, located in nearby Freehold Township. CentraState Healthcare system also provides healthcare through its various family practices in communities across central New Jersey. One of those six family practices has an office located in East Windsor on U.S. Route 130. The next closest hospitals to the township include the Hamilton Division of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton Township and Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro Township.

Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, East Windsor Township has a Hot-summer Humid continental climate (Dfa).

Ecology
According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, most of East Windsor Township would have a dominant vegetation type of Appalachian Oak (104) with a dominant vegetation form of Eastern Hardwood Forest (25). On the east and northeast side of Hightstown, a Northeastern Oak/Pine ("110") vegetation type and Southern Mixed Forest ("26") vegetation form would prevail.

Notable people
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with East Windsor Township include:
 * Clara Barton (1821–1912), founder of the American Red Cross, taught at the Cedarville Road School in East Windsor 1851–1852
 * Rich Gunnell (born 1987), college football coach
 * Guy Hutchinson (born 1974), author, broadcaster, theme park historian and comedian
 * Lisa P. Jackson (born 1962), Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 * Marlon LeBlanc (born 1976), head coach for the West Virginia Mountaineers men's soccer team
 * Loretta Long (born 1938), actress, voice artist, singer, media personality and educator who played the character of Susan Robinson on Sesame Street, from its debut in 1969 until 2015
 * Zubin Mehenti, sportscaster and radio host who joined ESPN in 2011 and has served as the anchor for several variations of the channel's flagship program, SportsCenter
 * Tony Paige (born 1953), radio talk show host on WFAN
 * Randal Pinkett (born 1971), business consultant who was the winner of The Apprentice season 4
 * Al Rosenberg, comedy writer for Imus in the Morning and The Howard Stern Show, who has served as a councilman since 2002
 * Carl Emil Schorske (1915–2015), cultural historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1981
 * Anton Strout (born 1970), urban fantasy novelist
 * Jimmy Takter (born 1960), harness racing horse trainer who was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2012
 * Nick Williams (born 1990), wide receiver who has played in the NFL for the Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons

title: East Windsor, New Jersey


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Ewing Township, New Jersey

Ewing Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township falls within the New York metropolitan area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. It borders the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 37,264, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 1,474 (+4.1%) from the 35,790 recorded at the 2010 census,  which in turn reflected an increase of 83 (+0.2%) from the 35,707 counted in the 2000 census.

History
The earliest inhabitants of present-day Ewing Township in the historic era were Lenni Lenape Native Americans, who lived along the banks of the Delaware River. Their pre-colonial subsistence activities in the area included hunting, fishing, pottery-making, and simple farming. European settlers, mostly from the British Isles, began to colonize the area in 1699. One of the earliest European settlers was William Green, and his 1717 farmhouse still stands on the campus of The College of New Jersey.

The area that is now Ewing Township was part of Hopewell Township in what was a very large Burlington County at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1714 Hopewell was removed from Burlington County and added to Hunterdon County. By 1719, the area which was to become Ewing Township had been removed from Hopewell Township and added to the newly created Trenton Township. Portions of Trenton Township were incorporated as Ewing Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 22, 1834, posthumously honoring Charles Ewing for his work as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The township became part of the newly created Mercer County on February 22, 1838. After incorporation, Ewing Township received additional territory taken from Lawrence Township and the city of Trenton in 1858. In 1894 the city of Trenton took back some of that territory, annexing more in 1900.

When Ewing Township was incorporated in the 19th century, it was primarily farmland with a handful of scattered hamlets, including Carleton (now known as Ewing), Cross Keys (now known as Ewingville), Birmingham (now known as West Trenton) and Greensburg (now known as Wilburtha). Since the beginning of the 20th century, the township has developed as a suburb of Trenton. The sections near the city border are distinctly urban, but most of the township is suburban residential development. The main commercial district extends along North Olden Avenue Extension (County Route 622), originally constructed to connect north Trenton residences with the now-closed General Motors Inland Fisher Guide Plant. Ewing Township today is the location of The College of New Jersey, the Community Blood Council of New Jersey, New Jersey State Police headquarters, the Jones Farm State Correction Institute, the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, the New Jersey Department of Transportation headquarters, the Maria H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf and Trenton-Mercer Airport.

From 1953 until 1997, Ewing was the home of Naval Air Warfare Center Trenton, encompassing 528 acres on Parkway Avenue. It was used by the United States Navy as a jet engine test facility until its closure based on the recommendations of the 1993 Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Nearly 700 civilian positions were eliminated, most of which were relocated to other facilities in Maryland and Tennessee. The base's Marine operations were transferred to Fort Dix, which has since become Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. A charity to end homelessness acquired the base at no cost in October 2013 in a process involving the United States Department of Defense, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mercer County and Ewing Township.

The first location of an industrial robot used to replace human workers was at Ewing's Inland Fisher Guide Plant in 1961, a facility that operated in the township for 1938 to 1998, after which the plant was demolished and targeted for redevelopment.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 15.56 square miles (40.29 km2), including 15.21 square miles (39.38 km2) of land and 0.35 square miles (0.90 km2) of water (2.24%).

The highest elevation in Ewing Township is 225 ft AMSL just southeast of Interstate 295 and just west of Trenton-Mercer Airport, while the lowest point is just below 20 ft AMSL along the Delaware River near the border with Trenton.

The largest body of water completely within the township is Lake Sylva, a man-made lake that was created in the 1920s when an earthen dam was constructed across the Shabakunk Creek. The 11 acre lake is located on the campus of The College of New Jersey. Watercourses in Ewing include the Delaware River along its western boundary and the Shabakunk Creek in the eastern and central portions of the township.

The township has a number of distinct neighborhoods, including Agasote, Altura, Arbor Walk, Braeburn Heights, Briarcrest,  Briarwood,  Cambridge Hall, Churchill Green,  Delaware Rise,   Ewing, Ewing Park, Ewingville,  Fernwood, Ferry Road Manor, Fleetwood Village,  Glendale,  Green Curve Heights, Hampton Hills,  Heath Manor, Hickory Hill Estates,  Hillwood Lakes,    Hillwood Manor,  Mountainview,   Parkway Village,  Prospect Heights,  Prospect Park, Scudders Falls,  Shabakunk Hills,  Sherbrooke Manor,  Somerset, Spring Meadows,  Spring Valley, Village on the Green,  Weber Park,  West Trenton,   Whitewood Estates, Wilburtha   and Wynnewood Manor. Some of these existed before suburbanization, while others came into existence with the suburban development of the township in the 20th century.

