The location of Grounds For Sculpture — formerly home to the New Jersey State Fairgrounds — has attracted sightseers and thrill seekers for more than 250 years. Today the draw is art, but it was once the popular entertainment and spectacle of state and regional fairs. Before J. Seward Johnson Jr. transformed this landscape into a sculpture park and museum, the Wright Brothers showcased aerial maneuvers in their new airplane; Annie Oakley competed in — and won — a shooting match; parachutists leaped from hot air balloons; and a stunt driving team called Lucky Teter and His Hell Drivers, who were famous for jumping cars from ramp to ramp, performed their “World’s Greatest Thrill Show.”

After three-and-a-half years of renovations, The Peacock Inn is flaunting its feathers as the only boutique luxury hotel in the heart of Princeton. With its welcoming front porch — which was once taken down by the weight of the entire Princeton football team — the 18th century colonial mansion at 20 Bayard Lane is one of Princeton’s true institutions.

Originally located on the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue (now Nassau Street and University Place), it was moved to its present location in 1875 by the Princeton Hotel Company. The company’s president and chief financier, William Libbey, took ownership of the house in 1883. A graduate of Princeton University as well as a Princeton professor, Mr. Libbey is noted as the person who chose orange and black as the University colors.

The Civil War-era house at 110 Witherspoon St. in Princeton exudes a 1970s vibe these days, with its aluminum siding and three glass rectangles arranged like steps on the front door. But now there are plans to unmask and restore the historical gem behind the façade in tribute to the man born there in 1898 and whose legacy similarly has been obscured by time.

The house, owned by the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, is the birthplace of Paul Robeson, the world-renowned concert singer, Broadway and Hollywood star, college football hero, scholar and political activist who was as famous in his heyday as Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan or Martin Luther King Jr. would become in theirs. Mr. Robeson, the son of a runaway slave, had a huge international following and was at the height of his celebrity in the 1930s and 1940s when he risked his career to campaign for an anti-lynching law and civil rights during the years of Jim Crow in segregated America.