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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This pastoral scene is West Oak Street in 1910 going up the hill from present I-287 to Mount Airy Road. The farm was then known as the Courter Farm after its owner William Courter. The present Courter Street was named for the family. The large barn burned in the 1930s, but the farmhouse, built in
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In 1870, Mary (Lewis) Goltra (1832-1896), a recent widow, built the house at 156 South Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge, NJ, perhaps with the assistance of her father-in-law, James P. Goltra. A farmer and local builder, James constructed the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church in the late 1860s. Eventually, the house was owned by Mary’s daughter, Margaret
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The May 2025 issue of the “Inside the Brick Academy” newsletter was mailed to THSSH members last week and is available online now. Read the full issue at: May 2025 Newsletter The cover announces the upcoming panel discussion on the March to Yorktown hosted at the Brick Academy by THSSH and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route-New
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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