The township borders the municipalities of Hopewell Township, Lawrence Township, Trenton in Mercer County; and Lower Makefield Township, Upper Makefield Township and Yardley in Bucks County across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania.

2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 35,790 people, 13,171 households, and 7,982 families in the township. The population density was 2346.9 /sqmi. There were 13,926 housing units at an average density of 913.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 63.14% (22,598) White, 27.62% (9,885) Black or African American, 0.30% (109) Native American, 4.30% (1,538) Asian, 0.04% (15) Pacific Islander, 2.24% (803) from other races, and 2.35% (842) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.62% (2,727) of the population.

Of the 13,171 households, 22.3% had children under the age of 18; 43.0% were married couples living together; 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present and 39.4% were non-families. Of all households, 30.5% were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.97.

16.3% of the population were under the age of 18, 20.0% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.2 years. For every 100 females, the population had 88.7 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 85.9 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $69,716 (with a margin of error of +/− $2,668) and the median family income was $86,875 (+/− $4,312). Males had a median income of $56,308 (+/− $6,003) versus $52,313 (+/− $1,887) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $30,489 (+/− $1,527). About 4.7% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.3% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census
As of the 2000 United States census there were 35,707 people, 12,551 households, and 8,208 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,328.6 PD/sqmi. There were 12,924 housing units at an average density of 842.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the township was 69.02% White, 24.82% African American, 0.15% Native American, 2.27% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.83% from other races, and 1.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.44% of the population.

There were 12,551 households, out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 12.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the township the population was spread out, with 18.0% under the age of 18, 17.3% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $57,274, and the median income for a family was $67,618. Males had a median income of $44,531 versus $35,844 for females. The per capita income for the township was $24,268. About 3.3% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification system, Ewing Township has a Hot-summer Humid continental climate (Dfa).

Ecology
According to the A. W. Kuchler U.S. potential natural vegetation types, Ewing Township would have a dominant vegetation type of Appalachian Oak (104) with a dominant vegetation form of Eastern Hardwood Forest (25).

Economy
In May 2013, Church & Dwight relocated its corporate headquarters from Princeton to Ewing. In mid–2013, Celator Pharmaceuticals established an office presence in Ewing.

Local government
Ewing Township is governed under the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, within the Mayor-Council plan 2 form of New Jersey municipal government, as implemented as of January 1, 1995, based on the recommendations of a Charter Study Commission. The township is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide governed under this form. The township's governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the five-member Township Council, all of whom are elected by the voters at-large to four-year terms of office on a staggered basis. with either three seats up for election or two seats and the mayoral seat up together in even-numbered years as part of the November general election.

, the Mayor of Ewing Township is Democrat Bert H. Steinmann, whose term of office ends December 31, 2026. Members of the Ewing Township Council are Council President Kevin Baxter (D, 2024), Vice President Jennifer L. Keyes-Maloney (D, 2024), David P. Schroth (D, 2024), Sarah Steward (D, 2026) and Kathy Culliton Wollert (D, 2026).

Federal, state and county representation
Ewing Township is located in the 12th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 15th state legislative district.

The New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission has its headquarters in the township.

Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 21,714 registered voters in Ewing Township, of which 9,358 (43.1%) were registered as Democrats, 3,256 (15.0%) were registered as Republicans and 9,087 (41.8%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 13 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 73.0% of the vote (11,910 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 25.8% (4,218 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (190 votes), among the 17,947 ballots cast by the township's 23,230 registered voters (1,629 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 77.3%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 70.0% of the vote (11,911 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 28.1% (4,787 votes) and other candidates with 1.2% (200 votes), among the 17,021 ballots cast by the township's 22,913 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.3%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 62.0% of the vote (10,091 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush with 34.7% (5,653 votes) and other candidates with 0.6% (135 votes), among the 16,284 ballots cast by the township's 22,019 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 74.0.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 53.7% of the vote (5,279 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 44.7% (4,395 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (163 votes), among the 10,070 ballots cast by the township's 22,876 registered voters (233 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 44.0%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 59.4% of the vote (6,529 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 34.1% (3,751 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 4.7% (520 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (81 votes), among the 10,989 ballots cast by the township's 22,263 registered voters, yielding a 49.4% turnout.

Education
Ewing Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 3,444 students and 333.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.3:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are W. L. Antheil Elementary School with 623 students in grades PreK-5, Francis Lore Elementary School with 500 students in grades K–5, Parkway Elementary School with 358 students in grades K–5, Gilmore J. Fisher Middle School with 827 students in grades 6–8, and Ewing High School with 1,080 students in grades 9–12.

A 1946 court case challenged a policy of the Ewing Public Schools under which the district provided bus transportation to students living in the districts who attended private parochial schools. In Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled for the first time that state and local government were subject to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but that it had not been violated in this instance.

The Ewing Public Education Foundation, established in 1995, is an independent, not-for-profit citizen's organization whose mission is to mobilize community support, concern, commitment and resources to help improve the quality of education in Ewing Township. EPEF provides grants to Ewing Township Schools for innovative educational programs through fund-raising activities, and corporate and institutional sponsorship. The Foundation also seeks to match corporate and organizational donors with teachers to fund additional projects of mutual interest. These programs enhance the educational experience without the use of additional taxpayer dollars.

Eighth grade students from all of Mercer County are eligible to apply to attend the high school programs offered by the Mercer County Technical Schools, a county-wide vocational school district that offers full-time career and technical education at its Health Sciences Academy, STEM Academy and Academy of Culinary Arts, with no tuition charged to students for attendance. The Thomas J. Rubino Academy (formerly Mercer County Alternative High School) is one of Mercer County's only alternative schools, offering an alternative educational program for students who have struggled in the traditional school environment, featuring smaller classes, mentoring and counseling.

The Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf opened in Trenton in 1883 and was there until 1923, when it moved to West Trenton. It serves 175 hearing-impaired students on a campus covering 148 acre that was opened in West Trenton in 1926. The school was established in Ewing through the efforts of Marie Hilson Katzenbach and was renamed in her honor in 1965.

