Your History Tour Guide to Basking Ridge, and Yes, We Know It’s Bernards Township (officially).
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Although the municipality’s official name is Bernards Township, most people have embraced Basking Ridge as the name for the community as a whole.
First off, welcome to our history share for Basking Ridge, where nearly every road, neighborhood, old building, and familiar landmark has a story waiting to be discovered. George Washington walked here, Revolutionary War soldiers camped nearby, grand estates rose from rolling farmland, and generations of local families helped shape the community we know today. Consider this your personal tour guide to the people, places, legends, and surprising little details that make Basking Ridge history so much fun to explore.
You may not have known this either, but Basking Ridge residents founded the Mr. Local History nonprofit project because they share a passion for preserving and promoting our local heritage. We bring history to life through stories, photographs, maps, tours, events, and a little humor because history should never be boring. That is what we mean by “Jersey history with a social twist.”
Have you taken the quiz? Are you a True Local? A fun look at things locals would know…..
If you see something that interests you, be sure to click it now, because if you come back, you’ll get a new serving of local history.
Our Mr. Local History website has hundreds of researched history pieces and thousands of photos, so we’ve put together a random sampling below of some of our great local history stories.
Enjoy.
What Can You Learn With These 15 Posts with This Visit…
Come Back Again, And You’ll Get 15 more!
Somerset County Revs Up History for America’s 250th
Views: 7,443 Plans for New Jersey’s 250th Anniversary include Somerset County Going Big to Back Local history in Central New Jersey 2026 marks 250 years of American Independence, and Somerset County is gearing up to participate in the national celebration. And YES, General…
The Bernardsville Basking Ridge Speedway of 1907
Views: 3,228 Mr. Local History took a ride down Washington Avenue in Bernardsville & Basking Ridge as we uncovered a story that we wanted to check out. Now if you know Washington Avenue and Washington Street, it’s really known as…
#911neverforget in the Somerset Hills
Views: 10,878 Twenty-five years ago, on the clear, crisp morning at 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, the first plane hit the North Tower, and our community was changed forever. Please take a moment to remember those 21 residents from…
Businesses Lost In Somerset Hills, New Jersey this Past Century
Views: 6,100 The Mr. Local History project has been researching and working with the public to create the most complete list of lost businesses in the Somerset Hills in northern Somerset County, New Jersey. The Somerset Hills includes Bedminster, Bernards…
Honoring WW2 Veterans Book In Service – 1941-1944 Now Online
Views: 3,184 Mr. Local History’s “Operation Honor Roll” Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, honoring ALL those Bernards Township residents who have served in our military. We’re seeking volunteers to undertake this ambitious endeavor “In Service 1941-1944”: The Somerset Hills Military Service…
Somerset Hills Cartographer John Smith Maps Local History
Views: 10,574 National Award-Winning Landscape Architect Lives and Breathes History with His Map Creations. The Mr. Local History Project introduces you to a dear friend and history connoisseur who has taken cartography to a whole new level, overlaying history onto…
Honoring Volunteers Who Make The Basking Ridge Christmas Eve Carol Happen
Views: 2,374 ARCHIVED: ONE NIGHT ONLY! Join the community with friends, neighbors, and volunteers for a holiday celebration of what will be the 100th running of the Basking Ridge Christmas Eve Sing on the Green. The special gathering will be…
Richard Stockton – Constitution Signer and a Basking Ridge Brother-in-Law
Views: 4,092 Suppose you have the chance to visit Basking Ridge, New Jersey’s Ross Farm for an outdoor concert or to help out in the giving garden; remember this story about the historic Boudinot (Boo-DE-Know) family estate on the hill…
Harry Robinson – A Look at His Wooden Sculptures around Somerset Hills
Views: 9,140 Based at his home studio in Bernardsville, Harry Robinson, a professional structural engineer, is an artist sculptor who changed the landscapes of outdoor spaces across the county. A former zeppelin pilot in the Air Force and Maplewood, New…
Passaic Valley & Peapack and the West Line Railroad – What if the West Line Succeeded?
Views: 756 A Retrospective The Mr. Local History Project conducted a deep dive into the beginnings of railroads in New Jersey, focusing on east-west corridors that sought to connect Pennsylvania with New York through New Jersey’s crossroads. Long before the…
KMS Farmstead in Basking Ridge Honored with Painted Wooden Keepsake
Views: 1,877 Release Party: March 1, 2025 Join Mr. Local History and learn a little bit about the KMS Farmstead…. Then get your own piece of local history! Celebrating the rich history of the Kennedy Martin Stelle Farmstead, this iconic…
Annin Centennial History Book Donated to Bernards Library
Views: 4,786 It took a bit, but the book on the 175-year history of the Annin Flag Company has finally made it to the Bernards Library. And what more appropriate day to present the collectible book than on Flag Day,…
Railroad and Train History Series – Mr Local History Project
Views: 1,646 Railroads did more than move people and freight. They shaped towns, determined where businesses grew, and influenced where people chose to live. Across New Jersey and throughout the Northeast, the arrival of the railroad in the nineteenth century…
The Missing Marlboro Man From Basking Ridge
Yes folks there was a Marlboro Man who lived atop Schley Mountain in Bernards Township (Basking Ridge) Now we need the community’s help.
Bill Beatty and the Hills Haunted Phareloch Castle
Views: 20,808 Tucked below the Hills on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township, New Jersey, sits a turreted French Norman-style castle known to locals as Pharelock Castle. Very few locals remember the sad story about…
