[This article appeared originally in the October 2003 issue of Inside the Brick Academy.] Autumn brings thoughts of Mary Lewis Kinnan, local heroine, who returned to Basking Ridge October 11, 1794 after three years and five months as a captive of the Shawnee Indians. In 1779 in Basking Ridge, Mary Elizabeth Lewis, at age 15,
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Remember the grand Bicentennial celebrations of 1976? Long before that in 1876, Fourth of July organizers were already thinking big when they cordially invited “all the world and the rest of mankind.” The THSSH Archives preserves a poster that advertises the 1876 Centennial Celebration in Basking Ridge, NJ. The poster, printed by the Jerseyman Print of
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For America250, THSSH is taking an in-depth look at our Revolutionary War-era artifacts and documents. One of the most interesting is “Widow White’s Brick.” The brick is reportedly from Widow White’s Tavern, the scene of the infamous British capture of American General Charles Lee on Dec. 13, 1776. The tavern itself is long gone and
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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During our continuing digitization efforts, we found this photograph of the Brick Academy in Basking Ridge, NJ, in a Fire Department scrapbook. The building started life in 1809, as the Basking Ridge Classical School and later became a Bernards Township public school. In 1904, it was auctioned off to the Ancient Order of United Workmen
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Editor’s Note: The Historical Society recently received an inquiry from a technician who services the commercial building at 125 South Finley Avenue in Basking Ridge. He reported seeing an apparition of a young boy in Civil War-period clothing in the basement. The technician was aware that a physician, who had served in the Civil War,
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