Did
You
Know
That ?

• 1760 - May 24 - Witnessed by Francis Bernard Esq, Charters the Township of Bernardston (Bernards Township) 250 years old in 2010 giving the right to choose a constable, oversee the poor, oversee the Highways, and to enjoy the rights, liberties, and immunities.
• 1951 - What was formerly the Blairsden (Peapack) stables, is sold to the Matheny School, (Walter and Marguerite Matheny founded in 1946) which is the present location for the Matheny Medical and Educational Center which focuses on children and adults cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida

Students and History

Bernards Township Oak Street School Elementary Students Combine Artwork, Local Pride, and History while celebrating township's 250th Anniversary.

The Hallway Mural

In 2010, Bernards Township marks its 250th anniversary of its formal charter as a township. Back in 1760, the town was known as Bernardstown, named in honor of the Governor of New Jersey.

Over 6 weeks, 640 student artists, 70 volunteers, the Oak Street PTO, and one artist later… the cafeteria at Oak Street School has now been radically transformed in celebration of the school’s 70th anniversary and Bernards Township's 250th anniversary!

The K-5 Oak Street School expressed their artistic abilities while sharing with our younger residents the chance to learn about the township's most historic icons. It couldn't have been done without the tremendous support of Caren Frost Olmsted, a local artist who helped prepare the students with tracings of the historic sites.

Caren Olmsted is not just a history buff, she's lived our local history. Her great-great grandmother taught at Maple Avenue School in Basking Ridge, the forerunner to the Oak Street School. She's lived in the area all her life and currently has two children attending Oak Street. When she was approached about a mural by Dr. Costa, the principal at Oak Street School, she said "Why not draw the history of our town?" The rest is history. "Watching how excited the kids were to paint the history of our town on the wall was just amazing. They were absolutely wonderful to work with", noted Olmsted.

Above: Meet Caren Olmsted, the creator and designer of the Oak Street Mural Project.
Video courtesey of Nathan Susanj and the Basking Ridge Patch

At the Historical Society of Somerset Hills, which is based just down the street from the school at the historic Basking Ridge Brick Academy, there's tremendous admiration for everyone who works to preserve and promote our local history. When you combine creativity and history, it brings with it great admiration and local pride. Our hats go off to everyone involved in the Oak Street School mural project for creating such a vibrant, beautiful, and historic mural of the township's historic places.

Local History is SO Important

Today it's difficult to provide local history programs to our area's children. Keeping in line with state curriculum standards and requirements, there's very little room to teach local history in the class. While the local schools do not offer programs in local history, there are very few ways for our younger residents to learn local history, lore, and heritage. The mural project at the Oak Street School was a creative way to educate our students while giving them a fun way to learn. This is why programs like this are so vital to building local pride for our young residents.

This isn't the first time students around Bernards Township have been painting on the walls. For years, it's been customary for each student to put a colored hand print, their personal signature, on the wall in the hallway (Liberty Corner and Oak Street Schools).

The Oak Street Mural

Each of the images below represent a local historic icon that celebrates Bernards Township's local history. To learn more about the history of each of the images, visit the local interest are of THSSH's website - Click Here

Above: The 600 year Great Oak Tree and the Brick Academy schoolhouse (Oak Street)

Above: Bernards Twp Town Hall (former Astor Estate) and downtown Basking Ridge

Above: Downtown Basking Ridge

Above: The historic Van Dorn Mill (Route 202/206) and The Store restaurant & Brick Academy

Above: The English Farm (Liberty Corner Road) and Lord Stirling Stable (Maple Ave)

Above: The Lyons Train Station and Train to Hoboken.

Above/Below: Southard Park, North Maple Avenue

Additional Information

If you'd like to see the Oak Street School Mural History Project, you'd have to request a visit thru Oak Street School - Click Here

Special thanks goes out to Caren Frost Olmsted from CFO Design, for her support and assistance with the project. Caren has also did a great mural for Bernardsville's "Sounds Around Town" event in 2009.

To learn more about the local history of Basking Ridge, Bernards Township, and the Somerset Hills area, please visit us online at www.THSSH.org or www.brickacademy.org.

If you, or anyone you know is interested in volunteering with the History VolunTeens program, visit www.historyvolunteens.org to learn more about various programs and volunteer opportunities.

To learn more about The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills - visit them online at www.THSSH.org

Submitted: April 15, 2010
Submitted by: Brooks Betz

Rate and Comment on this post

About The Brick Academy

The Brick Academy (also known as the Basking Ridge Classical Schoolhouse) is a 1809 Federal-style architectural structure located in the center of Basking Ridge in Bernards Township. The Brick Academy 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, as well as a schoolhouse and museum to local history. The Brick Academy also celebrated its bicentennial in 2009.

About the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH)

Founded in 1928 originally as the Historical Society of Basking Ridge, the mission and name of the society was later changed to The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization including all five communities of the Somerset Hills region: Bedminster Township, Bernards Township, Bernardsville ,Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone which are all located in Somerset County, New Jersey.

The mission of The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH) is to acquire, conserve and share local artifacts and information on matters of local historic interest; cultivate interest in local history; encourage the preservation of local historic resources; facilitate historic research; and preserve, operate, and interpret the Brick Academy.

To further this mission, THSSH sponsors events and activities that promote community awareness and appreciation of the history and architecture of the Somerset Hills. THSSH headquarters is at the Brick Academy in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, where our collections of items of local historic interest are available to the public.