Pedaling Through Princeton’s History With Tour Guide Mimi Omiecinski

Dilshanie Perera

Albert Einstein didn’t like wearing socks. In fact, some local residents can remember him pausing along Nassau Street in the dead of winter to remove the offending articles and toss them into a trash can.

So said Mimi Omiecinski, the founder and chief tour guide of Princeton Bike Tours. Having moved to Princeton in 2006 with her family, she was inspired to start up a tour company that combines two-wheeled adventuring with an emphasis on local history.

Her fascination for Princeton’s multifaceted past, one of tumultuous politics and persons both famous and infamous, led Ms. Omiecinski to amass quite a bit of knowledge on such subjects. She works with Princeton Public Library’s Special Collections Librarian Terri Nelson, the Historical Society of Princeton, the Arts Council, and local residents (“townie historians”) to gather the information and anecdotes that are part of her tours.

The “Quintessential Princeton” tour, which is one of many different bike and walking tour options presented by Ms. Omiecinski, began with a mention of the oldest bike shop in the U.S., Kopp’s Cycles, which has been around since 1891. Those on the tour learn that Witherspoon Street was once known informally as “African Lane,” since the town was segregated, and predominantly African-American business owners had establishments along that road until the wave of gentrification and displacement that came in the late 1920s.

Bits of history can be gleaned from the names of streets as well. Spring Street and Quarry Street are named for the features they used to house, a small body of water, and a quarry, respectively. The stones from the quarry were used to construct a number of university buildings, and stonemasons were brought in from Italy to work on the buildings’ façades.

The tour involved details about Princeton notables including Aaron Burr, Albert Einstein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Christine Moore Howell, Thomas Mann, Toni Morrison, Paul Robeson, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, and numerous others. The Institute for Advanced Study, Morven, Nassau Hall, Princeton Cemetery, and Princeton High School, were a few featured destinations.

At the beginning of her research, Ms. Omiecinski made a pact with Ms. Nelson to only relate the facts, and to inform those on tour when stories lapsed into speculation or mythology. One such piece of folklore that Ms. Omiecinski mentions because “it’s a pretty good story” involves British troops taking refuge in Nassau Hall on the University’s campus. Confident that General George Washington would not fire on the building, they were rudely surprised when a cannonball flew through a window and decapitated a portrait of King George of England, thus portending the first victory for the Revolutionary Army.

“As I biked more, I learned more, and it really struck me that within a four-mile area, there is a lot to talk about,” said Ms. Omiecinski regarding her inspiration for starting up Princeton Bike Tours. She also describes her Nassau Street home as “living in a space where everything I need is two blocks away.”

So began the enchantment with all things local. Ms. Omiecinski only buys from Borough merchants, and her business operates on the same plan. Bikes for the tour company are purchased from and fixed by Kopp’s or Jay’s Cycles, and she highlights the amenities of downtown Princeton alongside its history during her tours.

Princeton Bike Tours also hosts two not-for-profit efforts, including the Tiger Bike Program, which refurbishes abandoned bicycles and donates them to various countries in Africa through the organization Pedals for Progress. The other is the Vocational Program, which provides training and employment for teens and adults with developmental disabilities.

Bikes were not the only kind of transportation discussed by Ms. Omiecinski. As the tour neared the Dinky Station, she paused to tell the story of the last train robbery in the U.S., which occurred in Princeton in 1963. At that time the university was still an all-male establishment, and the primary means by which young women would arrive into town was via the dinky. On one weekend, four students clad in cowboy attire and brandishing pistols approached the oncoming dinky on horseback, boarded the train, took four women hostage, and rode with them sidesaddle back to campus to attend various festivities, including a concert by Bo Diddley.

For more information about Princeton Bike Tours, visit www.princetonbiketours.com.

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