Join Mr. Local History as we capture some of the great local history stories about Bernardsville, New Jersey.
Views: 10,197 People often wonder how people come to populate an area and how it develops. In Somerset County, the first settlers came for the fertile land from Scotland and the Netherlands. But then something happened. Mining speculators started appearing… Read More »Retrospective: Bernardsville’s Historic Somerset Inn (Hotel)
Views: 5,293 Remembering classic movie theaters that not only showed first rate films, but anchored our towns and kept us full of memories. Three of the last remaining old-time, downtown movie theaters in New Jersey, each with over a century… Read More »Historic New Jersey Cinemas Honored in Miniature Wooden Collection
Views: 2,452 The Somerset Hills have seen its share of aviation accidents, minor and spectacular, over the years. Fortunately, most have involved light aircraft with injuries rather than casualties as the result. The early crashes, prior to WWII, tended to… Read More »Aviation Tragedy: Lieutenant Guy Kendrix Rudd
Views: 3,600 Hey Bernardsville, we’d love your opinion. What are Bernardsville’s most historic icons? We’d like to hear what you have to say. Curious what you think. Choose up to three icons in each town if you like. Vote in… Read More »Vote for Bernardsville’s Most Historic Icons
Views: 6,051 Based at his home studio in Bernardsville, Harry Robinson, a professional structural engineer, is an artist sculptor who changed the landscapes of outdoor spaces across the county. A former zeppelin pilot in the Air Force and Maplewood, New… Read More »Harry Robinson – A Look at His Wooden Sculptures around Somerset Hills
Views: 7,214 It’s strange how you can walk back and forth a hundred times and never notice something, and then one day, you slow down and become mindful. I had that experience the other day as I walked past the… Read More »A Tribute in Bronze – Millicent Fenwick
Views: 6,456 Schools in the Somerset Hills area of northern Somerset County have been a mainstay back to the mid-1700s. We honor the history of these memorable facilities in images from various sources now in our digital research archives. For… Read More »MLH Honors Back to School with Historic School Images From the Somerset Hills
Views: 5,394 The borough of Bernardsville, New Jersey, in conjunction with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Memorial Post 7858 and Downtown Bernardsville, honors local soldiers with a program entitled “Bernardsville honors our soldiers.” Bernardsville was once part of Bernards… Read More »Bernardsville Honors Local Military
Views: 9,850 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: 28,341 UPDATE:Did you see that another Basking Ridge resident is hitting the silver screen, sharing the screen with Basking Ridge’s Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada 2? Meet Basking Ridge’s Helen J. Shen. Helen J. Shen graduated from… Read More »Retrospective: Meryl Streep Was From Basking Ridge BEFORE Bernardsville
Views: 16,365 History is a strange thing. The myth often outweighs the truth in many cases, sometimes distorting it to create a more compelling narrative. Sometimes, it’s like the game where you whisper something to someone, then they whisper to… Read More »Finding the Truth About the KKK in Basking Ridge & the Somerset Hills
Views: 8,553 Historic documents often meet their tragic endings swiftly and tragically. In 1850, Bernards Township was known to have had a massive fire at the home of the township administrator, burning all of the township’s documents, including its founding… Read More »Recreating the Historic Charter of Bernardston
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.
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.
Read More »Liar – Route 31 Did Go Thru Bedminster & Bernardsville
