The MLH Project is proud to be the exclusive reseller of the New Jersey Historic Wooden Keepsake Collection, created by the world-famous Cat’s Meow Village. Made in the USA!!!
The New Jersey Historic Village keepsake collection is a wood-painted collectible series honoring historic iconic buildings, properties, and fixtures that are part of the historic fabric of New Jersey’s history. Each keepsake was selected based on community feedback and a voting process. We’re excited to see how the public reacts to the next additions to this historic series.” Sign up to receive updates when new pieces become available.
See all the collectibles currently available in the New Jersey Historic Village Keepsake collection. Thirty iconic Jersey places are immortalized in miniature wooden figurines.
The easiest way to get one is to order online via our Etsy Store.
Release Party Target Date: April 07, 2025 – Our rendering has been cleared to start ordering.
Release Party Target Date: April 15, 2025 -Our rendering has been cleared to start production.
Release Party: March 3, 2025
Release Party Date: March 11, 2025
Release Party Date: March 11, 2025
Release Party: March 1, 2025
Release Party Date: March 11, 2025 Order Here
Release Party Date: December 11, 2024
The Olcott School is now part of a four-piece celebrating Bernardsville, New Jersey’s 100th anniversary. The 1905 Olcott School is a boro icon and served Bernards Township, including Basking Ridge and Bernardsville students, when it opened. The release party is December 11, 2024. Click Here for details and how to get yours.
As a huge fan of food history in Jersey, one of our favorites has to be the White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey. Walking in the door, you’re stepping back in time, but you’re also getting a chance to taste what has been mentioned many times as the #1 burger in New Jersey.
Gotta love “Old Barney,” New Jersey’s second oldest lighthouse overseeing Barnegat Inlet at the top of Long Beach Island. The red and white icon has been guarding our shore since 1835 and is the 2nd oldest lighthouse behind the Sandy Hook lighthouse. #lovebarney. Our first New Jersey lighthouse is part of the New Jersey Historic Wooden Village Collection. Get yours today!
Two Jersey classics were recently voted into the New Jersey Historic Wooden Village Collection. Available in our store right now. All proceeds go towards producing new research and collectibles. Click the image for details on adding these historic Jersey icons to your village collection.
Celebrating Newark’s Krug’s Tavern, their 90th anniversary under one family! This limited run honors what is now NJ’s BEST BURGER destination. This is the 3rd New Jersey tavern in the collection.
Do you know of a worthy historical addition to the New Jersey Historic Village Collection? Please email us as we’ve gotten very good working with organizations to create a keepsake to be nominated to the New Jersey Historic Village Collection.
Additional keepsakes are being added to a multi-year cross-state effort to promote and preserve New Jersey history.
The Cranford Canoe Club is one of the oldest canoe clubs in the United States and a community landmark that has been part of Cranford’s identity for over a century. While not the first, the current canoe club is the Rahway River’s last surviving canoe club. The Mr. Local History Project is trying to raise awareness of the facility and raise funds to nominate the property to the state and national historic registries. Sign the petition—Click Here.
In 1924, the sixty-eighth Congress passed an act authorizing appropriations to provide hospital and outpatient facilities for veterans under the World War Veterans Act. On November 28, 1928, after reviewing 161 potential sites across the state, President Coolidge approved the purchase of Walter A. Reynolds’ 272-acre property known as “Knollcroft,” The Lyons, New Jersey hospital was New Jersey’s first VA hospital. Opened in 1930 as a veteran neuropsychiatric hospital, the VA Hospital at Lyons grew to over 864 acres in the 1950s. The Lyons area is named after the J.M. Lyon farm, which was once a large part of the area. Construction of the Classical Revival main structure began on July 11, 1929. Today it is still a beautiful active facility. Read more about the history of Lyons, VA. Click Here
The Vealtown Tavern’s keeper, John Parker, was also a Captain in the Continental Army’s 1st Battalion of the Somerset County Militia. In 1902, the property was purchased for $12,000 by Fred Olcott from John E. Ballentine, presented to the Bernardsville Library Association, and became Bernardsville’s first library. 1978, the John Parker Tavern was placed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The property was donated to the borough by the Library Association in 1980. When the library moved to a new building in 2000, the Old Library was sold for $830,000 and now houses several businesses. It is regarded as the town’s most favorite historic property. Today, it is still a beautiful, active facility.