Incarnation-St. James Catholic School (formerly Incarnation School), constructed in 1955, was a Pre-K to 8th grade parish school administered by The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and overseen by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton. In 2006, the Incarnation School and parish combined with the St. James School and parish. The school was closed by the parish at the end of the 2014-15 school year.

The Villa Victoria Academy is a private Catholic school in Ewing Township, christened as a private academy in 1933, and operated by the Religious Teachers Filippini. This single-gender school offers an education to young women from sixth to twelfth grade.

The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) is located on a campus covering 289 acres within the township.

Transportation
Ewing Township is traversed by multiple main roadways, as well as by a passenger rail line and is the location of an airport.

Roads and highways
, the township had a total of 149.74 mi of roadways, of which 108.73 mi were maintained by the municipality, 28.16 mi by Mercer County, 12.65 mi by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, which also has its headquarters in Ewing, and 0.20 mi by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.

Several highways pass through the township. Interstate 295 crosses the northwestern section of the township. It is a 55 to 65 mph, 4-6 lane divided freeway facility. Originally part of Interstate 95, it was constructed as a four-lane facility in the 1960s, and widened to six lanes in the 1990s, with the exception of the Scudder Falls Bridge over the Delaware River. It connects south with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and connects north to U.S. Route 1, where Interstate 295 curves south. From there, travelers use U.S. 1 or Interstate 195 and the New Jersey Turnpike to reach the next major destination northwards, New York City. The Ewing portion of Interstate 95 was redesignated as Interstate 295 in March 2018 ahead of a direct interchange between Interstate 95 in Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Turnpike being completed, re-routing Interstate 95 onto the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 6 (in Mansfield Township).

U.S. Route 206 (Princeton Avenue) skirts the southeastern section of the township. It is a 25 mph, undivided four-lane roadway. Although part of U.S. 206, it is maintained by the Mercer County Department of Transportation as part of County Route 583, which runs as a concurrency with U.S. 206, which connects south to Trenton, as well as north to Princeton and Somerville.

Route 29 (Daniel Bray Highway and River Road) extends north–south along the western edge of the township, along the Delaware River. The southern section, Daniel Bray Highway, is a 55 mph, divided four-lane facility with at-grade intersections and traffic lights, and was constructed in the 1950s. The northern section, River Road, is a 45 mph, undivided two-lane facility whose construction as a state highway dates from the 1930s. NJ 29 connects southwards to Trenton, and northwards to Lambertville and Frenchtown. The entire section of Route 29 in Ewing is designated the Delaware River Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway. Route 175 serves as a frontage road along the divided portion of Route 29.

Route 31 (Pennington Road) extends north–south towards the eastern side of the township. It is a 35 - 45 mph, undivided four-lane facility whose construction as a state highway also dates to the 1930s. It once also carried a trolley line, but it has long since been removed. It was once proposed to be bypassed by a freeway, but this plan has since been cancelled. Route 31 also connects south to Trenton, and connects north to Pennington, Flemington, and Clinton.

Public transportation
The West Trenton Station is at the terminus of SEPTA's West Trenton Line. This commuter rail facility mainly serves commuter traffic to and from Philadelphia. NJ Transit has proposed a new West Trenton Line of its own, that would stretch for 27 mi from the West Trenton Station to a connection with the Raritan Valley Line at Bridgewater Township, and from there to Newark Penn Station in Newark.

Ewing Township is the site of the Trenton-Mercer Airport (TTN), which first opened in 1929 and is one of three commercial airports in the state. The airport has 100,000 takeoffs and landings annually, and is served by Frontier Airlines, which offers nonstop service to and from 10 different locations nationwide.

Ewing Township is also traversed by the Delaware and Raritan Canal near the Delaware River. Originally important to commerce and trade, the advent of railroads caused the canal's commercial demise. The strip of land along the canal is currently part of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park.

NJ Transit provides service between the township and Trenton on the 601, 607, 608, 609, and 624 routes.

Points of interest

 * The William Greene Farmhouse was the home of Judge William Greene, who was born in the 1600s in England and died in 1722 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. The William Green House is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.
 * Delaware and Raritan Canal – Runs along the eastern bank of the Delaware River in western Ewing Township.
 * Washington Victory Trail – Documents the trail taken by George Washington's army during the American Revolutionary War on December 26, 1776. This led to a successful surprise attack on the Hessian troops occupying Trenton, New Jersey. Victory trail begins in nearby Washington Crossing State Park, enters Ewing Township at Jacobs Creek Road (where George Washington's and his horse almost fell into the creek) and continues along Bear Tavern Road. General Sullivan's route follows Grand Avenue and Sullivan Way to Trenton. General Greene's route follows Parkway Avenue to Trenton.
 * Ewing Presbyterian Church is an historic building dated 1867 and set within the American Revolutionary War-era Ewing Church Cemetery. It is the fourth church to be built in the cemetery grounds. The current church building has been under threat of demolition after several engineering studies found the roof trusses are buckling and beyond the point of cost effective repair. Numerous preservation groups say that the structural problems are much easier to resolve than the studies claim. Various organizations have tried to raise funds to secure the stability of the original church structure.
 * Ewing Church Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the area, having served the Ewing community for 300 years. It is home to the burial places of hundreds of veterans from The Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. The grounds span over 50 acres and also include a mausoleum.
 * Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, located on W. Upper Ferry Road, is a Roman Catholic church built in the early 1960s to meet the growing needs of the rapidly expanding township. Its architecture is similar to Saint Paul's Church in Princeton. The Church is a major worship center for the Catholic community in what is called the West Trenton section of the township.
 * Louis Kahn's Trenton Bath House was an early work of the influential mid-twentieth century architect, made for the Trenton Jewish Community Center (now the Ewing Senior & Community Center).
 * The offices and studios of radio station WKXW, "New Jersey 101.5", are located in Ewing.

