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Somerset Hills Historic Landmarks
& Historic Districts
Each of the listings below are
historic sites and districts registered with both the New Jersey
Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic
Places.
Mouse over and click on an area of interest |
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Find out how a site or building
qualifies and becomes a Historical site - Click
Here |
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Other Sites of interest please Click Here
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| Don't forget to visit the Events
Page to see if there are any particular events tied to a visit
to one of the areas historical sites. Click Here |
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Additional Self Guiding Tours
Local Tours -Driving Tours Click
Here. |
Today, the Somerset Hills is a region within Somerset
County, New Jersey, United States. It is comprised of Bernards Township,
Bernardsville, Bedminster, Far Hills, and Peapack-Gladstone. Based
on US Consensus data from 2000, population was as follows: Peapack
Gladstone 2,433 (6%), Bernardsville 7,345 (17%), Bernards Twp 24,575
(56%), Bedminster 8,302 (19%), Far Hills 857 (2%), for a total of
43,512
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Bedminster Township
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McDonalds/Kline's
Mills, Klines Mill Road (1)
Bedminster Township, New Jersey
A 19th -20th century "up and down" sawmill was listed
on the National and New Jersey Registers of Historic Places
in 1986. Privately owned by the estate of John Kean, a forebear
of former Bedminster Township Mayor John Kean (and cousin of
former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, the mill is located on
the North Branch of the Raritan River where Kline's Mill Road
intersected with River Road before a storm took the bridge out
in April 1995. A sawmill is said to have operated on the site
as early as 1744. An 1850 map shows the Widow Kline's gristmill,
sawmill and store. Three generations of Kline's owned the mill.
The mill has a field stone foundation , a one story board and
batten exterior, and 15 pane single sash windows.
Source: (Booklet: Bedminster Township - 250 Years by Prich
Matthews, page 21)
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Jacobus Vanderveer
House, (2)
Also known as Knox House
Jct. of US 202 and 206, N of River Rd.,
Bedminster Twp., Pluckemin
(added 1995 - Building - #95001137)
Official Website - Click
Here
Purchased by Bedminster Township in 1989 along with 218 acres,
supported by the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House
and the Bedminster Historical Commission.
With its surrounding acreage, the Jacobus Vanderveer House
is the last remaining site in Somerset County to have been associated
with the locally prominent Vanderveer family. It is the only
structure that remains intact from which to interpret the Vanderveer
family and local Revolutionary War Activities.
While the period of historical significance is 1772, when the
building was first built, the house reached its architectural
apex in 1813, immediately following Mary Hardenburgh Vanderveers’
Federal style additions.
The Jacobus Vanderveer House is the last surviving building associated
with the Vanderveers, a family prominent in Bedminster Township
history from its earliest settlement through the 19th century.
General Henry Knox and his family lived
in the house which served as his headquarters during the winter
of 1778-79 while he was in command of the Continental Artillery.
The c1772 Dutch American core of the Jacobus Vanderveer House
is the only known extant building associated with the Pluckemin
Encampment of 1778-79, which is considered to be the first installation
in America to train officers in engineering and artillery.
The interior contains massive exposed beams as well as Federal,
Greek Revival and Victorian woodwork. The house is owned by Bedminster
Township and its restoration was completed in 2007....more
Learn more about General Henry
Knox, visit the Henry
Knox Museum website
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Lamington Historic
District (A)
The Village is located on Lamington Road (Route 523), three
and a half miles west of Bedminster Village, on a north south
route. The name Lamington is derived from the Indian work Allametunk
that means "place of clay". Lamington is also the
name of a village in Scotland. The earliest settlers were Scot-Irish
Presbyterians, soon joined by Dutch and German families. It
is not know exactly where the first colonists arrived, but the
first appeal to the Presbytery of New Brunswick for a preacher
was in 1739. Lamington supported the New Jersey Provincial Congress
that declared independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776.
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Pluckemin
Historic District (B)
The village of Pluckemin (sometimes spelled Pluckamin in the
history books) was known as Bedminstertown before 1755. In fact,
some 28 spellings of Pluckemin have been discovered.
