Red Barn Film Premiere to show at Hillside Farm Preserve
Outdoor screening, revolutionary war history, telescope star gazing, and local refreshments highlight this special summer event
HOPEWELL, N.J. — Bring your own lawn chair or blanket for an evening under the stars featuring the premiere of a short new film about the land, history, and preservation of Hillside Farm Preserve in Hopewell.
The screening of the Revolutionary War History film will be outdoors on the Lawn at Betty Wold Johnson Hillside Farm Preserve, 62 Lambertville-Hopewell Rd., Hopewell.
D&R Greenway Land Trust invites the community to a special event at the Betty Wold Johnson Hillside Farm Preserve for the Red Barn Film Premiere, an evening under the stars celebrating history, preservation, and the stories held within the land.
Guests will gather at the historic Betty Wold Johnson Hillside Farm Preserve in Hopewell, New Jersey, for the world premiere of Ledger, a short documentary directed by local filmmaker Zachary Smith. The film explores this landscape in the days before the Battle of Monmouth, when an encampment of roughly 12,000 — soldiers and the women, children, and laborers who traveled with them — covered the fields on and around the farm of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Today, those same farm fields are preserved as part of Hillside Farm Preserve, connecting visitors directly to the landscape where history unfolded nearly 250 years ago.
The film journeys through centuries of history, beginning with the Lenape people who first lived on and stewarded the land for thousands of years before the Revolution to the preservation efforts that protect this landscape today. Among its threads is Hannah Till, an enslaved woman who became cook to General George Washington’s household and earned her freedom through that service.
The evening falls on the anniversary of the June 24, 1778 solar eclipse witnessed by soldiers camped on these very fields as they prepared to march toward one of the largest battles of the American Revolution. Through interviews with a historian, a geologist and metal detectorist, a historical interpreter, and Lenape voices, Ledger connects the preserved landscape to the people, events, and stories that shaped New Jersey’s history.
Guests will have the opportunity to experience the night sky with astrophotographer Taylor Blanchard, who will guide visitors in observing the stars and reflecting on the same sky seen above Hillside Farm during the encampment in 1778.
The film is the culmination of years of historical research and storytelling made possible in part through funding provided by the Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission through its History Regrant Program.
Refreshments include a variety of desserts, Bent Spoon ice cream, and colonial era libations.
Proceeds support D&R Greenway’s mission to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and for the future.
Tickets: $60 per person. Sponsorships Available. Half-price tickets are available for the community members who took part in the Fall 2024 filming event at Hillside Farm Preserve. Find tickets at www.drgreenway.org.
Event Details
Red Barn Film Premiere: Ledger
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Betty Wold Johnson Hillside Farm Preserve
62 Lambertville-Hopewell Road
Hopewell, New Jersey
Guests are reminded to bring a lawn chair or blanket.
About D&R Greenway Land Trust
D&R Greenway Land Trust is an accredited nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and forever. Since 1989, D&R Greenway has permanently preserved more than 22,000 acres of land throughout New Jersey, protecting farms, forests, historic landscapes, clean water resources, and wildlife habitat while connecting people to nature through stewardship, education, and public access.
