Before the rise of chain pharmacies, the Somerset Hills had many small drug stores.  Somerset Pharmacy was founded in 1893 in Bernardsville, NJ, by George W. Burns (1865-1934).  The store was located on Olcott Square in the spot occupied until recently by Mediterranean Tile.  The original building burned in the 1960s.  This image of the

The February issue of Inside the Brick Academy, THSSH’s official newsletter,  was mailed to members last week.  In addition to the annual report covering 2025, the issue contains new research that’s worth a look.  On Page 5, W. Barry Thomson writes about Elias Boudinot, a founding father, who bought a farm in Basking Ridge (now

The Memoir of Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (1773-1850) includes a vivid description of Basking Ridge, NJ, during the Revolution.  Excerpts from the memoir were published in the Somerset County Historical Society Quarterly (Vol. 1 & 2) in 1912 and 1913.  The Basking Ridge Historical Society reprinted these excerpts in a booklet for the Bernards Township

The Basking Ridge Oak Tree next to the Presbyterian Church was perhaps the most photographed site in New Jersey’s Somerset Hills. Recently, an old image of the tree was discovered in a Basking Ridge Fire Company scrapbook at the THSSH Archives.      The society was not familiar with this image.  It does not appear to

An early photo (c.1906) of the teacher and class from Burnt Mills School in Bedminster Township, NJ. The photographer was Peapack-Gladstone resident, Edythe Lane Van Doren (1885-1974). Burnt Mills school was a one-story school in the hamlet of Burnt Mills near the intersection of Burnt Mills and Cowperthwaite roads. On a map of Somerset County

The Olcott School (built 1905) is conspicuous in this photo that depicts eight men astride a 60-foot windmill, which they likely had just erected at 20 Olcott Avenue in Bernardsville, NJ.  The slatted fanwheel and tail are just out of view at the top of the frame.  Windmills like these, a common innovation across the

A stone wall provides a nice place to rest in this early 20th century photo titled “On the Road to Bernardsville.”   The location may be North Finley Avenue on the curve near Fox Hollow Trail.  The direction is looking south toward Basking Ridge.  The stone wall is no longer there and may have been part

This distinctive folding card table features 1950s advertising on top. A square in one corner reads “Property of Peapack-Gladstone Junior Woman’s Club”, which apparently produced the table through Mathers Advertising Card Table Plan, which advertised in another corner (See 1950 advertisement for Mathers card tables below). Local organizations, like the P-G Junior Woman’s Club sold

Long before the Kiwanis Fair, there was the annual Basking Ridge Firemen’s Carnival.  Beginning in 1910, the carnival was held on the grounds of the old Maple Avenue school (now site of the Bernards Township Library) and drew crowds from across the region.  Beginning in 1912, the firemen hired a merry-go-round and it soon became

Merry Christmas from THSSH! This year’s vintage card features an angel with a violin. The note on the reverse dates it to 1907 which corresponds to the divided back to separate the message from the address. The U.S. Post Office authorized divided-back postcards in 1907. The card bears no stamp or postmark and may never