Some feel the origin of the names comes from the word Pluckamin,
a dialect form of the Algonquin Indian Putchamin. Some
think it came from a village name in Scotland. And others still
think the name derived from the Pluckemin Tavern's early keeper
Jacob Eoff who, in luring customers into his premises by nailing
a loose horseshoe to the ground on the road outside his tavern,
knew the passers-by would certainly dismount to grab the shoe,
and Eoff would "Pluck- 'em-in".
German Lutherans came to Pluckemin in the early 1700's. As
early as 1715 they built a log church on Pigtail Mountain, east
of the village off Mount Prospect Road and above Washington
Valley Road. It was called Im Geberge (On the Mountain). The
site and it's cemetery were in the news in November 1998 when
an article in the Bernardsville News when Toll Brothers, the
Developer of The Hills Development, found more than two dozen
bodies in a cemetery (now up to 66). The builder exhumed the
remains and relocated them to a single grave in the Presbyterian
Church on Pluckemin. While the headstones were moved to the
Oldwick Lutheran Church, historians are hoping the original
headstones will be placed at the single grave in Pluckemin.
The original tavern, owned by German, Jacob Eoff, who purchased
500 acres from the original Peapack Patent and John Johnstone's
estate, his property became Pluckemin Village where he established
a tavern in 1750 (on the corner where the current A & P
resides). Eoff's farmhouse was north of the village where the
current King's Super Market presides.
The Pluckemin Encampment on Schley Mountain where Colonial
militia were trained on artillery equipment are two reminders
of the Township's involvement in the Revolutionary War.
Historical sites include the 1751 House (Jacob Eoff's daughter
who married John Boylan. The red building stands today at the
Courtyard at Pluckemin.
General George Washington's headquarters were in Pluckemin
(Fenner House) on January 4, 1777 after the Battle of Princeton.
Notable people with him were Dr.
Benjamin Rush , Generals Henry
Knox, Nathaniel
Greene, and John
Sullivan. Legend has it that during the stopover, an officer
rode his horse up the stairs to the second floor and back down.
Indentation made by a horse's shoes were said to have been visible
on the stair steps.
After the Battle of Princeton, thirteen officers were quartered
in the Fenner House. Over two hundred British soldiers were
imprisoned St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Washington attended funeral
services on January 5, 1777 for Capt. William Leslie (a British
soldier and friend of Dr. Benjamin Rush).
Washington and his wife stayed at the Fenner house in February
1779 after the French Alliance Ball that commemorated the first
anniversary of the alliance of the King of France with the American
Colonies. The house was demolished in 1942. The Daughters of
the American Revolution placed a stone at the site, currently
the site of Clerio Fine Food and Catering. In 1988 a replica
"Fenner House" was built in 1988 by L.G. Construction
Company. Marra Advertising presently occupies the building.
Another site is the Jacobus Vanderveer House, who bought 439
acres in 1743 just north of Pluckemin. On the estate, his son
Jacobus II built the house where General
Henry Knox would live during the winter and spring of late 1778 thru mid - 1779.
The Pluckemin Archaeological Project, (by Clifford
Sekel, 1970's) gives a rare account of the beginning and extend
of General Knox's artillery encampment, known today as the country's
first "West Point". The Continental artillery park
was located at Pluckemin, New Jersey, several miles north of
the infantry camps. At this location, the artillerists built
barracks for almost 1000 men and established a depot, repair
facilities and an academy for artillery officers. This encampment
was abandoned by the Army in June 1779.
In the 1980's, archaeological
excavations by Rutgers University exposed remains of the "Artillery
Park" and recovered thousands of artifacts. Additional
info on the Pluckemin Archaeological Project - Click
Here.
Two artifacts found at Pluckemin have changed the view of the
early American flag and it's use by the Continental Army. These
were decorative belt tips which probably adorned the ends of
officer's "over the shoulder" leather sword belts.
Each of these belt tips is hand engraved and bear almost identical
designs of a cannon, flag staff and flag, a motif very similar
to that found on American artillery buttons of the period. These
belt tips had never been seen before and their use by the American
army was previously unknown. What made them all the more spectacular
was the fact that they both showed a new orientation of the
stars on the field of the American flag, five stars, over three
stars, over five stars.
The colonial flavor of Pluckemin village is typical for this
area of the state. George Washington may not have slept here,
but he and his troops most certainly marched through Bedminster.