Notable people
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Ewing Township include:
 * Pierre Bernard, graphic designer and comedian for Late Night with Conan O'Brien on which he hosts the segment "Pierre Bernard's Recliner of Rage"
 * Peggy Blackford (born 1942), American Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau from 1995 until relations were suspended in June 1998
 * Al Clark (born 1948), former professional baseball umpire who worked in 3,392 major league games in his 26-year career
 * Hollis Copeland (born 1955), former basketball player with the New York Knicks
 * Steve Garrison (born 1986), Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the New York Yankees
 * Janis Hirsch (born c. 1950), is a comedy writer best known for producing and writing for television series
 * Wayne Krenchicki (1954–2018), former MLB third baseman
 * William M. Lanning (1849–1912), Republican Party politician who represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1904
 * Dick LaRossa (born 1946), politician who served two terms in the New Jersey Senate, from 1994 to 2000, where he represented the 15th Legislative District
 * Davon Reed (born 1995), Former NBA player
 * Glenn K. Rieth (born 1957), former Adjutant General of New Jersey (2002-2011)
 * Henry Rowan (1923–2015), engineer and philanthropist, for whom Rowan University was renamed, after he made a $100 million donation to the school
 * Steve Shimko, American football coach and former player who is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Boston College Eagles football team.
 * Albert C. Wagner (1911–1987), director of the New Jersey Department of Corrections from 1966 to 1973
 * Bonnie Watson Coleman (born 1945), politician, who has served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 12th congressional district since 2015 She is the first black woman in Congress from New Jersey.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ewing Township, New Jersey


text:
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer; ; 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806), was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she was the first wife of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, and the mother of the 6th Duke of Devonshire.

The Duchess was famous for her charisma, political influence, beauty, unusual marital arrangement, love affairs, socializing, and notoriety for her gambling addiction, leading to an immense debt. She was the great-great-great-grandaunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Their lives, centuries apart, have been compared in tragedy.

Early life and family
The Duchess was born Miss Georgiana Spencer, on 7 June 1757, as the first child of John Spencer (later Earl Spencer) and his wife, Georgiana (née Poyntz, later Countess Spencer), at the Spencer family home, Althorp. After her daughter's birth, her mother Lady Spencer wrote that "I will own I feel so partial to my Dear little Gee, that I think I never shall love another so well." Two younger siblings followed: Henrietta ("Harriet") and George. The daughter of her sister Henrietta, Lady Caroline Lamb, would become a writer and lover of Lord Byron. John Spencer, a great-grandson of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, came from a wealthy English noble family. He built Spencer House as a family residence at St. James's, London, and raised his children there. Lord and Lady Spencer had what was considered an unusually happy and demonstrably affectionate marriage for the era, raising their children according to the "modern" and enlightened ideas of John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Georgiana was the family favourite and had an extraordinary close bond with her mother, who confessed to favouring her over her other children, but this stability ended abruptly when she was separated from her parents when they traveled to Italy for her father's health. While her mother admitted it was "difficult" to leave her behind, her primary devotion was to her husband, rather than her children. This abandonment was a profound shock to Georgiana, who became noticeably anxious to please and emotionally dependent on those around her.

When her father assumed the title of Viscount Spencer in 1761, she became The Honourable Georgiana Spencer. In 1765, her father became Earl Spencer, and she Lady Georgiana Spencer.

In 1766, the death of the Spencers' fourth child, soon after her first birthday, and then the loss of another daughter after only a few weeks just three years later, started an era of obsessive travelling and gambling as they sought distraction from their "heavy affliction." Lady Spencer attempted to balance the worldly vice of gambling until dawn with self-denial and good works, but was aware, as were others, that this obsession was not based on a real religious devotion. The gambling that absorbed both her troubled parents' attention and became a household routine would become a pervasive influence for the rest of Georgiana's life.

Marriage and children

On her seventeenth birthday, 7 June 1774, Lady Georgiana Spencer was married to society's most eligible bachelor, William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire, who was nine years her senior. The wedding took place at Wimbledon Parish Church. It was a small ceremony attended only by her parents, her paternal grandmother Lady Cowper, one of her prospective brothers-in-law, and her soon-to-be sister-in-law, the Duchess of Portland. Her parents were reluctant to let their daughter go, and while she was now married to one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the land, still attempted to exert their parental influence and keep her emotionally dependent on them. Her father, who had always shown affection to his children, wrote to her, "But indeed my Dearest Georgiana, I did not know until lately how much I loved you; I miss you every day and every hour." The bond between Georgiana and her mother continued after her marriage in a lifelong correspondence; many of their letters survive.

Unlike her mother, Georgiana had not been out in society for several seasons, nor had she accepted the Duke because she loved and preferred him to all others. The Duke of Devonshire, referred to as "the Duke" by his family and friends, was a notoriously reserved and taciturn man, described as being “incapable of any strong emotion, and destitute of all energy and activity of mind.” Primarily motivated to please her parents with an illustrious marriage, Georgiana believed that Duke’s outward detachment must conceal a loving personality similar to her introverted father’s, and that in their marriage she would be both wife and companion. She was sadly mistaken; from the beginning of the marriage, the Duke could not meet Georgiana's emotional needs, and she quickly learned her role was solely to produce an heir and fulfill her social obligations. They had few interests in common, and as society dictated it was unfashionable for husband and wife to be seen too much in each other’s company, the Duke was able to resume his bachelor lifestyle by spending nights playing cards at Brooks’s.

Rejected by her husband, Georgiana embraced the frenetic whirl of society and all the distractions it offered. Her position meant that she was a fashion leader, and her wit, personality and innate sense of style quickly made her a sought-after popular figure in her own right. Public speculation as to when her frenetic lifestyle would lead to collapse was satisfied when she miscarried for the second time in April of 1776. One contributing stressor was that she was deeply in debt and afraid to tell the Duke; she had hoped to be forgiven following the birth of their first child. This situation worsened as the Duke sided with popular opinion, which blamed her miscarriage on her reckless lifestyle. When her creditors threatened to apply to him, she was forced to confide in her parents. Furious, they paid her debts, but insisted that she confess to the Duke. He repaid them and then did not refer to the matter. If Lady Spencer was shaken to discover that her daughter withheld secrets from her, Georgiana was more unnerved that the matter was met by silence on the part of her husband, rather than by anger.

Before their marriage, the Duke had fathered an illegitimate daughter, Charlotte Williams, born from a dalliance with a former milliner, Charlotte Spencer (of no relation to the House of Spencer). This was unknown to the Duchess until years after her marriage to the Duke. After the death of the child's mother, the Duchess was compelled to raise Charlotte herself. Georgiana was "very pleased" with Charlotte, although her own mother Lady Spencer expressed disapproval: "I hope you have not talk'd of her to people". The besotted Georgiana replied, "She is the best humoured little thing you ever saw".

