Did
You
Know
That ?

• 2009 - The Brick Academy, home to The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills, reaches its bicentennial and turns 200 years old. Happy Birthday!
• 1921 - Far Hills was actually part of Bernards Township until seceding in 1921. Rising taxes led the 200 residents of Far Hills to decide to separate from Bernards Township and to incorporate as a Borough. The local property tax rate jumped from $2.72 in 1919 to $3.53 in 1920.

June Kennedy - THSSH Trustee and Local Historian

BERNARDS TWP. - MAy 2011

What Are Some Interesting Historic Sites in Basking Ridge? The township is full of history — and longtime local historian June Kennedy says there are signs to point the way to many of them in the microblog site "Basking Ridge Patch".

Listen to June Kennedy, former Town Historian for Bernards Township and Trustee and Member of THSSH.

Ms. Kennedy is also the writer of Images of America, Basking Ridge, Liberty Corner, and Lyons, released during the 250th celebation of the charter of Bernards Township (now celebrated annually in what's known as Charter Day.

Learn more about June Kennedy on our "Meet the Historians" Section - Click Here.

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: May 20, 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.