Before America declared its independence, before George Washington’s Army endured the bitter winter at Jockey Hollow, and long before Route 202 became a familiar Somerset Hills thoroughfare, a small grist mill and barn stood along the Passaic River in Franklin Corners. Today, that historic site is home to one of New Jersey’s most treasured landmarks: the Grain House Restaurant.
The Mr. Local History Project celebrates the remarkable 250-year legacy of the Grain House, a structure whose story is deeply woven into the history of Bernards Township, the American Revolution, and the generations of families who helped shape the Somerset Hills.
The story begins in 1768, when Samuel Lewis, a local miller, constructed a water-powered grist mill and barn on property originally acquired from William Penn. That same year, Scotland began publishing the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, while Methodism was taking root in colonial New York. Little did Lewis know that his modest milling operation would soon play a role in America’s fight for independence.
In 1777, Lewis’s grandson, Richard Southard, acquired the property. Its strategic location along a major transportation route connecting New York and Philadelphia made it ideal for commerce, but also placed it squarely in the path of Revolutionary War activity. During the brutal winter of 1779–1780, the mill supplied desperately needed flour, meal, and animal feed to Washington’s Continental Army encamped at nearby Jockey Hollow in Morristown. The adjoining barn served as a grain storage facility, giving rise to the name that survives more than two centuries later: the Grain House.
Following the Revolution, the property remained in the family, eventually passing through Samuel Woodward to Ferdinand Van Dorn, a Peapack miller who married Woodward’s daughter, Phebe. As the milling business prospered, the original wooden mill could no longer meet demand. In 1842, Van Dorn constructed a larger stone mill featuring an internal waterwheel system. That impressive structure still stands across Route 202 from the restaurant and is remembered today as the Van Dorn Mill.
From a colonial grist mill supporting Washington’s Army to a beloved restaurant welcoming generations of visitors, the Grain House remains a remarkable link between Bernards Township’s Revolutionary past and its present.
Franklin Corners / Willmere Farm Project
The property passed through several hands in the years that followed and gradually fell into disrepair, but in 1928 it received a surprising new lease on life. Famous restaurateur William Childs saw intriguing possibilities in the barn standing near the old mill. Accordingly, the estate passed to Marguerite J. McMurtry and the two sons of her sister, Anna D. Childs. Three heirs to the family willed the 100-acre farm to William (100-acre brother of Luther Childs) of Bernards Township by their deed on September 19, 1927, reciting the dee19, 1927t April 1867, to the Willmere Farm, a New Jersey corporation, of Jersey City, by deed of January 27, 1928. This corJanuary 27, 1928ed as owner up until December 1958.
While the barn was originally next to the Van Dorn mill, Childs moved it across the road to the eastern side of Route 202 the following year and began converting it into an inn. At the time, the barn’s roof and sides were gone, but the structure was solid. The community area was known as Franklin Corners, reportedly named after Benjamin Franklin. Over the years, the location has also been listed as Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, Franklin Corners, and Bernards Township.
Restoring Franklin Corners
In 1930, William Childs embarked on an ambitious project to transform Franklin Corners into a living historic village he called Willmere Farms. Inspired by John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and the historic Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts, made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Tales of a Wayside Inn, Childs envisioned a smaller-scale colonial community where history would not simply be preserved but brought to life.
He dreamed of creating a working, old-fashioned village where visitors could experience the sights, sounds, and traditions of early American life. At its height, Willmere Farms reportedly included as many as 14 buildings, featuring historic homes, grist and sawmills, a blacksmith shop, barns, a one-room schoolhouse, a general store, a rug-making shop, guest accommodations, and a restaurant originally known as the Old Mill Inn.
Sadly, Childs never lived to see his entire vision completed. After a stroke, he died on May 22, 1938, leaving behind a remarkable preservation effort that helped shape Franklin Corners’ character for generations.
Perhaps the most enduring piece of his legacy is today’s Grain House Restaurant. The original barn’s historic structural lines have remained remarkably intact, although its interior spaces have found new purposes over the years. The second floor once contained seven bedrooms, while the former wagon and machinery room became today’s Childs Dining Room. The original stable became the restaurant’s grill area.
What began as one man’s dream of creating a miniature Colonial Williamsburg in the Somerset Hills became a lasting tribute to the region’s early American heritage.