At end of 1777, Georgiana met Mrs Mary Graham. They were introduced while Georgiana was in Brighton to improve her fertility, while Mary was there for her fragile health. Lady Clermont reported to Lady Spencer about Georgiana's instant closeness to Mary, describing her as "a very pretty sort of girl. I wish she had half a dozen more such favorites". They would correspond passionately; Georgiana had finally found someone genuine to whom she could vent without judgement or remorse. But, in 1781, the doctor ordered Mr Graham Mary to be taken to a warmer climate for her weak lungs. Georgiana was devastated and tried to seek her replacement, with no avail.

In 1782, while on a retreat from London with the Duke, Georgiana met Lady Elizabeth Foster (widely known as "Bess") in the City of Bath. She became close friends with Bess, who had become destitute after separating from her husband and two sons. Given the bond that developed between the two women (and the difficult position her new friend was in), with the Duke's acquiescence Georgiana agreed to have Lady Elizabeth live with them. When the Duke began a sexual relationship with Lady Elizabeth, a ménage à trois was established, and it was arranged that Lady Elizabeth live with them permanently. While it was common for male members of the upper class to have mistresses, it was not common or generally acceptable for a mistress to live so openly with a married couple. Furthermore, Georgiana had been desperately lonely since her marriage to the Duke, and finally having found what she believed to be the ideal friend, she became emotionally dependent on Lady Elizabeth. Having no alternative, the Duchess became complicit in her best friend's affair with her husband. In one of her letters, Georgiana wrote to Bess, "My dear Bess, Do you hear the voice of my heart crying to you? Do you feel what it is for me to be separated from you?" Nevertheless, Bess herself envied her and wished for her position, and at her death years later, a locket of Georgiana's hair was found around Elizabeth's neck, as well as a bracelet also containing hair of Georgiana on a table beside her deathbed. Lady Elizabeth insinuated her way into the marriage by taking advantage of the Duchess's friendship and codependency on her, and "engineered her way" into a sexual relationship with the Duke. Lady Elizabeth engaged in well-documented sexual relations with other men while she was in the "love triangle" with the Duke and Duchess. Among their contemporaries, the relationship between the Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Elizabeth Foster was the subject of speculation, which has continued beyond their time. The love triangle itself was a notorious topic; it was an irregular arrangement in a high-profile marriage. Lady Elizabeth's affair with the Duke resulted in two illegitimate children: a daughter, Caroline Rosalie St Jules, and a son, Augustus Clifford.

Despite her unhappiness with her detached and philandering husband and volatile marriage, social norms dictated that Georgiana must produce an heir for her extra-marital sexual liaison to be socially acceptable. The first successful pregnancy resulted in the birth of Lady Georgiana Dorothy Cavendish on 12 July 1783. Called "Little G," she would become the Countess of Carlisle and have her own issue. Georgiana developed a strong mothering sentiment raising Charlotte, and she insisted on nursing her own children (contrary to the aristocratic custom of having a wet nurse). On 29 August 1785, a second successful pregnancy resulted in another daughter: Lady Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, called "Harryo," who would become Countess Granville and have children of her own. Finally, on 21 May 1790, the Duchess gave birth to a male heir to the dukedom: William George Spencer Cavendish, who took the title of Marquess of Hartington at birth, and was called "Hart." He would never marry and would become known as "the bachelor duke." With the birth of the Marquess of Hartington, Georgiana was able to take a lover.

While there is no evidence of when Georgiana began her affair with Charles Grey (later Earl Grey), she did become pregnant by him in 1791. Sent off to France, Georgiana believed she would die in childbirth. Despondent, she wrote a letter to her recently born son stating, "As soon as you are old enough to understand this letter, it will be given to you. It contains the only present I can make you—my blessing, written in my blood... Alas, I am gone before you could know me, but I lov'd you, I nurs'd you nine months at my breast. I love you dearly." On 20 February 1792, Eliza Courtney was born without complications. Georgiana's heart was broken yet again when she was forced to give away her illegitimate daughter Eliza to Grey's family. Georgiana would later be allowed to pay visits to her daughter, providing her with presents and affection, and Eliza would grow up to marry Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Ellice and bear a daughter named Georgiana.

While in exile in France in the early 1790s, Georgiana suffered from isolation and sorely felt the separation from her children. To her eldest, she wrote, "Your letter dated the 1st of Nov was delightful to me tho' it made me very melancholy my Dearest Child. This year has been the most painful of my life. . . when I do return to you, never leave you I hope again—it will be too great a happiness for me Dear Georgiana & it will have been purchased by many days of regret – indeed ev'ry hour I pass away from you, I regret you; if I amuse myself or see anything I admire I long to share the happiness with you – if on the contrary, I am out of spirits I wish for your presence which alone would do me good". In order to return to England and her children, she conceded to her husband's demands and renounced her love for Charles Grey. Family records of her exile in France were subsequently erased. However, during that period, the children of the Duke and Duchess had at one point been informed of the reason for her absence. While the Duchess of Devonshire coped with the marital arrangements on the surface throughout her marriage, she nevertheless suffered emotional and psychological distress. She sought further personal consolation from a "dissipated existence" in passions (socialising, fashion, politics, writing), addictions (gambling, drinking, and drugs), and affairs (with several men, not just Grey, possibly including the bachelor John Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset).

Character
Georgiana was charismatic, generous, good-humored, and intelligent. Kindhearted, Georgiana instinctively wanted to help others and from a young age, happily gave her money to poor children or to her desperate friends. Lady Charlotte Bury wrote of Georgiana's generosity: "when some individual came to her in pecuniary distress, she would always relieve him or her, and leave her own difficulties unprovided for. Oftentimes she was wrong in doing so. ... One must be just before one is generous. But it is impossible not to be charmed by the kindly impulse which made her, without a moment's hesitating, shield another from distress." Georgiana's empathy extended towards animals as well. After noticing a starving cow in a field, Georgiana deduced its owner could not afford to feed it; she had the man found and gave him some money.