...more
Source: (Booklet: Bedminster Township - 250 Years by Prich
Matthews)
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Pottersville Village
Historic District (C)
Pottersville owes it initial settlements and later development
to the Lamington River used for early mills and manufacturing.
The river separates two townships and two counties, Bedminster
in Somerset to the east, and Tewksbury in Hunterdon to the west.
William Willet is said to have been the first settler as the
village site in the early 1750s. His home was on the west side
just below the falls. On the west side he established a feed
and flour mill, and a fulling mill at an upper site. Both mills
were in operation during the revolution, selling goods to the
Continental Army. With the depreciating Continental currency,
Willet declared bankruptcy, and sold his mills to the Potter
Family (Col. Samuel Potter), giving the name Potter's Mills.
Samuel's grandson Sering Potter built a new four mill in 1840
on the site of the destroyed one. When a post office was established,
the village name became Pottersville, and Potter became the
first Postmaster. But even the Potter family had trouble, going
into bankruptcy in early 1878, forcing the sale of all of the
mills and assets.
The railroad reached Pottersville in 1889 with passenger and
freight service. Know for growing and shipping peaches, in 1889
the Parkside Hotel was built by Henry "Whiskey Hank"
Flemming, a local distiller. In 1892, he sold the hotel to Ellis
Sutton, who renamed it Hotel Sutton. The railroad station was
at the back of the Hotel. When the railroad closed in 1912,
and it too closed in 1912. The early dream of Pottersville being
an ever booming river driven manufacturing center was not to
be. It has become a quiet residential community with only a
few local services. (excerpts from Bedminster Township - 250
Years by Prich Matthews)
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Bernards Township
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The
Brick Academy (3)
15 West Oak Street
Basking Ridge section of
Bernards Township
Basking Ridge Classical School (added 1976 - Building - #76001185)
Also known as The Academy;The Brick Academy
.Most Significant person: Robert
Finley.
The 1809 Federal-style Brick Academy located in the center
of Basking Ridge has been a boys’ private preparatory
school, a public school, a meeting hall for several fraternal
and benevolent organizations, and the Bernards Township municipal
building. It currently serves as the headquarters of The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills. ...more |
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Alward Homestead / Alward Farmhouse
(4)
40 Mount Airy Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ
(aka Chimney Ash Farm)
Alward Farmhouse (added 1986 to the National Register - Building
- #86000388)
Also known as Chimney Ash Farm, 40 Mt. Airy Rd., Basking Ridge.
Built by Henry Alward.
Henry Alward, son of Henry Alward and Mary Cox, married Osee
Pennington daughter of John
Pennington and Osee Doty Pennington.
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Basking
Ridge Presbyterian Church (5)
6 West Oak Street, Basking Ridge (added 1974
- Building - #74001190) 6 E. Oak St., Basking Ridge.
The Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, built before 1720, stands
alongside one of the oldest white oaks in the Western Hemisphere
and is estimated to be more than 600 years old. Both General
Washington and Lafayette are known to have met under the giant oak, and Colonial troops often stopped here
to rest. About 35 Revolutionary War soldiers are buried in the
well-preserved graveyard under the tree adjoining the church.
Historical Essay- The
Presbyterian Church, Basking Ridge, NJ - A History 1717-1968
by Dorothy Loa McFadden, Mildred Van Dyke and Eileen Luz Johnston.
 Cemetery
Burial Records/ Maps - Presbyterian Church, Basking
Ridge. See if you have ancestors from the region. 700+ plot
records!
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Coffee House, (6)
(aka 1804 House)
Coffee House (added 1977 - Building - #77000906) 214 N. Maple
Ave., Basking Ridge.
The Coffee House on North Maple, constructed in 1804, is an
example of a New Jersey frame farm house. It served as a residence
and a crossroads tavern, and was a center of activity and entertainment
for the local farms and communities in the early 19th century.
Winner of the 2005 THSSH Historic Preservation Award. ...Learn More
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Kennedy
Martin Stelle Farmstead (7)
Kennedy--Martin--Stelle Farmstead (added 2004 - District -
#03000868)
450 King George Rd., Bernards Township (Basking Ridge)
The historic Kennedy-Martin-Stelle Farmstead, a National Register
site located at 450 King George Road in Bernards Township, is
being preserved and operated by the Friends of the Kennedy-Martin-Stelle
Farmstead, a separate organization from the Historical Society
...more
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Image courtesy of Perkins Library, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina.
