To Philadelphia

Wednesday, October 29th, 1823 – Waited on Mr Kennedy [who he?] and obtained some money of him [an advance on the account of the Horticultural Society, I guess?], then set out for Philadelphia. Got to New Brunswick at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and then by stage to Trenton, which I reached at 9 at night

Thursday, October 30th, 1823 – Left Trenton at 5 o’clock in the morning [another early start, in the dark] and got to Burlington at 9 [a.m., I think]. Went to Mr Smith and proceeded to take up the trees. In the evening called on W Coxe. Esq., [who he had met on his previous trip to Philadelphia], whom I am sorry to say I found very sick, so ill that he was by his medical attendant considered in danger. I am sorry; I am afraid he will not be able to get out before I leave.

October 31st – Finished taking up [the trees] and saw the trees packed by 11 o’clock. …….These I carried to the tavern and packed, and at 6 o’clock in the evening I went in steamboat to Philadelphia, which place I gained by 9 at night. The night was cold and rainy, with slight frost in the morning.

Steamboat & coach to Trenton

Tuesday, August 19th, 1823 - In company with Mr Hogg [aforementioned] we went on board a steam packet to New Brunswick, thence by coach to Trenton by Kingston, Princeton, Lawrenceville.

Steamboat traffic on the Hudson and surrounding areas would be well established by this time. The first commercially successful steamship, the North River Steamboat, colloquially known as the Clermont, was operating from 1807, as this early advertisement for it demonstrates:

 North River Steamboat Line - The Bee (Hudson, NY), Vol. 6, issue 304, 7 Jun 1808, page 1

 A replica of the Clermont was built in 1909 and is shown here at anchor.  Douglas would have travelled on the original of this or a vessel much like it.

 

 US Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

 

The whole country appeared well cultivated, of a rich light soil; for upwards of ten miles it appeared a garden. This is Douglas the gardener, keenly observing the horticulture of every place he passes through.  Slept at Trenton. 

By this time Trenton, close by the Delaware Falls had been capital of the State of New Jersey since 1792 so Douglas would find himself in a well-established and bustling city, although not on the scale of New York.