Despite being extremely self-conscious and making strenuous efforts to appear perfect, Georgiana "always appeared natural, even when she was called upon to open a ball in front of 800 people. She could engage in friendly chatter with several people simultaneously" and still make each person feel special. Widely described as almost impossible to dislike, Georgiana captured the hearts of almost everyone she met. The artist Mrs Delaney, Mary Delany, echoed many who recorded their experiences meeting Georgiana: "[She was] so agreeable, so obliging in her manner, that I am quite in love with her. I can't tell you the civil things she said, and really they deserve a better name, which is kindness embellished by politeness. I hope she will illumine and reform her contemporaries!" Even the prudish Frances Burney was begrudgingly won over by Georgiana's unassuming grace. Georgiana was not a snob, and lacked the condescending airs of the aristocracy; she made people of all classes feel valued and at ease in her company. An example of her lack of airs was shown when Georgiana pointedly danced with French actor Monsieur Tessier after the Duchess of Manchester snobbishly refused to speak to him because he earned a living.

From childhood, Georgiana showed a characteristic need to please others, and a need for attention. Her mother Georgiana Spencer, Countess Spencer had an interest in education for girls and had discussed being  patron of  the  educational academy that the Bluestocking poet Anna Laetitia Barbauld was to  establish. Indeed, Georgiana's mother raised her daughter to behave as if she were a courtier, always on show. This strict education and training had a counter-effect, only augmenting her people-pleasing tendencies. Lady Spencer knew she was partly responsible for her daughter's faults, and worried for her daughter's future. Her natural temperament, combined with her breeding, made Georgiana into an excitable, impressionable young woman vulnerable to peer pressure. Indeed, Georgiana did the opposite of what Mary Delany hoped, and was instead corrupted by her contemporaries. Her inability to say no to her degenerate friends in the ton led Georgiana into many scrapes against her better judgement and made her feel shame over her behaviour.

Despite her efforts, Georgiana can't overcome her contradiction. She was a popular leader of the society who act with kindness, and a woman whom people loved who was yet so insecure and became dependent upon dubious devotion of Lady Elizabeth Foster. She was generous to charitable causes, but nevertheless owed and stole from her trusted friends. A person who sympathize with the plight of the poor yet can't stop her own extravagant and ruinous gambling addiction.

Pursuits and fame
With her renowned style, generosity, and marriage to the powerful Duke of Devonshire, the Duchess of Devonshire was a leading society figure. She was a high emblem of the era. Georgiana was arguably the Diana, Princess of Wales of her time; her popularity with the press and public can be compared to what her descendant experienced more than two hundred years later. Like Diana, every move Georgiana made was watched by spies around her and then reported on by the press, her every mistake made a mockery the next day in the papers. On a personal note, Georgiana and Diana had in common a famously unhappy marriage, a binge-eating disorder, a passionate personality, and a mutual love for their children. Like her dear friend Marie Antoinette, the Duchess of Devonshire was one of the fashion icons of her time, and her elegantly flashy style made her the leader of fashion in England. Every outfit Georgiana wore, including her hairstyle, was immediately copied by the masses. The fashionable styling of her hair alone reached literally extraordinary heights above her exuberant outfits. In 1774, Lord Stormont presented her with an ostrich feather that was four feet long from Paris. Overnight, it became a huge hit despite the immoral side effects.

Using her influence as a leading socialite and fashion icon, the Duchess of Devonshire contributed to politics, science, and literature. As part of her illustrious social engagements, the Duchess would gather around her a large salon of literary and political figures. Among her major acquaintances were the most influential figures of her time, including the Prince of Wales (later King George IV); Marie Antoinette of France; and her favourite in court, the Duchess of Polignac; Charles Grey (later Earl Grey and British Prime Minister); and Lady Melbourne (lover of the Prince of Wales). Newspapers chronicled her every appearance and activity.

She was called a "phenomenon" by Horace Walpole who proclaimed, "[she] effaces all without being a beauty; but her youthful figure, flowing good nature, sense and lively modesty, and modest familiarity make her a phenomenon". Madame d'Arblay, who had a preference for acquaintances of talent, found that her appeal was not generally for her beauty but for far more, which included her fine "manner, politeness, and gentle quiet." Sir Nathaniel Wraxall stated that her success as an individual lay "in the amenity and graces of her deportment, in her irresistible manners, and the seduction of her society."

Famously, when the Duchess was stepping out of her carriage one day, an Irish dustman exclaimed: "Love and bless you, my lady, let me light my pipe in your eyes!" Thereafter, whenever others would compliment her, the Duchess would retort, "After the dustman's compliment, all others are insipid."

Politics
The Spencer family, from which the Duchess derived, was an ardent supporter of the Whig party as were she and the Cavendish family. However, because the Duke's high position in the peerage disallowed him from participating so commonly in politics, Georgiana took it as a positive outlet for herself. In an age when the realisation of women's rights and suffrage were still more than a century away, Georgiana became a political activist; she was the first woman to make active and influential front line appearances on the political scene. Having begun her involvement in politics in 1778 (when she inspired a mass of women to promote the Whig party), she relished enlightenment and Whig party ideals and took it upon herself to campaign—particularly for a distant cousin, Charles James Fox, who was chief party leader alongside Richard Brinsley Sheridan—for Whig policies that were anti-monarchy, advocating for liberty against tyranny.

At the time of her involvement, King George III (who detested the Whigs) and his ministers had a direct influence over the House of Commons, principally through their power of patronage. The Prince of Wales, who always relished going against the grain with his father, joined the Whig party when his friend the Duchess became involved. She was renowned for hosting dinners that became political meetings, and she took joy in cultivating the company of brilliant radicals.

During the general election of 1784, Georgiana became a major subject of scrutiny. Fanciful rumours and political cartoons circulated during the campaign, ridiculing her for securing votes in exchange for sexual and monetary rewards. Thomas Rowlandson even satirised her with a rumour of her trading kisses in his print "THE DEVONSHIRE, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes". Her mother pleaded with her to step down. Still, Georgiana was not daunted and was adamant in her activism. On election day, the Duchess of Devonshire walked the streets of London, gaining blisters on her feet, meeting face-to-face with commoners as equals. She was instrumental in the success of Fox and Lord Hood. After the extensive campaigning and negative media onslaught against her, after the win, she retired from the political arena for a while. In 1788, she returned to political activism, albeit, behind the scenes.