Lord Stirling Home c1911 |
Lord
Stirling Manor (8)
Site, 96 Lord Stirling Road, Bernards Twp
Note: House is no longer standing.
Lord
Stirling, a Major General in the Continental Army, moved
to his country
manor at Basking Ridge in 1768 where he raised flax, apples
and bred horses. There was also a three-story brick dwelling,
stables, a coach house and other outbuildings.
Only two small brick outbuildings, dating from the early 19th
century, remain. Archeological investigations are currently
taking place on the site, and plans are underway to restore
the outbuildings. The site hosts an annual 1770s festival in
October. (See Events).
Lord Stirling achieved the rank of Major General, born in 1726
and died in 1783. He is buried in Albany NY at the Albany
Rural Cemetery.
Notable tidbits about William Alexander (Lord Stirling:
- Stirling was noted as one of General Washington's most trusted
military leaders in the Continental Army.
- The town of Stirling NJ is named after him.
- He never was officially given the title of Lord by the House
of Lords in England.
- General Lord Stirling was the presiding Judge at the Court
Martial of General Charles Lee after the battle of Monmouth.
General Lee was famous in Basking Ridge for being captured
by the British at the Widow White's Tavern on December 13,
1776. Lee was declared Guilty, confirmed by Congress and subsequently
stripped from his rank.
- Alexander was involved heavily in the slave trade in his
years before the revolution.
- Stirling had a number of bouts with Bankruptcy before, during,
and after the Revolutionary war.
(Source - William Alexander, Lord Stirling by Paul David Nelson
-1987 ISBN: 0817302832 )
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Lyons Train Station
(9)
Lyons Road, Lyons section of Bernards Township
A one-story Tudor Revival-style structure built in 1931, was
designed by noted architect, D.T. Mack.
One of the stopping points of what was earlier known as the
"Millionaires Express".
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The Boudinot Southard Ross Estate (13)
(Pronounced Boo -Din-know)
Placed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places Sept. 11, 2009 and Dec. 18, 2009 respectively.
The fifty-acre Boudinot-Southard-Ross property, which borders the Basking Ridge Country Club and Lord Stirling Park, has three historic buildings: a house, barn, and outbuilding. The original house, which retains some early details, was built in 1777 by Elias Boudinot. The property is surrounded by preserved open space and offers wonderful panoramic views.
Read our Historic Profile - Click Here
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Franklin Corners
Historic District (D)
(470 acres, 11 buildings)
Franklin Corners Historic District (added 1975 - District -
#75001159)
N of Bernardsville on Hardscrabble and Childs Rds. and U.S.
202, Bernardsville
Samuel Johnson House
Van Dorn's Mill,
Franklin Corner School
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Liberty Corner Historic
District (E)
(added 1991 - District - #91001477)- Also known as Liberty
Corner
Roughly, jct. of Church St. and Valley and Lyons Rds., and area
W and SW, Bernards Township, Liberty Corner
1722 - John Annin, officially know as John Johnston of Annandale,
Scotland, arrives in Bernards and takes title to 1,000 acres.
The settlement was known as Annin's Corner.
In 1766, William Annin, son of John Annin, builds an old stone
house with rocks from the neighboring quarry. There are initials
on these blocks "W.A" and "H.S.M", along
with the date, indicating the Builder (William Annin) and the
mason (Hugh Sunderland).
Sometime during American Revolution, the name is changed from
Annin's Corner to Liberty Corner. However, the area was also
mentioned as Bullion's Tavern during the war.
While the Annin stone house was destroyed, it was located just
across from the present day English Farm, site of the Rochambeau
Revolutionary trail through Liberty Corner (See Events),
in August 1781, when the area was called Bullion's Tavern (for
the tavern that was located in the center of town). Additional
Photos and maps are in the Photo archive
section.
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Basking Ridge Historic District
ID 2469- Area between North and South Finley, North and South
Maple Aves., Lewis, West Craig, and Oak Street. DOE- 8/18/1994
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Bernardsville Borough
Photo c1900 |
Bernardsville Train
Station
US Route 202 (10)
One of the stopping points of what was earlier known as the
"Millionaires Express".
