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.
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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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If you missed the recent March to Yorktown event at the Brick Academy, all is not lost. The video of the July 6th panel discussion is now available at: Watch as historians Dr. Robb Haberman and Dr. Robert Selig describe the 700-mile trek of over 4,000 French soldiers from Newport, RI, to Yorktown, VA; their
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Somerset County (NJ) opened the Lord Stirling Manor archaeological site to the public on Saturday, June 21. William Alexander (1725-1783), known as Lord Stirling, was an American general during the Revolutionary War and owned the large estate in Basking Ridge (along Lord Stirling Road). The county is partnering with Monmouth University and Hunter Research to
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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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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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Even in the heat of battle, there are moments that unite us as human beings. One such moment occurred on January 5, 1777 in Pluckemin, NJ. British Army Officer Capt. William Leslie, son of a Scottish nobleman, had been mortally wounded by the Continental Army at the Battle of Princeton January 3, 1777. He was
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Did you enjoy the THSSH February program on Revolutionary Spies? Our speaker, Damien Cregeau, was recently interviewed by Revolution 250 and provided more insights on the subject including on the Mersereau Ring of New Brunswick. If you missed Damien in February or just want to hear more on Revolutionary espionage, we’re sure you’ll enjoy this
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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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Passages from the memoir of Eliza Susan Morton Quincy (d. 1850) were reprinted in this memorable booklet by the Basking Ridge Historical Society (now The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills) for Bernards Township’s 200th anniversary in 1960. Eliza’s father, John Morton, brought his family to Basking Ridge in 1776 from New York City to
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