Source: Bernardsville Library History Room
William focused on the Grain House and his Revolutionary-era hamlet because he almost bankrupted the corporate restaurant business by introducing a vegan menu to the restaurant chain. The Board decided Childs was not fit to run the company and was forced out. So, William focused on his Franklin Corners project, restoring the Grain House barn and converting it to an inn and restaurant. Rather than gut the interior, Childs chose to preserve the classic structure’s unique spirit through painstaking restoration. Not a beam in the barn’s solid frame was touched, and it remains unchanged to this day, as it was more than two centuries ago. Only the subdivisions’ functions have changed.
The Childs property started at 50 acres and grew to over 550, stretching from the present-day Grain House down to North Finley Avenue in Basking Ridge. Because Childs was a devoted member of Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, the property, which you might think was in Bernardsville, became part of Basking Ridge. Many in the area were thankful because the project took place during the Great Depression. Childs employed, housed, and fed 50 workers throughout the project. In 1938, over 100,000 people visited the restored mill.
The Father of “Industrial Dining”
William Childs’ Olde Mill Inn was Childs ‘ immediate success and cemented his family’s already sterling reputation in the restaurant business. William opened the first Childs’ restaurant with his son Samuel (later an NJ State Senator) in 1889 on New York City’s Cortland Street.
These country boys from the Somerset Hills envisioned a grand, cross-country chain, and the Childs’ name eventually grew to 7 establishments in North America. They ran one of the world’s largest chains and served over 50,000,000 meals a year.
The Childs’ restaurants were known for their large glass fronts and sparkling white walls and tables, and the brothers proved to be not only astute businessmen but progressive employers as well. They were the first in the United States to hire women to wait tables. In William’s words, the Chandler family’s success was based on “food as close as possible to that served in the best homes . . . family recipes and absolute cleanliness.” Their concept was moderately priced meals, freshly prepared in a pristine atmosphere in convenient locations. This sounds simple enough today – but in the late 19th century, it truly revolutionized the industry.
Note the card stating the location as Bernardsville and on Highway 32. Bernardsville is incorrect, but Route 202 was once Route 32.
Credit: Bernardsville Library history room
The Childs family owned the property until 1952.
1992 – The Bocina Era
The Olde Mill Inn came on the market in 1992. The Olde Mill Inn was a separate facility built in 1977 to supplement the old Grain House, used as a hotel for conferences and social events. By 1993, both were neglected and outdated, and Bocina Development purchased the property in March 1993 and poured millions of dollars into renovations. Bruce Bocina, raised in Short Hills and now living in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, decided the effort was worth it. Two years later, on February 4, 1994, the Grain House reopened after being gutted and refurbished in an upscale Federalist Colonial style.
From left to right: Rich Crepeau (partner), Bruce Bocina, Brenda Curnin, Casper Bocina, Phyllis Bocina, Barbara Curtin
Credit: The Olde Mill Inn archives
For the transformation, they hired architect Dave Minno. During the Bocina restoration, they paid particular attention to updating the facility while preserving its historic charm. An outdoor patio was addeThey added. The Grain House remains fundamentally unchanged since Colonial times.
Ghosts in the “House”
Ghosts, Legends, and the Haunting of the Grain House
With more than 250 years of history tucked into its wooden beams and stone foundations, it’s no surprise the Grain House has collected a few ghost stories along the way. After all, when a building has witnessed the American Revolution, generations of changing ownership, and centuries of visitors, who’s to say everyone has actually left?
Originally known as the Southard Barn and later called the Grain House for storing grain during the Revolutionary War, the building is also rumored to have sheltered freedom seekers traveling the Underground Railroad. While that chapter of its history remains local lore, stories of those who may have passed through its doors have only deepened its mystery.
The best-known resident spirit is George, the disgruntled caretaker who apparently never got the message that his employment had ended. Legend says George was promised ownership of the property sometime in the 18th century, only to discover he had been written out of the will. More than two centuries later, he supposedly hasn’t forgiven the slight. Visitors and employees have reported unexplained noises, doors slamming without warning, and strange activity in the barn’s oldest sections. Believers say it’s simply George, still keeping watch over the property he insists should have been his.
often stopped at night outside the Grain House.