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Bernardsville Library c 1907 earlier know as The John Parker
Tavern.
Recent image of the former Bernardsville Library |
 John
Parker Tavern, 2 Morristown Road (11)
The gray building that housed the Bernardsville Public Library
for over ninety years was originally called the Vealtown Tavern
and later the John Parker Tavern. Constructed in the 1700's,
the tavern was a stopover for the weary and thirsty, an inn
for passersby, and, for a time, served the officers and men
of the Continental Army, and lore tells of a ghost as well,
more
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Reynolds - Scherman
House
71
Hardscrabble Rd, Bernardsville, New Jersey(12)
(National and State Historical Listing added 1989 - Building
- #89000298)
The Stone House was built around 1770and was reported to
have been used as a commissary for Washington's Colonial Troops
during the American Revolution. The Hoffman building, located
in the foothills of the Highlands, now houses the Scherman
Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary offices.
Constructed as a barn originally, the structure was converted
into a residence in the early 1800's. All of the property,
the structures, and the land are now on the New Jersey and
National Registers of Historic Places. While the home was
a private residence, the home was carefully restored with
authentic material of the period.
Architect, builder, or engineer: Unknown
Architectural Style: Early Republic, Colonial Revival
Historic Person: Scherman,Harry
The Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, located in Bernardsville,
Basking Ridge, and Harding Township, NJ, has its beginnings
in the 1965 donation of 125 acres by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Scherman
to the New Jersey Audubon Society. Later, in 1973 and 1975,
Mr. G. Frederick Hoffman donated parcels of land. The Hoffman
estate house and caretaker's house were added to the Sanctuary
in 1981, at the time of Mr. Hoffman's death. This completed
what is now the Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, 276 acres
of woodland, field, and floodplain habitat supporting over
200 species of wildlife over the course of a year.
Born in Montreal, Canada, in 1887, Harry
Scherman was a highly resourceful marketer and a devout
reader. He believed that the love of reading and of owning
books could be effectively marketed to the "general reader,"
an audience often neglected in the book publishing industry
of that period. Scherman's first book marketing scheme involved
a partnership with Whitman Candy, in which a box of candy
and a small leather bound book were wedded into one package.
These classic works, which he called the Little Leather Library,
eventually sold over thirty million copies.
Scherman's ultimate goal was to create an effective means
of large-scale book distribution through mail order. The success
of direct-mail marketing had already been proven in other
industries by the 1920s, but no one had figured out how to
successfully market books in this fashion. The difficulty
was in applying a blanket marketing approach to a group of
unique titles with different topics and different audiences.
Scherman's solution was to promote the idea of the "new
book" as a commodity that was worthy of ownership solely
because of its newness. His approach focused attention on
consumers owning and benefiting from these new objects, rather
than on the unique qualities of the objects themselves. In
1926, Scherman's idea came to fruition, and with an initial
investment of forty thousand dollars by Scherman and his two
partners, the Book-of-the-Month
Club was born.
See also Scherman
Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary
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Olcott Historic District
Just North of Route 202/206 in Bernardsville, New Jersey
(Green area)
Olcott Avenue is named after Frederick Pepoon Olcott (1841-1909), a Bernardsville mountain colony resident who was president of the Central Trust Company in New York which later was merged with JP Morgan. Olcott owned a Bernardsville estate which included the area including the Somerset Hills Country Club.
In 1905 a local resident, Frederick P. Olcott bought twenty-seven acres of what was then known as the Wolfe tract of what is now Olcott Avenue for $10,000. He erected the present stone 9 room Olcott Building at a cost of approximately $100,000 and presented the property to the Bernards Township school district (Bernardsville was still part of Bernards Twp until 1924).
This building served as the first high school in Bernards Township and also housed Bernardsville’s elementary grades. That building was designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. Hardenbergh also was the architect for the Plaza Hotel, the Waldorf Hotel and the Dakota Apartments in New York City, Lincoln said.
While the Olcott Avenue School is but one historic structure within Bernardsville's first historic district area, the areas appeal and historic significance remembers the story of the rise of the middle class in Bernardsville and how this particular location impacted the entire region, from the downtown, Little Italy, and even the Mountain Colony areas.
Click here to read some of the memorable and historic moments and commentary from the Historic District Nomination Forms that were submitted to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office.