There are two iconic estates in Peapack, and the Mr. Local History Project immortalized them with their introduction to the Historic Somerset Hills Cat’s Meow Village collection. Natirar was not just an estate; it was one of the most well-known convalescent centers in the tri-state area when it served women as the Kate Macy Ladd Center. The estate was also owned by a King: Africa’s King Hassan II of Morocco.
Being the 9th and 10th keepsake in the collection is a great milestone for the village,” says Brooks Betz, the founder of the Mr. Local History Project and the official Bernards Township Historian. We are so fortunate to have such a great history all around us, and we’re proud to promote each keepsake with the background of its historic significance on every collectible.
Blairsden, on the other hand, is one of the country’s best examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States.
Most people don’t know how great William Alexander’s Basking Ridge manor was. Noted as one of the greatest manors in the colonies, the Mr. Local History Project honors who may be the most famous resident in Basking Ridge history. We introduce our addition to the Somerset Hills Historic Cat’s Meow Village – The Lord Stirling’s Manor. The property had up to 800 acres. While the estate is gone, this one in Marble Hill-Twickenham outside London is similar to what Sycamores might have looked like.
“We plan on adding additional historic keepsakes,” stated Betz. The project hopes to continue the tradition of having the public vote for future keepsakes.” The keepsake is meant to be displayed on a bookshelf or thin ledge (like a door or window sill). It is made of a sturdy 3/4″ handmade wood block and then painted.
Mr Local History is proud to announce the release of the sixth in the collectible series: the 1912 Samuel Owen home now known as the Astor Estate, the new Somerset Hills Historic Cat’s Meow collectible. Bernards Township acquired the Astor Estate in 1968, saving it from demolition. Read the entire story of the property as Mr. Local History profiled the Historic Astor Estate.
Congratulations – the community has voted, and the winner is the 1871 Washington House in the Basking Ridge Village of Bernards Township. The voting was close, but this is truly a worthy winner. The first release for 2019 is the historic 1871 Washington House in the Basking Ridge Village of Bernards Township. Congratulations – the community has voted, and the winner is the 1871 Washington House in the Basking Ridge Village of Bernards Township. The voting was close, but this is truly a worthy winner. The iconic Washington House in Basking Ridge Village has a rich history dating back to 1871. At almost 150 years of age, the grand hotel still serves the public today as a grand local restaurant. The painting shown will be painted on wood and available now at the Mr. Local History Gift Shop.
Mr. Local History is proud to announce, along with a partnership with The Ross Farm, the release of the 4th in the collectible series, the Somerset County 1777 Boudinot Southard Ross House. The collectible is part of the Somerset Hills Historic Cat’s Meow Historic collection. Orders for this limited run are now being taken online. Less than 50 will be produced. The keepsake is made of wood and then painted. Learn More
Mr Local History is proud to announce the release of the second in the collectible series: the 1718 Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church and the 619-year-old Basking Ridge Historic White Oak Cat’s Meow collectible.
Mr. Local History, in conjunction with T3 Consortium and the Cat’s Meow Village, introduces the Inaugural Keepsake of the Historic Somerset Hills Village Collection: the 1809 Brick Academy in the Basking Ridge Village of Bernards Township, New Jersey. The collection promotes local history and allows people to share their love for iconic local historic properties.
Many people collect other village pieces and build a village collection. The creations are part of the historic Cat’s Meow Village Collection, which has produced iconic wood ornaments for over 35 years.
Getting accepted to the New Jersey collection is not easy. You have to be nominated and VOTED IN! Local New Jersey historic organizations and historic Jersey businesses produce limited runs of each piece in the collection. All collectibles are available at the Mr. Local History Gift Shop and sometimes at the venue. If your organization or business is in New Jersey and you’d like to be considered for the New Jersey Historic Wooden Village Collection, drop us a note. We help you all along the way; you must approve what we partner to create. The Mr. Local History Project is the largest Jersey reseller of these iconic collectibles.
Many historic properties want to be included in the collection. A few requirements exist to get nominated, but it’s a wonderful way to share art and history with the public, friends, supporters, and donors. If you’d like to be considered, drop Mr. Local History a note.
The Cat’s Meow Village is a small company founded in Wooster, Ohio in 1982 from one simple wooden house Faline cutout on her grandfather’s saw in the loft of the hog barn. 35 years later, Jones and her crew continue crafting “little wooden buildings” of local, national, and international landmarks that spark memories and kindle smiles on the faces of “real-life adventure
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