Views: 167 Preface to James Wilkinson’s Account of General Charles Lee’s Capture The following account comes from General James Wilkinson’s Memoirs of My Own Times, published in 1816, and provides a remarkable first-person description of the events surrounding the capture… Read More »Eyewitness Account of the 1776 Capture of General Charles Lee at Widow White’s Tavern
Views: 385 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… Read More »Greetings From Historic Basking Ridge
Views: 716 Fall in New Jersey is more than colorful leaves, crisp mornings, and roadside farm stands; it is a season filled with great history and stories. In this issue, the Mr. Local History research team travels from the historic… Read More »Fall Is In the Air – So Much to Do and See in Mr. Local History’s 2026 Fall Magazine
Views: 2,044 RUMOR CONFIRMED:As Crane Farm approaches another turning point, word has begun circulating that Tyson and Doris Mertz are retiring October 31, 2026 and will not be renewing their lease with Somerset County. The Mertzes have not owned the… Read More »Crane Farm: The Little Farm Stand Preserves Basking Ridge’s Farming Past
Views: 2,419 The Millington Quarry property in the Millington section of Bernards Township is one of the largest former industrial sites in Somerset County and has been the focus of redevelopment discussions for more than a decade. Covering approximately 180… Read More »Meandering Basking Ridge’s Newest Largest Lake – The Millington Quarry
Views: 4,271 Realtors’ History Guide to Selling Basking Ridge, Bernardsville, Bedminster and the Rest of the Somerset Hills, New Jersey It probably comes as no surprise that realtors have a fairly easy time selling homes in Bernards Township and the… Read More »History Helps Realtors Sell Real Estate
Views: 756 Isn’t it strange that you might drive by something 1,000s of times and never notice something….until you do. This is one of those stories. Just to the south of the former Millington quarry entrance on Stonehouse Road sits… Read More »A Tiny Roadside Cemetery in Basking Ridge
Views: 708 Commemorating the 247th Anniversary of the Wedding Heard ‘Round the ColoniesJuly 27, 1779 – July 27, 2026 July 27, 1779Basking Ridge’s Biggest Event – Kitty Stirling’s Wedding On July 27, 1779, the Revolutionary War was entering one of… Read More »The Wedding Heard Round the Colonies: Lord Stirling, Washington & New Jersey’s Most Famous Revolutionary War Wedding
Views: 2,234 A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. No exclusive subscription required. For 1 day only, ordinary passengers were invited aboard the legendary Millionaires Express, the famed Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad club car that once carried the wealthy residents of Bernardsville Mountain… Read More »Taking a Ride on the Millionaires Express Train 100 Years Later
Views: 2,326 UPDATE: Yes, it happened. A NEW flagpole replaced the old, nasty, rusted version, and it finally happened on July 10, 2026. While America’s 250th birthday is underway, the Basking Ridge town green is about to get a major… Read More »Basking Ridge Town Green – The Town’s Smallest Park History & a New Flagpole
Views: 776 “Every day, thousands of drivers wind their way up Anderson Hill Road, one of Bernardsville, New Jersey’s defining roads, without ever stopping to ask who Anderson was or why the hill carries his name. Yet behind that familiar… Read More »Bernardsville’s Anderson Hill Road and Judge John Anderson, Esq.
Views: 3,349 UPDATE:EXTENSION – Submissions to the program have been extended to give everyone a bit more time to complete and submit their thoughts, as well as to share their experiences over the July 4th period, providing additional retrospective in… Read More »What America at 250 Means To You as A New Jerseyian
Views: 2,219 Back in 1924, silent films were all the rage. Bernardsville was just becoming a borough and separating from Bernards Township, but there was still only one movie theater, The Liberty Theater. How fortunate was the theater to feature… Read More »“Janice Meredith” – 1924 Silent Film Showcases American Revolution
Views: 14,754 Our curiosity started with a round-table discussion: Who is Francis Bernard, and should there be a statue to recognize his service to New Jersey? Read the story and tell us what you think at the end. It is… Read More »Meet (Sir) Francis Bernard, Esq. – New Jersey’s Royal Governor
Views: 8,090 Sir Francis Bernard’s Legacy Carries On as Towns Honor the Royal Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts In 1758, Francis Bernard, originally from Lincolnshire, England, was appointed Governor of the province of Nova Caesarea (New Jersey). He packed… Read More »Sir Francis Bernard Honored With American Town Names