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Morristown
National Historical Park
NJ Brigade (F)
When soldiers first arrived in Jockey Hollow for their winter
encampment, they had no choice but to sleep out in the open
in the snow. Wagons with tents arrived a few days later than
did the soldiers. Soldiers remained in the tents until the
completion of the wooden huts. The soldier huts used at Jockey
Hollow were fourteen feet by sixteen feet and housed twelve
men.
General Washington ordered that enlisted mens' huts were to
be built first. Therefore, Officers' huts were not built and
completed until all the enlisted men were settled in huts.
It took most of the soldiers about two to three weeks to build
their huts. The majority of the enlisted men in the Continental
Army were poor, lower class men. A good number of these men
were not even born in America. Army Officers, on the other
hand, were from middle to upper class society and were often
land owners. Enlisted men moved into their huts around Christmas.
The last of the Officers did not get to move into huts until
mid February. The 1779-1780 winter at Jockey Hollow was the
worst winter in over 100 years. Military camp conditions were
so deplorable that many soldiers stole regularly just to eat,
deserted or mutinied.
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Far Hills Borough
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Far Hills Train Station
US Route 202 (21)
One of the stopping points of what was earlier known as the
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Alexander and James Linn Homestead
Mine Brook Rd (22)
Rt. 202/Mine Brook Rd., between Sunnybranch Rd. and Lake Rd.,
(Just North of the Far Hills Train Station, Far Hills)
Also Known as Linn House or Linnfields, Mayfields
Linn, Alexander and James(son), Homestead (added 1988 - Building
- #88002057)
Built in the mid-1700s by Alexander Linn and later became
the home of his son James. Alexander was a Judge of the Court
of Common Pleas, and Member of the Provincial Congress of
New Jersey in 1776.; during the Revolutionary War served as
captain in the Somerset County Militia in 1776.
LINN,
James, a US Senator from New Jersey; born in Bedminster
Township, Somerset County, N. J., in 1749; pursued preparatory
studies and was graduated from Princeton College in 1769;
studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1772 and commenced
practice in Trenton, N. J.; returned to Somerset County, N.
J. James served as a Major in the Somerset County Militia
during the Revolutionary War under Lord Stirling (from Basking
Ridge).
Significant Year: 1850, 1750
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Peapack Gladstone twin Boroughs
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1701 - The "Peapack Patent" of 1701 transferred
lands from 24 proprietors of East Jersey to George Willocks
and John Johnstone.
On June 6, 1912 Peapack and Gladstone set off from Bedminster
Township and incorporates as an independent twin borough. |
Gladstone Train station in 1908
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Gladstone Train Station
Main Street (38)
One of the stopping points of what was earlier known as the
"Millionaires Express".
(added 1984 - Building - #84002792)
Main St., Gladstone
Architect, builder, or engineer: Unknown
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Area of Significance: Transportation, Architecture
Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924
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Photo Sept 2006 Courtesy of Brooks Betz |
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Peapack Limestone Kiln
(Not noted on map)
Located on the east side of Main Street in Peapack, the Peapack
Limekilns were donated to THSSH in 1996, when the adjacent
property was being developed as a residential subdivision.
THSSH created a pocket park featuring the kilns that was dedicated
in May 1999 and is open to the public. The preserved kilns
serve as an important reminder about the agrarian heritage
of the Somerset Hills.
A limekiln operation existed in Peapack as early as 1794.
By that time agricultural land in New Jersey was “wearing
out,” and an important use for lime was as a soil additive
used by farmers to increase the yield of their crops. Many
farmers burned limestone in small kilns on their property,
but the Peapack kiln was a commercial operation. Lime was
also an important ingredient in mortar and whitewash. Lime
would also have been used in the early leather-tanning factory
that was located beside the Peapack River south of the kilns.
An 1848 daybook kept by John Stelle, a farmer in southeast
Bernards Township, records numerous trips to Peapack for lime
during the winter months when roads were frozen or snow covered,
making the 20-mile round trip wagon journey easier than during
the warmer months when mud frequently made roads nearly impassable.
The Peapack area was a good source for limestone, which
was quarried in the nearby vicinity well into the 20th century.
The quarried limestone was loaded into the limekiln from the
top, alternating with layers of fuel, such as charcoal early
on and eventually coal. After burning for about 60 hours,
the lime was removed from the bottom of the kiln.
