Read about Reuben Freeman, a 19th-century African-American resident of Liberty Corner in the May 2024 issue of the THSSH newsletter. Born free of slave parents, Reuben was required by law to serve the Annin family for 25 years. Click the link below and scroll to Page 3 to read full article. https://somersethillshistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Newsletter-May2024.pdf

The Lower Mill stood along the Lamington River in what is now Pottersville’s Historic District. The building dated from around 1842 and produced flour till 1915. By the late 20th century, the building was deteriorating and was torn down in 1972. The machinery was saved and used to restore the Cooper Mill in Chester Township.

Bernards Township teacher Louise M. Flint compiled a scrapbook during the 1930s and 1940s that looked back at the early history of Maple Avenue School, or Basking Ridge School as it was called.    Mrs. Flint credited Mrs. Fred Kampmier, Sr., with giving her the following early facts and construction photos. Basking Ridge School – Maple

Bedminster Book Review: “The Story of an Old Farm” by Andrew D. Mellick is an unassuming title for one of the best history books ever written about New Jersey in colonial and Revolutionary times. The story centers on the farm and modest farmhouse built in 1751 in the heart of Bedminster. Originally published in 1889. 

Many estates in the Somerset Hills were grander, but few had as colorful a history as Bernardsville’s Stonemere. The mansion was built around 1905 for James E. Hulshizer (1869-1921) of Jersey City, president of the New Jersey Title Guarantee and Trust Company.  Hulshizer and his family vacationed at the Somerset Inn on Mendham Road north

Basking Ridge lost a treasure when Interstate 287 came through the Somerset Hills.  The Card House, dating to colonial times, stood on the north side of West Oak St., just to the east of Harrison’s Brook.  In the early 1800s it was home to the family of Daniel Henry (1774-1850).   Later occupants were the Card

Construction of the Rockaway Valley Railroad, which crossed the Somerset Hills, concluded in 1892, and the route remained in service until 1914. Predominantly used to transport peaches, the railroad struggled financially from its inception due to the unreliability of peaches and the lack of major city connections. A peach blight actually occurred soon after the

In 1900, a house stood where the tennis/pickleball courts now are on West Oak Street in Basking Ridge, NJ.  This vintage photo looks east along West Oak and up the hill toward what is now Brownlee Place.   On the 1873 Beers map of Somerset County, the house was shown as the property of Dr. Whitnall

Class photo from Liberty Corner (NJ) School.   The flag appears to have 46 stars, which would date the photo to around 1912, the last year that flag was in use.   Hazel Bird (b. 1900) is fourth from the left in the back row (with large bow-tie).  At that time, most graduates from Liberty Corner who

Ledyard and Florence Blair were known for their equestrian skills, but especially for their award-winning talent in driving horse-drawn carriages and road coaches, as evidenced by their memberships in, respectively, New York’s Coaching Club and Ladies-Four-In-Hand Driving Club.  The four Blair daughters were also skilled equestriennes—riding both sidesaddle and astride—and learned at a young age