Bernards Township Research

The town of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, welcomes its annual Christmas Eve Sing on The Town Green at 7pm on Dec. 24th.

Jersey is all we do. We make each of these collectibles to promote New Jersey history, as our motto states: “History with a Social Twist.” Whether it’s our Wear Local… Read More »MLHP History Gift Shop

Bernards Township Political Map Goes Blue, Changing the Political Landscape for the First Time in almost 100 years. First of all, this is not a political post, and it is… Read More »Bernards Township’s 2025 Political Earthquake – First in Almost…

Mr. Local History’s “Operation Honor Roll” Celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, honoring ALL those Bernards Township residents who have served in our military. We’re seeking volunteers to undertake this ambitious endeavor… Read More »Honoring WW2 Veterans Book In Service – 1941-1944 Now…

UPDATE: Volunteer as a researcher to help validate the list. Draft letters are being prepared to send to veteran organizations, and validation of the Bernards Township Honor Roll is underway.… Read More »Operation Honor Roll Looks for Help To Indentify ALL…

1930s: Bernards Plateau and the 60-acre Bernards Commons & Decker’s Park Community Project The Bernards Plateau was named for the broad upland just west of the Basking Ridge village center,… Read More »Bernards Plateau and the Bernards Commons Community – Every…

Dr. Robert Finley’s Work To Help Blacks, Defeat Slavery, and Colonize Liberia Original Post: October 19, 2000Updated: October 26, 2025 An abolitionist, as the name implies, is a person who… Read More »Dr. Robert Finley, Founder of a Classical Prep School…

Before the Schley Glider Field rose to fame in Liberty Corner, New Jersey, a quiet field in the Lyons section of Bernards Township launched the state’s first glider site for… Read More »1930 – Lyons Glider Field: Where New Jersey’s Soaring…

While history recognizes President Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation, many don’t know that two New Jersey statesmen persuaded President George Washington to declare the last Thursday in November “a day of… Read More »Thanksgiving Proclamation Way Before Lincoln Did It -Thanks Jersey…

In the mid-1930s, after the Schley Field opened for Glider Competitions, the glider game changed. However, there was a glider field just east in the same town, which began attracting… Read More »Gliders Soar at Historic Schley Field in Liberty Corner,…

In the early 1700s, German Lutherans settled around Pluckemin and established one of the region’s first congregations. By 1715, they had built a small log church on what is the… Read More »The Hills Church & Cemetery & Pluckemin’s Pigtail Mountain

Tucked below the Hills on a quiet cul-de-sac in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township, New Jersey, sits a turreted French Norman-style castle known to locals as Pharelock Castle.… Read More »Bill Beatty and the Hills Haunted Phareloch Castle

🏈 The Ridge–Bernards Thanksgiving Day Turkey Bowl Rivalry. We could hold our tongue no more. It needs to come back so we had to tell the history and why we’d… Read More »Bring Back the Thanksgiving Ridge vs. Bernards Turkey Bowl

👻 The 3rd Floor “Spirit of the Astor Estate” in Basking Ridge. A spirit has haunted owners and workers wandering the third floor causing ghostly havoc at times.Reported by a… Read More »Paranormal Oddities at Basking Ridge’s Astor Estate Town Hall

On September 11, 2001, we lost friends, family, neighbors, and loved ones in a tragedy that changed our nation forever. Their absence is felt every day, yet in the years… Read More »Then & Now: Post 9/11-Somerset Hills Family Friends and…

Memories and a BIG Photo Collection The official end of summer was upon us. People were coming home from summer vacation. Football practice was underway at the high school, and… Read More »Kiwanis Fair Basking Ridge Marked the End of Summer…

UPDATE:Another Dayton family discussion came up…. we couldn’t refuse the query. MLH Introduces Ezra Dayton and the Dayton Families The name “Mount Airy” first appears in printed atlases and maps… Read More »Bernardsville’s Lost Dayton Home, Orchards and Mount Airy Nursery

MLH Mini-Series: The Basking Ridge Rushmore 5 of All Time What better way to preserve local history than by writing about people who have made Basking Ridge one of the… Read More »Basking Ridge’s Historic Rushmore 5 All Time

MLH Mini-Series: The Basking Ridge Rushmore 5 of the Modern Era Meet John Packo, Bill Hine, Irwin Richardt, John Placko, Nick Sant Foster, and Bobby Thomson. Okay, so I live… Read More »Basking Ridge’s Rushmore 5 of the Modern Era

Remembering Bill Hine – the Pope of Basking Ridge Every once in a while, we come across a human interest story that’s so much more than history; we must tell… Read More »The Pope of Basking Ridge – Bill Hine’s Presence…