Credit: Arcadia Books: Around and About Basking Ridge
But George reportedly has company. Another spirit is said to be Justin, a formerly enslaved man from Pennsylvania, believed to have died in 1858 at approximately 70 years of age. His story is often connected to the property’s rumored Underground Railroad history. A third, unidentified figure has reportedly been spotted wandering through the building, adding yet another mystery to the Grain House’s collection of unexplained visitors.
And then there’s the Phantom Carriage of Franklin Corners. Local legend tells of a ghostly horse-drawn carriage appearing along the old roads near the Grain House, seemingly traveling through the village as though the 19th century had never ended.
Are these restless spirits, echoes of the past, or simply the creaks and groans of a centuries-old building? Nobody can say for certain. But one thing is clear: at the Grain House, history isn’t always content to stay in the history books. And if a door suddenly slams behind you, don’t be too quick to blame the wind. It might just be George, reminding everyone who’s really in charge.
Inside the Grain House
Today, the Grain House Restaurant continues its tradition of bringing people together around good food, local history, and a commitment to supporting sustainable farms. Under Executive Chef Luca Carvello, the kitchen celebrates the bounty of local growers. At the same time, the historic barn offers guests something few restaurants can match: the chance to dine surrounded by more than 250 years of Somerset Hills history.
What makes the Grain House particularly special is how its original working spaces have been thoughtfully transformed while preserving their historic character. The former wagon and machinery room is now the William Childs Dining Room, honoring the man whose preservation vision helped save Franklin Corners. The grain storage area, once filled with provisions for George Washington’s Continental Army, is now Washington’s, while the old horse stable now welcomes guests as the Coppertop Pub.
Upstairs, the great haymow, once filled with harvested hay, has been divided into intimate dining rooms and offices within the barn’s original timber framing. Each room honors a notable figure from the area’s past, including William Alexander (Lord Stirling), John Annin, Henry Southard, Millicent Fenwick, and Mary Lewis Kinnan—names that connect the restaurant to the rich history of Basking Ridge, Liberty Corner, and the surrounding Somerset Hills.
From feeding Washington’s soldiers to serving today’s diners, the Grain House has certainly changed its menu over the centuries. But its greatest accomplishment may be that the old barn still does what it has always done best: bring people together under one historic roof.
Sheila Palka, the Marketing Director for the Olde Mill Inn and the Grain House, commented, “This is like a museum to me. We went to great lengths to furnish the entire property with period-appropriate antiques, and you can see it here, where the rooms feel more intimate. You really get the feel of how people once lived.” Downstairs, stone hearths and striking beamed ceilings run throughout. In 2012, they built a small organic farm adjacent to The Grain House.
Upstairs, hallway ceilings are still deeply sloped and beamed, and most of the original windows are small. Like the doors, all have authentic hasps and ironwork. The Haymow space beneath the roof beams was once sleeping quarters, where beds strung with ropes supported straw mattresses. Now they house offices and meeting rooms that are available for private functions, each named for a notable New Jersey figure.
Recognition
Today’s Grain House continues the Olde Mill Inn’s long tradition of Innable elegance. Today’s Grain House, steeped in a gracious era long past, remains a local favorite. It is ideal for intimate parties, with a historic building that reflects its charm and is designed to meet a wide range of needs. Each handsomely decorated room has a deck or patio to accommodate any gathering, from breakfast meetings and lunch buffets to formal plated dinners with a dance floor. The Grain House, deeply rooted in our area’s past and lovingly preserved by all its owners, offers a historic atmosphere of charm and fellowship unmatched anywhere else in New Jersey.
When the Van Dorn Mill grain house was moved across the road (Rt 202) by William Childs, my grandfather, Samuel Allen, a builder living on S.Finley Ave. helped with this historic move. Following the move, my uncle, Wallace Childs, turned the building into a restaurant
called the Old Mill Inn. As a child, I enjoyed many delicious meals there with my family, especially the Chicken Maryland! In more recent years the restaurant became The Grain House, and the Old Mill Inn name lives on as the big inn/ hotel across the big parking lot.
Grat memories. My grandmother was Ferdinand Van Dorn’s granddaughter. Will Child’s was her husband’s brother in law. Lots of stories about the old mill and the Child’s’ restaurants. My dad worked at one in NYC flapping pancakes in the window.
Very interesting story on the mill. Well done. Hope to visit in the near future. My father was Charles Petty Van Doren