Amid the hoopla surrounding America’s 250th birthday this year, you may have missed the historic quilt quietly marking the event at Clarence Dillon Library in Bedminster. The quilt was actually created for the bicentennial in 1976, but it remains a celebration of our nation’s founding in the Somerset Hills of New Jersey 50 years later.
... Learn more
The nooks and crannies at the THSSH archives often hold hidden gems, and this empty envelope addressed to Messrs. Honnell and Bunn is a good example. Honnell and Bunn were grocers in Bedminster village (then called Lesser Crossroads) as early as 1850. On the 1850 census, Benjamin R. Honnell (1818-1894) and Martin Bunn (c.1812-1887) were
... Learn more
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
... Learn more
Bedminster was once a major center for the sport of polo. The Burnt Mills Polo Club was founded by W. Thorn Kissel (1885-1960) in Far Hills in 1929. Mr. Kissel served several years on the governing board of the United States Polo Association. In 1930 the Burnt Mills Club bought Four Furlong’s farm on Burnt
... Learn more
If you blink, you will miss it. Union Grove is a tiny enclave off Pottersville Road between Pottersville and Peapack-Gladstone. Farms and residences line Union Grove Road, which forms one side of a triangle with Pottersville Road and Lisk Hill Road. To the north, the defunct Rockaway Valley Railroad line once connected the region and
... Learn more
The THSSH Archives contain a wonderful record book from The Somerset Water Company with the original stock certificates issued by this early public utility and its successor, the Bedminster Water Company. Seventy-six beautifully engraved certificates are filed alongside their issue stubs. See certificates and catalog record including name index. High-quality images are available on request.
... Learn more
The non-stop traffic and the general hustle and bustle of modern life swirl around the small historic cemetery next to the Pluckemin Presbyterian Church. Most of us rush by in cars without taking any notice. But men, women and children who helped create and shape New Jersey and our country as a whole inhabit that
... Learn more
Next time you visit THSSH headquarters at the Brick Academy in Basking Ridge, NJ, stop outside to view the old hand water pump. The pump, which dates to the 19th century, belonged to Dr. Frank L. Field (1870-1962) and helped Bedminster village survive a water crisis. On April 26, 1948, a river cleanup crew severed
... Learn more
The February 2025 THSSH Newsletter features a new article by Cynthia Crosson on the Boylan House along Route 202-206 in Pluckemin (see February Newsletter, scroll to Page 4). Dating to 1751, the house was the home of John Boylan and his family when the village was occupied by the Continental troops of generals George Washington
... Learn more
The Natirar estate included historically important areas that long predated the early 20th century country estate era. Lying deep under the Peapack-Far Hills Road — where New Jersey Transit’s Gladstone Branch line also passes under the road — are the now-closed-off entrances to a tunnel long known as the “Folly.” The tunnel was excavated
... Learn more
