Views: 8,267 New Keepsake: Preserving Bedminster’s History – The Mr. Local History Project (MLH) has been preserving and promoting local history since our non-profit organization was established in 2019. The all volunteer group started a wooden miniature keepsake program to… Read More »Collectible: Preserving Bedminster’s History #summerwhitehouse
Views: 12,308 UPDATE: While we wrote this piece years ago, the Bedminster Charter came back in the news on October 21, 2019, when it was announced that the Forbes family was donating the charter back to Bedminster Township. The story… Read More »The Lost Charters of Bernards Township & Bedminster
Views: 3,514 Hey Bedminster, we’d love your opinion. We’re looking to hear what the public think’s is the most historic icon in Bedminster. Vote in the Series:Know Bernardsville? Vote for their most historic Click HereKnow Bernards Township? Vote for their… Read More »Vote for Bedminster’s Most Historic Icons
Views: 4,403 July is national ice cream month, so it’s time for Mr. Local History’s look back at the history, the good fun (and some “good humor”). NOTE: As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post… Read More »Reflection: Ice Cream around Somerset Hills
Views: 183,828 America’s First Military Academy, the Pluckemin Academy (Dec.1778) was24 Years BEFORE West Point (Mar. 16, 1802). One of the greatest untold stories of the American Revolution. Called the Pluckemin Winter Cantonment, part of the overall Middlebrook Encampment of… Read More »Before the West Point Academy, There was Pluckamin
Views: 7,902 So we’re over at the Bedminster Farmers Market and while meeting a few of the locals, one of the patrons mentioned “why don’t you research what’s going on over at the slave burial grounds in Bedminster. Here we… Read More »A Unique Bedminster Cemetery-“God’s Acre”
Views: 7,740 Tucked in the northern section of Somerset County, New Jersey, the area known as the Somerset Hills has a rich history that Mr. Local History is proud to document. Each property was researched prior to submitting documentation to… Read More »Somerset Hills Historic Sites on the National & State Registers
Views: 12,799 Sister Towns in New Jersey and England Share a Common Bond – and a Name How fun was it when we were contacted by our friends across the pond who were inquiring about what they were calling a… Read More »The Tale of Two Bedminsters
Views: 13,661 NOTE: As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our community. We will continue to grow this piece as information becomes available. History is a strange… Read More »Finding the Truth About the KKK in Basking Ridge & the Somerset Hills
Views: 6,822 Map Identifies Historic Properties, Owners, Building Locations, Local History Including the Often Ignored Pluckemin Artillery Park With over 2,000 hours of painstaking research and countless renderings, the landscaping firm of John Charles Smith & Associates of Far Hills… Read More »Bedminster Map Project Reveals Historic Pluckemin Artillery Park
Did you know that US Route 206 actually used to be Route 31 and what is US Route 202 was actually Route 32?
So now you tell your friend “Take Route 31 North Thru Bedminster
and Turn Right onto Route 32 straight into Bernardsville.” Huh. “Route 31 goes to Clinton right? Left? WRONG! Confused?
Travel back to 1935 and you definitely would have been.
Maybe you could travel down Mine Brook Road to Bernardsville and the directions read take Route 32 south to Bville and stop at the dairy. Or maybe you’re coming down from Chester and you wanted to visit the Brady’s Hamilton Farm in Peapack/Bedminster and you actually have to go down Route 31. Well that was actually the case right up until 1935 when the transition began to change these two crossroads across the Somerset Hills to Routes 202 and 206.
How Confusing?
Have you ever had such a major roadway change names in your lifetime? Your whole psychic changes. Think about how much confusion there is when the Department of Transportation changes highway exits and how long it takes you to forget the old ones and replace it with the new numbers. Geeze, I think there’s still exit signs on the southern end of Route 202 South that still say Old Exit 2B.