News and articles of historic interest from the official Bernards Township historian.
Views: 22,316 Basking Ridge, New Jersey’s Most Famous Incident At about noon on December 13, 1776, General Charles Lee (1731-1782) was alarmed by Major Wilkinson while he was writing a letter to General Gates about George Washington in an upstairs… Read More »Widow White’s Tavern in Basking Ridge was more than a Grog Stop
Views: 12,223 Is William Alexander aka The Earl & Lord of Stirling, Basking Ridge’s Most Famous Resident? Let’s see if we can answer that question. William Alexander was considered heir to the Scottish title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish… Read More »Lord Stirling- Basking Ridge’s Most Famous Resident
Views: 1,158 Join Mr. Local History as we partner with Somerset County’s Boudinot Southard Ross Farm in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The 16th Annual Journey Through the Past is October 9th and 10th, 2021 – ALL FREE. Somerset County’s annual… Read More »Join Mr. Local History for Somerset County’s History Weekend Oct 9-10, 2021
Views: 2,000 The Mr. Local History project often digs into multiple archives looking for evidence of the areas collective past. But this one got us scratching our heads. There is no doubt that Bernards Township is named after Sir Francis… Read More »Is it Bernard or Bernards? Hummm
Views: 12,267 You wouldn’t think, but in a quiet suburb of New York City, a man has amassed what is often referred to as the largest collection of Mack and antique trucks in the world. We introduce you to the… Read More »Largest Antique Truck Collection in the World is in Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Views: 5,109 Bernards Township has an impressive history that dates back to the early 1600s. The Mr. Local History Project started investigating the origins of the Bernards Township official flag. Let’s see what we’ve found. As with all Mr. Local… Read More »History of The Bernards Township Flag
Views: 3,780 The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of New Jersey’s historic resources of local, state, and national interest. Created by the New Jersey Register of Historic Places Act of 1970 (N.J.S.A. 13:1B-15.128 et seq.)… Read More »Why List a Historic District on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places?
Views: 44,396 With our Board of Trustees settled into Central New Jersey, isn’t it fun to know what famous people live or have lived in the area? We’re about to show you what we’ve found from our research. The New… Read More »Somerset Hills Most Famous Families & Residents
Views: 5,643 As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our internet community. We will continue to grow this piece as information becomes available. If you have a… Read More »Franklin Corners and William Childs Williamsburg-esqe Village
Views: 12,541 UPDATE: While we wrote this piece years ago, the Bedminster Charter came back in the news on October 21, 2019, when it was announced that the Forbes family was donating the charter back to Bedminster Township. The story… Read More »The Lost Charters of Bernards Township & Bedminster
Views: 3,722 The history of Basking Ridge (Bernards Township) sometimes comes in unique ways. While researching the internet for another story we came across this auction selling an original score book from the Bernards Baseball Club. Today, there are a… Read More »Bernards BaseBall Club of 1867
Views: 3,641 As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our community. We will continue to grow this piece as information becomes available. If you have a comment… Read More »Retrospective: Harry Dunham and His Park
Views: 3,454 On April 24-26, 2017 the New Jersey town of Basking Ridge lost its oldest resident, the Basking Ridge historic white oak tree. What was estimated to be over 600 years old, no one ever imagined that the tree… Read More »Basking Ridge Oak Tree Community Photo Album
Views: 13,231 On April 24-26, 2017 the New Jersey town of Basking Ridge lost its oldest resident, the Basking Ridge historic white oak tree. What was estimated to be over 600 years old, no one ever imagined that the tree… Read More »Comparing Basking Ridge’s Oak to the World’s Oldest Trees