The Peapack kiln is composed of two adjacent kilns separated
by a vertical joint visible in the stone wall, which suggests
they may have been constructed at different times. The front
wall, constructed of hewn stone, is 26’ high and is
set into the side of a hill that provided easy access to load
the limestone and fuel from the top.
Click to Enlarge
A Sanborn insurance map from 1932 shows the
Peapack Lime Company operation,
with the two kilns labeled as “burners,” a nearby
coal shed, a grinding room, and a large storage building.
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Additional Points of Interest
Here are a few more sites of historical interest to
consider.
(These are not officially registered with the National, State, or
Somerset County registers)
Artwork by Linda Arnold |
English
Farm -
Bernards Township (Liberty Corner)
Situated in the picturesque and historic village of Liberty
Corner, the working farm has been in the same family since
before the Revolutionary War.
Back in the late Summer of 1781, this farm site is where
over 4,000 troops, 1,500 horses, and a heard of over 600 oxen
congregated at what was then known as Bullions Tavern (Liberty
Corner / Bernards Twp) . The site recently comm orated the
the 225th anniversary of the march of French and continental
forces through New Jersey to their victory over the British
at the Battle of Yorktown. A reenactment on the English Farm,
the actual location of the French campsite, was recently performed
recreating August 29, 1781.
Additional history of the English Farm- Click
Here |
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From Official Kate Macy Ladd Brochure
| Update:
Natirar/Virgin Spa/County Park
The 491 Acre preservation effort, was purchased in
2003 for $22 million Somerset County Improvement Authority.
In the first 30 years of a 99 year lease, the 80 Acre
lease to Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson will return
$25.7 million. A portion of the remaining funds will
be used to develop the remaining 411 acres.
If the estate had been sold to developers, with current
zoning laws, it could have been 50 homesites and the
mansion would probably have been lost stated Somerset
County Freeholder, Rick Fontana, who worked on the acquisition
effort.
The property includes some 13,000 feet of stream frontage,
189 acres of forest, 230 acres of former agricultural
land and 44 acres of wetlands. The property is set to
become a county park, managed by the Somerset County
Park Commission, which opened it's first portion
in 2009 with a new restuarant and culinary school.
Source: Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Newsletter - Fall 2006
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Natirar
-
(Kate Macy Ladd) Peapack Gladstone /Far Hills / Bedminster
One of the most famous anagrams
(a word spelled backwards) around the Somerset Hills is the
name Natirar. Natirar, the anagram of the
word Raritan, for the Raritan River that runs through the infamous
estate.
491 acres - Purchased by Somerset County NJ in 2003 for $23
million to create a new park for low-impact recreation
such as hiking and biking, mixed with an occasional concert
or crafts fairs.
The Natirar Mansion sits at the end of a 1.25-mile driveway within a 491-acre estate
that occupies portions of three municipalities. (The main
buildings and 327 acres are in the Borough of Peapack and
Gladstone; 124 acres are in the Borough of Far Hills; 40 acres
are in the Township of Bedminster.) The main entrance, once
at the Far Hills train station, is now just over the town
line, nearly at the spot where Main Street (Peapack Road)
crosses the North Branch of the Raritan River and New Jersey
Transit's Peapack Gladstone railroad branch.
On 80 Acres of the 491 acre estate, The Natirar Mansion,
will be transformed into the Spa at Natirar by British tycoon
Sir Richard Branson.
Natirar is historically remembered for the estate created by Walter
Graeme Ladd (1857-1933) and his wife, Catherine Everit Macy
Ladd (1863-1945), who began to acquire estate land in April
1905, naming it Natirar ( Raritan backwards) for the Raritan
River that flows through the property. The estate includes
22 buildings, many historic, six wells, three bridges,
three streams, a pond, and woodlands. The 33,000 square-foot
mansion itself, grand that it may be, is sedate and austere.
Kate Macy and Walter Ladd began acquiring property in the
Somerset Hills in 1905. Macy was a Quaker heiress to a whaling/oil/shipping
fortune; her father's business partner was John D. Rockefeller.
Ladd was an entrepreneur and attorney to John D. Rockefeller.
