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• 1877 - Brothers Samuel and William Childs of Bernards Township introduced the first cafeteria-style restaurant in 1887 in NYC. One of the earliest dining chains in the country, they eventually expanded to over one hundred locations. William Childs later converted an old grain storehouse into the Old Mill Inn, today’s Grainhouse Restaurant.
• 2008 - On November 9, 2008 the The Brick Academy top floor restoration is formally dedicated with a reception to personally thank the Bernards Twp Township Committee, Township Officials, County Freeholders, County Officials, Cultural and Heritage Commissioners, Contractors, Consultants, THSSH members and the general public who generously supported this long-term Historical Society project.

Civil War Exhibit Highlights 150th Anniversary

BERNARDS TWP. - In observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills (THSSH) is sponsoring an exhibit of documents, photographs and artifacts from the era at the Bernards Township Library, 32 South Maple Ave., Basking Ridge.

Now on display, the exhibit features materials from THSSH’s archives and collections that explore local history during the Civil War period. It is entitled “What Happened Here During The Civil War?”

For months, two THSSH members, Ann Parsekian and Kevin Fox, have been combing through documents and artifacts at the Brick Academy and in other local collections to find items that help tell the story.

“Although there is a huge amount of local history of the Revolutionary War period that has been passed down, relatively little research has been done on the Civil War’s impact on the Somerset Hills,” said Parsekian, the society's achivist. “In fact, the idea of an exhibit on the Civil War hadn’t really occurred to me until Kevin Fox suggested it.”

In addition to period materials from the society's collections, several local residents have loaned some family items for the exhibit, including two that the researchers consider the centerpieces of the exhibit: A letter home from the war and an oil painting.

“We were pretty excited to hear about these items, which provide some fascinating glimpses of the war from a local perspective,” Fox said. “We’d be very interested in learning about other family treasures related to the Civil War that residents might have.”

The well-worn letter that is part of the exhibit was written in October 1862 by 20-year-old John Axtell, who grew up on a farm off of Hardscrabble Road in what is now Bernardsville. Axtell and his two older brothers, Cyrus and Ezra, signed up for nine months of duty. The regiment headed to Washington, D.C., after less than two weeks of training at Camp Frelinghuysen in Newark, and saw action at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Va.

The three brothers all returned safely in June 1863, though 15 soldiers in their regiment were killed in action and another 21 died from disease.

The evocative antique oil painting that will be displayed shows Private John Douglass in his tent at Camp Frelinghuysen, which was organized as a rendezvous point for volunteer regiments from New Jersey. It was located on the rural west side of Newark, where Branch Brook Park is now.

The 150th anniversary of the war begins this April

“Having graduated from Gettysburg College, I was familiar with the history of the famous battles,'' Bernards Township Mayor John Malay said about the exhibit. "This exhibit will give us a look at how the war impacted a community that was far from the front. I’m pleased to see this partnering between the Bernards Township Library and The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills, which will expand the scope of our historical awareness here in the Somerset Hills.”

The exhibit will be divided into three parts. Part one, “Off To War!” is now on display. Dates and locations for following installments of the exhibit will be announced later.

The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills is headquartered at the Brick Academy, 15 West Oak St., Basking Ridge. The building is open from 2 to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Additional Information

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

Submitted: April 10, 2011
Submitted by: Brooks Betz

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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.