Did
You
Know
That ?

• 1760 - Both Bernards Township (Basking Ridge, Lyons, Liberty Corner) and Bernardsville's namesake came from Sir Francis Bernard, the New Jersey governor from 1758 to 1760.
• 1760 - In addition to Bernards Township and Bernardsville, The plan for Bernardston, Massachusetts (Incorporated in 1762) was laid out during the administration of Sir Francis Bernard and is named for him as well.

Hauntings in the Somerset Hills:  Fact or Fiction?

Vealtown Tavern, Bernardsville, NJ
and
Blairsden Estate, Peapack, NJ

New Exhibit: Sunday in October 2011 from 2:00 -4:00pm.

A new exhibit, "Hauntings in the Somerset Hills:Fact or Fiction" opens at the Brick Academy on Sunday, October 2.  On display will be historical photographs and story boards of two intriguing properties:  The Vealtown Tavern, formerly the Bernardsville Library and now Meli Melo, and the Blairsden Estate in Peapack-Gladstone.  The exhibit can be viewed each Sunday in October 2011 from 2:00 -4:00pm.

On display, come see 13 clear and detailed photographic prints of the famed Peapack estate named Blairsden after C. Ledyard Blair. The photos were taken in 1903 by the Wurts Brothers, a photographic firm in New York, one of the first in the world to specialize in architectural and industrial photography.  The prints were loaned for this exhibition by the Borough of Peapack-Gladstone.

Above: 3 of the 13 Blairsden prints on display at the Brick Academy

Some other photos for the Vealtown Tavern were loaned for this exhibition by the Bernardsville Library and some from the archives of the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills.  Meli Melo has contributed toward the reproduction of some of the photographs.  Coordination of the Blairsden photographs and descriptive captions have been provided by W. Barry Thompson.

Fact and Fiction resources, various online and print, include Ghosts of Central New Jersey, Historic Haunts of the Somerset Hills, by Gordon Thomas Ward.  Copies of this book signed by the author will be available for sale.

Above: Author Gordon Ward

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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.