They married in 1883 and rented property in Bernardsville
as they acquired small local farmsteads until their estate
spread over 1,000 acres throughout Peapack/Gladstone, Far
Hills and Bedminster.
The main entrance lane ambles upward
as the stream turns away, then leads through woodland until
it emerges hilltop, with stone cottages and stable in view,
then swings in front of a small "castle".
Moroccan (NW Africa) King Hassan II bought the property from
the Ladd Estate in 1983 but he never permanently lived there. Somerset
County bought Natirar from his Hassan II's son, King Mohammed VI of Morocco
in 2003 for $22 million.
The current Branson-Wojtowicz development partnership and
its co-applicant, the Somerset County Improvement Authority
(SCIA), are seeking board approval for 143,000 square feet
of new construction at the estate. The mansion, two cottages,
carriage house and greenhouse stand on 88 acres that the county leased to Sir Richard Branson.
It is noted that the non-spa area (aka the park), containing
some 400+ acres, opened to the public in the Fall of 2006.
Original Architects-
Guy Lowell & Henry Hardenberg- who
also designed The Plaza Hotel, The Dakota, Manhattan Courthouse,
and the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
_______________________________
Additional Information:
See the actual Kate Macy Ladd Convalescent Home Brochure- Visit the Archives
Section
See For Sale Article June 13, 1982 - NY Times Article - Click
Here
To see additional recent photos and the outer cottages and
garages- Click
Here |
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Photo by Brooks H. Betz
|
USGA
Golf Museum - Far Hills
The USGA museum sits in the heart of a 60-acre estate.
The USGA's facility at Far Hills not only documents the game's
rich history, but it is home to the most sophisticated and
technically advanced golf equipment test facility in the country.
Estate History:
Constructed in 1919, built for Thomas Frothingham. In 1926
- Thomas Frothinghams Dogwood estate (now USGA Golf House
Museum) was sold to John Sloan, a prominent furniture retailer,
due to bankruptcy as partner of investment company Potter
Brothers & Company. After a failed suicide attempt, a divorce
from his wife, and moving to Mexico to avoid bankruptcy prosecution,
Frothingham died in Mexico. |
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US
Equestrian Team Foundation Headquarters - Gladstone
The Hamilton Farm estate is home to the United States Equestrian
Team Foundation.
Besides being the training site for horses and riders
that participate in Olympic events, it is also the venue for
the annual U.S. Equestrian Team Festival of Champions,
a four-day extravaganza of horsemanship, including driving,
show jumping and dressage, normally held annually in the third week of June. |
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Essex
Hunt Club - Peapack
The Essex Hunt Club is a fox-hunting club that evolved into
two private clubs, Essex Fox Hounds, which still hunts, and
the Essex Hunt Club,
a winter recreational club on a property of more than 100
acres that uses an ice rink for figure skating and hockey.
Masters of Foxhounds
Association of North America is the sanctioning body in
the US for what the organization entitled the Essex Fox Hounds,
that was spun from the original Essex Hunt Club. |
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Photo by Michael V. Gutwillig
Cross Gardens Map
|
W. Raymond Cross
Estate & Gardens- Bernardsville
Site of the New Jersey Brigade Unit of Morristown National
Historical Park, on Old Jockey Hollow Road in Bernardsville,
NJ.
The original house, built by John A. Bensel in 1905, formed
the centerpiece of his “Queen Anne Farm.” The
estate included a carriage house, a five-story stone water
tower, and a gate house.
In 1929, W. Redmond Cross purchased the property and renamed
it “Hardscrabble House”. His wife, Julia Newbold
Cross, was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society for
eight years. Mrs. Cross made extensive improvements in the
garden with the help of Clarence Fowler, a noted landscape
architect. Together they cultivated an unusual assortment
of plants throughout the garden. The house was extensively
remodeled in 1940, after the death of Mr. Cross.
For Directions- Click
Here
The Cross Estate Gardens are a project of the New Jersey
Historical Garden Foundation, in cooperation with the National
Park Service.
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Somerset
County Historical Sites Download |
| _____________________________________ |
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Somerset
County Cultural & Heritage Commission 2004. A book
entitled Historic Sites & Districts in Somerset County,
NJ is available for additional research.
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(Information has been gathered from the National Historic Registry,
The Historical Society of Somerset County, and other local reference
materials.)
Back To Map
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