Even in the last years of her life, she pushed ahead in the field and attempted to help rebuild the Whig party, which had become fragmented; her efforts were to no avail, and the political party would eventually come to dissolve decades after her death.

Literature
Associating with the  Blue Stockings Society enabled Georgiana to develop close friendships with female novelists and intellectuals; she herself  was an avid writer, composing several works, of both prose and poetry, of which some were published. She composed poetry to her father as a young girl, and some of it later circulated in manuscript. It was read by Walpole (who said it was "easy and prettily expressed, though it does not express much") and by Reverend William Mason, who was more favorable with higher opinions. In 1776, aged nineteen, she composed a poem, To Myself, which addressed the public perception of her.

The first of her published literary works was Emma; Or, The Unfortunate Attachment: A Sentimental Novel in 1773.

In 1778, Georgiana released the epistolary novel The Sylph. Published anonymously, it had autobiographical elements, centering on a fictional aristocratic bride who had been corrupted, and as "a novel-cum-exposé of [the duchess's] aristocratic cohorts, depicted as libertines, blackmailers, and alcoholics." It has since been speculated that The Sylph may have been written by Sophia Briscoe; a receipt at the British Library suggests that Briscoe was paid for the published work. However, it is thought more likely that Briscoe may have served as an intermediary between the Duchess of Devonshire and her publisher so that the duchess could keep her anonymity. Georgiana is said to have at least privately admitted to her authorship. The Sylph was a success and underwent four reprintings.

Memorandums of the Face of the Country in Switzerland (1799) is often wrongly attributed to Georgiana. It was in fact written by Rowley Lascelles, based on a Swiss tour in 1794.

One more piece was published in the last years of Georgiana's life, The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard, first in an unauthorised version in the 'Morning Chronicle' and 'Morning Post' of 20 and 21 December 1799, then in a privately printed edition in 1800. A poem dedicated to her children, The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard was based on her passage of the Saint Gotthard Pass, with Bess, between 10 and 15 August 1793 on returning to England. The thirty-stanza poem, together with 28 extended notes, was translated into some of the main languages of Western Europe including into French, by Jacques Delille, in 1802; Italian, by Gaetano Polidori, in 1803; and German in 1805. The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard was then reprinted in 1816, after Georgiana's death. Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a glowing response to the poem, 'Ode to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire' in the 'Morning Post' on 24 December 1799.

The 5th Duchess of Devonshire was connected to some of the greatest men of letters of her time, and Samuel Johnson, a famed writer of the era, had even paid a visit to the Duke and Duchess, in 1784, at their Chatsworth home.

Music
Georgiana was among a few women whose work exemplified English theatre and popular songs of the late-eighteenth century, along with Harriet Abrams, Dorothea Bland, and Mary Ann Wrighten Pownall. Her work includes the vocal composition I Have a Silent Sorrow Here (The favorite song ... in, The Stranger) which was adapted by Mr. Shaw and R.B. Sheridan.

Science
The Duchess had a small laboratory where she conducted chemistry experiments and studied geology, natural history; she was most passionate for mineralogy. In addition to her scientific curiosity, Georgiana wanted to contribute to her children's education.

Her interest in science arose in part because she was related through marriage to the pneumatic chemist Henry Cavendish whose lab she visited in Clapham. The Duchess frequently engaged in scientific dialogue with prominent scientists of the era including Sir Charles Blagden, Professor Henri Struve, Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Hamilton, Professor Gian Vincenzo Petrini, White Watson, Bryan Higgins, and Benjamin Thompson. Her knowledge of chemistry and mineralogy was regarded as genius; Thomas Beddoes wrote to Erasmus Darwin noting that Georgiana, "manifested a knowledge of modern chemistry superior to that he should have supposed any duchess or lady in England was possessed of". Petrini, Blagden, and Henry Cavendish likewise contacted her mother Countess Spencer remarking upon the Duchess's aptitude, the degree of knowledge she acquired, and her extraordinary observations in the field of mineralogy. In pursuit of her interest, she hiked to the summit of Mount Vesuvius to observe and study the active crater and later began the Devonshire Mineral Collection at Chatsworth (the main seat of the dukes of Devonshire).

The Duchess played a key role, with Thomas Beddoes, in formulating the idea of establishing the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. Her efforts to establish the Pneumatic Institute, which advanced the study of factitious airs, is an important event that provided a framework for modern anesthesia as well as modern biomedical research in gasotransmitters.

Gambling
As was common among the aristocracy of her time, Georgiana routinely gambled for leisure and amusement. However, her gaming spiraled into a ruinous addiction made worse by her emotional instability.

In the first years of her marriage, she accumulated debts surpassing the incredibly generous £4,000 that the Duke provided her annually as pin money. Her own mother disapproved and admonished her, unsuccessfully, to break her habit. After she had first incurred over £3,000 in debt, Georgiana implored her parents to give her a loan as she absolutely would not inform her husband of her debts. Her parents acquiesced and told her to inform the Duke; he nevertheless found out beforehand and repaid them.

In 1784, her gambling debt was £100,000 or the equivalent to £13 million today. Georgiana's debt was so astronomical that it became a regular topic, to which she loathe writing "I am cross, miserable and unhappy. I hate myself. I find my debts much talked of". Her husband almost left her due to her enormous debts.

For the rest of her life, Georgiana continued to amass an immense, ever-escalating debt that she always lied and tried to keep hidden from her husband (even though he was among the richest men in the land). While she would admit to some amount, it was always less than the total; she could not keep up with even her stated amount, and when her husband gave her money to repay, she instead would gamble that money and get herself further into debt. In confidence, she would ask for loans from the Prince of Wales. At one point, to try to settle some of her debts, she did not shrink from pressing her close friends like Mrs Mary Graham, who gave as much as she could until her husband found out, then the affluent banker Thomas Coutts for more funds. "'a very, very large debt. I never had courage to own it, and try'd to win it at play, by which means it became immense and was grown (I have not the courage to write the sum, but will tell you when I see you)...What had I to offer for the kind of ruin I brought on him (for every year of my life I have cost him immense sums) - a mind he could not trust in, a person faded, and 26 years of folly and indiscretion. And how do you think he has received the avowal - with the utmost generosity, goodness and kindness. His whole care has been that I may not vex myself, and you would think he was the offender not me.' -Georgiana to Bess"

Later life and death
Her absence from English society and exile in France had isolated Georgiana and was a low point for her in every respect; she returned to England, a "changed woman". The Duke began suffering from gout, and she spent her time at his side nursing him. Along with a recent miscarriage, this circumstance with her husband brought about a softening and closeness between the two. She took a positive interest in science, took up writing again (producing two more works), and even continued her political activism while trying to rebuild the Whig party (to no avail before its end). Georgiana also came to meet and become friends with the wife of her former lover, Charles Grey.

