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Northeast Travel Guide

Bordentown, New Jersey

Colonial streets along the Delaware, and the grand opening of a bookshop named the Austen Shelf.

Last Updated: August 11, 2026

Getting to Bordentown

Approximate driving distance and time via major highways, for planning purposes only.

From Philadelphia, PA (City Hall)
40 min
~30 miles
From New York City, NY (Times Square)
1 hr 15 min
~65 miles
From Boston, MA (Faneuil Hall)
4 hr 50 min
~275 miles
Emma Shorebreak visiting the Austen Shelf bookstore grand opening and Marcello's restaurant in Bordentown New Jersey

Bordentown is a town that rewards the attentive visitor, its colonial-era streets tucked along the Delaware and largely spared the crowds of its flashier neighbors. The day included a properly indulgent lunch at Marcello's, coffee from Smaczna Kawa, and, in what I can only call a sign from the literary heavens, the grand opening of a bookshop named the Austen Shelf. Any list of hidden-gem day trips near Philadelphia and Trenton is incomplete without it.

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Jane Austen