Welcome to the Mr. Local History Project
“A 501c3 Non-Profit Dedicated to Preserving and Promoting Jersey History with a Social Twist”
The Mr. Local History Project is about bringing New Jersey’s past into the present through the stories of real places, real people, and real communities. Focused especially on New Jersey history, the project celebrates local history in a way that feels personal, engaging, and relevant, not something locked away in textbooks, but history that lives where we live. As we head into 2026, the 250th anniversary of the United States, Mr. Local History is turning history into a shared experience. With a social twist, this is about connecting online and in the community, sharing memories, spotlighting hometown stories, and honoring New Jersey’s outsized role in America’s founding. It is history you can explore, share, and be part of together.
Today in America’s History (We Update Every Day)
- 1609: Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies.
- 1619: In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time.
- 1676: Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
- 1729: Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1733: The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
- 1864: American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
- 1865: The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
- 1916: The Black Tom explosion in New York Harbor kills four and destroys some $20,000,000 worth of military goods.
- 1956: A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.
- 1965: U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
What Can You Do Today to Celebrate America’s 250th?
Our Readers’ Top 10 MLH Posts this Week
Latest Posts
The Missing Cemetery of the Basking Ridge Continental Army Hospital
Views: 25 For years, the Mr. Local History Project has researched the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church cemetery, the community’s oldest burial ground. Our research identified 35 Revolutionary War veterans buried there through DAR records. However, a closer examination revealed that…
History Helps Realtors Sell Real Estate
Views: 4,004 Realtors’ History Guide to Selling Basking Ridge, Bernardsville, Bedminster and the Rest of the Somerset Hills, New Jersey It probably comes as no surprise that realtors have a fairly easy time selling homes in Bernards Township and the…
Homer’s The Odyssey & The Gods Told This Time By Christopher Nolan
Views: 139 At Mr. Local History, we believe history is at its best when it connects people. That’s why our motto is “History with a social twist.” Every place has a story, every family has a connection, and every generation…
A Tiny Roadside Cemetery in Basking Ridge
Views: 285 Isn’t it strange that you might drive by something 1,000s of times and never notice something….until you do. This is one of those stories. Just to the south of the former Millington quarry entrance on Stonehouse Road sits…
The Wedding Heard Round the Colonies: Lord Stirling, Washington & New Jersey’s Most Famous Revolutionary War Wedding
Views: 438 Commemorating the 247th Anniversary of the Wedding Heard ‘Round the ColoniesJuly 27, 1779 – July 27, 2026 July 27, 1779Basking Ridge’s Biggest Event – Kitty Stirling’s Wedding On July 27, 1779, the Revolutionary War was entering one of…
MLH Housing Development History Series
Views: 105 Every neighborhood, subdivision, shopping center, office park, and apartment complex has a story long before the first shovel ever touched the ground. The Development History Series explores how today’s communities came to be, tracing the land from its…
History of Housing Developments in Bernards Township
Views: 14,324 Bernards Township has a long history of being a sleepy rural town. Then, the US built the Lyons VA, and everything changed as the population grew. Then AT&T came to town in the 1970s, and everything AGAIN started…
Bernardsville’s Affordable Housing Dilemma – They’re Not Alone
Views: 283 While we at the Mr. Local History Project prefer to write about history and not try to make it, sometimes history and perspective from other areas serve as indicators of what not to do, or at least give…
Meandering Basking Ridge’s Largest Lake – The Millington Quarry
Views: 1,577 The Millington Quarry property in the Millington section of Bernards Township is one of the largest former industrial sites in Somerset County and has been the focus of redevelopment discussions for more than a decade. Covering approximately 180…
1717 John Harrison Purchases What Becomes Basking Ridge
Views: 254 For the first time ever, our readers can see and read the original 1717 deed in which John Harrison purchased the land that later became Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Researchers at the Mr. Local History Project are so…
Five Landowners That Owned Half of Somerset County, New Jersey
Views: 992 Maps are such a great source of history, and this 1766 map doesn’t disappoint those looking to learn more about Somerset County, New Jersey’s history. Completed in 1766 by surveyors Benjamin Morgan and Joseph Hills, the Morgan–Hills Map…
MLH Loves To See The Public Engaged….. The Latest Comments
The Vail family was scattered all around the Morristown/Plainfield/Somerville area, and we are all related. When I was a kid,…
My grandfather set the stone for Schmid Park on Pond Hill Road. He worked at the quarry when they had…
I grew up in Summit. We went to the Springfield WD. I graduated Summit HS in 1975. Before they tore…
All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Millington was built from Millington Quarry trap rock, donated by Frederick Schmidt. Until the quarry…
Gary is one hell of man I had the opportunity to work for Gary for a short time when I…
Back in the 1930s, there was a fair-sized wooden box for the drop-off of bread at the entrance to the…
Preservation NJ named the site of the former Lord Stirling School as one of the state’s most endangered due to…
Thank you for this research. I grew up in The Hills on the Bedminster side, in an affordable unit (that…
Hi: Abraham Southard the son of Thomas and Annica Southard had no record of having been married. He left a…
Our Summer 2026 Magazine is HERE!
Full of great local Jersey History to keep you on the edge of your history seat.
Special Edition – America’s 250th The SEMI-QUIN-CENTENNIAL is HERE!
See our special digital magazine. Full of great local Jersey History.
Thanks for sharing this. I always pass that Cemetery and didn’t realize someone was actually buried there. I thought it…