In 1796, Georgiana succumbed to illness in one eye; the medical treatment resulted in a scarring of her face. However, "Those scars released her from her fears. All the inhibitions about whether she was beautiful enough or whether she was up to the job left her". In her late thirties, Georgiana was able to regain pre-eminence and enjoyment in open society, although her personal life would continue to be marred by degrees of unhappiness, debt, and decline in health.

During her early forties, the Duchess of Devonshire devoted her time to the coming out of her eldest daughter, Lady Georgiana Dorothy Cavendish. The debutante was presented in 1800, and the Duchess saw her daughter wed Lord Morpeth, the heir apparent of the Earl of Carlisle, in 1801; it was the only time the Duchess of Devonshire saw one of her issue marry.

Georgiana's health continued to decline well into her forties, and her gambling addiction continued. She once reached out to her mother, begging for a sum of 100 pounds and complaining to her of jaundice. While her mother at first believed her daughter was just ill from her gambling, Countess Spencer, as well as those around Georgiana, soon came to realise she was truly sick. She was thought to be suffering from a liver abscess.

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, died on 30 March 1806, at 3:30, at the age of 48. She was surrounded by her husband, the 5th Duke of Devonshire; her mother, Countess Spencer; her sister, the Countess of Bessborough; her eldest daughter, Lady Morpeth (who was eight months pregnant); and Lady Elizabeth Foster. They were all said to have been inconsolable over her death. For the first time, the Duke showed moving emotion towards his late wife; a contemporary wrote, "The Duke has been most deeply affected and has shown more feeling than anyone thought possible—indeed every individual in the family are in a dreadful state of affliction." Georgiana's eldest daughter furthermore poured out her feelings, "Oh my beloved, my adored departed mother, are you indeed forever parted from me—Shall I see no more that angelic countenance or that blessed voice—You whom I loved with such tenderness, you who were the . . . best of mothers, Adieu—I wanted to strew violets over her dying bed as she strewed sweets over my life, but they would not let me." Her distant cousin, Charles James Fox, for whom she had triumphantly campaigned, was noted to have shed tears. The Prince of Wales himself lamented, "The best natured and the best-bred woman in England is gone." Thousands of the people of London congregated at Piccadilly, where the Cavendish family's town house was located, to mourn her. She was buried at the family vault at All Saints Parish Church (now Derby Cathedral) in Derby.

Legacy
The legacy of the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire has remained a topic of study and intrigue in cultural and historical spheres centuries after her death.

Immediately after her death, the Duke of Devonshire discovered the extent of her debts. He soon enough married Lady Elizabeth Foster, who became Duchess of Devonshire as his second wife.

Georgiana's children were discontented with the marriage as they never liked Lady Elizabeth at all (something that caused dismay with their mother when she was alive). When William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, died on 29 July 1811, the Marquess of Hartington became 6th Duke of Devonshire. He sought to liquidate his late mother's entire debts. Meanwhile, Lady Elizabeth fought to keep the Cavendish properties to which she wasn't entitled; the 6th Duke denied her demand that her illegitimate son, Clifford, bear the Cavendish crest along with the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Infuriated, Lady Elizabeth brought up her affair with the 5th Duke of Devonshire by publicly announcing that he had sired her illegitimate children. The 6th Duke of Devonshire finally made an end to it all by paying off Lady Elizabeth and getting rid of her. Nevertheless, Georgiana's children had mutually positive relations with Lady Elizabeth Foster's children for the rest of their lives, having grown up together.

In 1786, Susanna Rowson, who went on to become a bestselling author, dedicated her first published work, Victoria, to the Duchess of Devonshire.

With the topic of liberation at the heart of her policies, the bold involvement of the Duchess of Devonshire in political activism pioneered women's involvement in public, championing their influential participation long before the validation of women's rights and subsequent feminist ideals.

Artwork representing the Duchess of Devonshire by reputable painters of the Georgian era remain, including a 1787 portrait by the famed Thomas Gainsborough which was once thought lost.

Over 1,000 personal letters written by the Duchess of Devonshire remain in existence. Chatsworth, the duke of Devonshire's seat, houses a majority of her letters in historical archives.

In modern times, her life's circumstances are seen as an example of female oppression by historical, cultural and legal constructs favoring male interests while denying rights to the female party in a relationship. They have become the subject of scholarly and dramatised works.

In literature
Thomas Skinner Surr's novel A Winter in London satirised the Duchess as the Duchess of Belgrave, who is several times defrauded, including being tricked into a bribing someone to stop publishing a libellous memoir, and having a friend's jewels stolen by a maid when she tries to pawn them. The Duchess was "dreadfully hurt" by this portrayal, and Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle wrote in her diary that the Duke said it had given her a "death blow"; Samuel Rogers and Sydney Owenson also suggested that the novel hastened her death.

Film portrayals

 * The Divine Lady (1929), portrayed by Evelyn Hall
 * Berkeley Square (1933), portrayed by Juliette Compton
 * The House in the Square (also titled I'll Never Forget You (US) and Man of Two Worlds) (1951), portrayed by Kathleen Byron
 * The Duchess (2008), portrayed by Keira Knightley and directed by Saul Dibb, based on the biography Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman

Opera pasticcio

 * ’’Georgiana’’ (2019), was commissioned by the Buxton Festival for its 40th anniversary, and was premièred there on 7 July 2019.

Works by Georgiana Cavendish

 * Emma; Or, The Unfortunate Attachment: A Sentimental Novel (1773, )
 * The Sylph (1778)
 * The Passage of the Mountain of Saint Gothard (1799)