The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH) recently received a set of five blueprints of the Lyons Railroad Station. The drawings are a welcome addition to our archives because the building is on the national and N.J. registers of historic places (since 1984). Rail service began at Lyons in 1872 when the New Jersey
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In 1915, the Greulock Dairy in Basking Ridge, NJ, delivered milk in bottles like the one pictured. The dairy was run by Carl Martin Greulock who was born in Lyons, NJ, on May 27, 1887, son of George Greulock and Mathilda Rother. Carl had earlier run an ice business, which he had taken over from
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Osborn’s sawmill in Bernards Township, NJ, operated from as early as 1850 until at least the 1880s. Jonathan H. Osborn (1796-1881) and his son Lewis F. Osborn (1823-1884) ran the mill which was situated along the Passaic River near Madisonville. Osborn Pond, which still exists, was the mill pond. Around 1910, the site was acquired
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Back in 1919, the Bernards Protective Association, a private organization formed the previous year to support the police, issued this warning to the “Automobilists” of Bernards Township (which then included both Far Hills and Bernardsville).
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In the winter of 1777, after the battle of Princeton, while the American army was encamped at Morristown, NJ, General Washington sent a division under General Nathanael Greene to Basking Ridge, about four miles to the south. A document called “A General Return of Waggons [sic] and Horses….,” relating to this time was received last year
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An archaeological team from Monmouth University returned to The Coffee House in Madisonville, N.J., last Saturday, September 21, 2024. The group continued the excavation of foundations found in 2023 and surprisingly discovered that they extend further than originally thought–there may have been a second building at the site. In addition to the work on foundations,
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Many of the early landowners of Bernards Township are shown on the Morgan-Hills map of Somerset County from 1766 (see section below). The surveyors spell the township “Barnards” and in 1766, it still had its original boundaries, which included Bernardsville, Far Hills, and Warren Township. The closeup below displays the northeastern portion of the township.
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In 1938, construction workers were hard at work on Bernards Township’s newest school, Oak Street. These photos were taken November 21, 1938 by teacher Louise M. Flint (c.1889-1976) and preserved in her scrapbook. The title on the page reads “Basking Ridge School, West Oak Street.” Oak Street School was financed partially with an $80,000 grant
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Excavations in 2023 at the Coffee House in the Madisonville section of Bernards Township uncovered stone walls, which may be foundations from earlier structures. Parts of the Coffee House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, are thought to date from the 1780s or before and may have been moved to their current
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Basking Ridge Fire Company No. 1 hosted its annual carnival Aug. 6-7, 1915 and used a real picture postcard to advertise the event. The Moline fire engine, shown here in front of the old Maple Avenue school (now Bernards Township Library), was purchased in 1911.
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