The Official Site for The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH)

Peapack Postcard

March 11, 2024March 25, 2024 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

This old postcard from the Society’s archives tells a great story–more like three stories. Back in 1906, someone named Mattie (probably Martha E. Boyle Fenner of Peapack) decided to write to her sister Mrs. Philip Koechlein (Floretta Boyle Koechlein, 1877-1966) in Liberty Corner where the Koechlein family later operated a store. Click on the photo

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Ku Klux Klan Marches in Peapack-Gladstone

February 8, 2024February 10, 2024 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

During the early 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) reorganized in the South and spread north including to New Jersey. In the Somerset Hills, there were demonstrations and cross burnings reported in Bernardsville, Basking Ridge and Far Hills in 1923. The resurgent Klan opposed new immigration to the country, especially of Italian and Irish Catholics.

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