Princeton, N.J.: Historic Homes and Cultural Riches
The Mercer County town has long attracted affluent professionals who take on long commutes in return for the charming setting and top-rated schools.
By Julie Lasky
April 21, 2021Updated 11:12 a.m. ET
After living in Manhattan for 25 years, Donna Fay decided to create a new kind of life in 2019, in Princeton, N.J.
Ms. Fay, a licensed aesthetician who advises people on how to look their best “from the clavicle up,” moved with her baby son from the Upper East Side into a house with parts dating from the early 1700s. The property, which sits on the edge of Mercer County, 10 minutes from the center of town, included a carriage house, a cottage, a tennis court, a pool and a paved courtyard. And while some might have been daunted by the upkeep of its almost eight acres, Ms. Fay, 49, said she was born on a farm and had “no problems getting on a lawn tractor and cutting grass.”
1928-2021
Exa Fay Hooten was born at home in Floydada, Texas to Maude Latham Hooten and Richard W. Hooten on Aug. 27, 1928. She was the oldest of Tom and Lula (Brady) Latham’s many grandchildren and she felt a strong need to set an example for her cousins. She was a lifetime member of the Church of Christ and lived at Christian Village in Abilene throughout its tenure as a retirement facility.
Exa Fay’s parents valued education. Being teachers themselves, their livelihoods required frequent moves. In 1940 Exa Fay enrolled in Woodson school. During the times that her mother completed graduate coursework at Texas Tech, Exa Fay lived with Maude’s parents on their Masters Community farm while her brother, Alton Ray, stayed with some of Maude’s siblings.