The Somerset Hills is a region in the northern portion of Somerset County

Somerset County, New Jersey

Somerset County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 2010, the population was 323,444. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Somerville....

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, almost entirely north of Interstate 78

Interstate 78

Interstate 78 is an Interstate Highway in the Northeast United States, running 144 miles from Interstate 81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown, Pennsylvania, and western and northern New Jersey to the Holland Tunnel and Lower Manhattan in New York City.I-78 is a major road...

. It comprises Bernards Township

Bernards Township, New Jersey

-History:Bernards Township was originally formed by Royal Charter in 1760 as Bernardston Township from remaining portions of Northern precinct. It was incorporated as Bernards Township as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798...

 (Basking Ridge

Basking Ridge, New Jersey

- Demographics :As Basking Ridge is not an independent municipality, the following demographic data is based on the United States Census Bureau figures for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the 07920 ZIP Code...

, Lyons

Lyons, New Jersey

Lyons is an unincorporated community in Bernards Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Lyons is south-southeast of Bernardsville. Lyons has a post office with ZIP code 07939. The community is served by a New Jersey Transit station on the Gladstone Branch.-Geography:...

, and Liberty Corner), Bernardsville

Bernardsville, New Jersey

Bernardsville is a borough and affluent suburb in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Bernardsville has the 10th-highest per capita income in the state. Nationwide, Bernardsville ranks 75th among the 100 highest-income places in the United States...

, Bedminster Township

Bedminster Township, New Jersey

Bedminster Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 8,165....

, Far Hills

Far Hills, New Jersey

Far Hills is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 919.Far Hills was incorporated as a borough based on an Act of the New Jersey Legislature passed on April 7, 1921, from portions of Bernards Township, subject to the results...

, and Peapack-Gladstone

Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey

Peapack and Gladstone is a borough in Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the borough population was 2,582...

. Based on the United States Census, 2000

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

 data, population was as follows: Peapack-Gladstone 2,433 (6%), Bernardsville 7,345 (17%), Bernards Township 24,575 (56%), Bedminster Township 8,302 (19%) and Far Hills 857 (2%), for a total of 43,512.

Basking Ridge

Basking Ridge, New Jersey

- Demographics :As Basking Ridge is not an independent municipality, the following demographic data is based on the United States Census Bureau figures for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for the 07920 ZIP Code...

, Liberty Corner

Liberty Corner, New Jersey

Liberty Corner is an unincorporated community in Bernards Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Liberty Corner is about 3.75 miles south of Bernardsville. Liberty Corner has a post office with ZIP code 07938.-Geography:...

, Lyons

Lyons, New Jersey

Lyons is an unincorporated community in Bernards Township, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. Lyons is south-southeast of Bernardsville. Lyons has a post office with ZIP code 07939. The community is served by a New Jersey Transit station on the Gladstone Branch.-Geography:...

 and West Millington are ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

s and unincorporated area

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

s located within Bernards Township.

Bedminster Township

Bedminster Township, New Jersey

Bedminster Township is a Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 8,165....

 includes the area known as Greater Cross Roads, Lamington

Lamington, New Jersey

Lamington is an unincorporated area within Bedminster Township, New Jersey. It contains the Lamington Presbyterian Church Cemetery and the Lamington Black Cemetery.-The name:...

, Pluckemin, Pottersville, and the section of Bedminster.

Background

During the decades following the Civil War, the United States experienced tremendous economic growth and the concomitant accumulation of enormous wealth by a select, but growing and increasingly interrelated, group of industrialists and financiers who were determined to join the ranks of the established upper class. To assimilate themselves into society, these new plutocrats lavishly spent their newfound wealth to acquire all of the physical manifestations of the aristocratic life, including large country houses in one or more of the country’s exclusive residential “colonies,” such the Somerset Hills of New Jersey. These great country estates were intended to be examples of conspicuous consumption and the pursuit of leisure and a blatant statement of the owner’s social standing.(Jack Turpin)

Historical Landmarks

For Details on Location try The Historical Society of The Somerset Hills website

Bedminster Township

• McDonalds/Klines Mill, Klines Mill Road
• Jacobus Vanderveer House, US Route 202/206
• Lamington Historic District
• Pluckemin Historic District
• Pottersville Village Historic District
• The Pluckemin Artillery Encampment America's First Military Academy

Bernards Township

• Basking Ridge Train Station
  Basking Ridge (NJT station)
  Basking Ridge Station is a New Jersey Transit station in Bernards Township, New Jersey along the Gladstone Branch of the Morris and Essex line....
  
  , Depot Pl
• The Brick Academy, 15 West Oak Street
• Alward Farmhouse, 40 Mount Airy Rd
• Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church, 6 West Oak St
• Coffee House, 214 North Maple Avenue
• Kennedy Martin Stelle Farmstead, 450 King George Rd
• Lord Stirling Manor Site, 96 Lord Stirling Road
• Lyons Train Station
  Lyons (NJT station)
  Lyons Station is a New Jersey Transit station in Basking Ridge, New Jersey along the Gladstone Branch of the Morris & Essex Lines.The single station building, on the north side of the single track, is of brick construction and was built 1931 to coincide with electfication. A brass ornamental arch...
  
  , Cross Road
• Franklin Corners Historic District
• Samuel Johnson House
• Van Dorn's Mill
• Franklin Corner School
• Liberty Corner Historic District (E)

Bernardsville

• Bernardsville Train Station
  Bernardsville (NJT station)
  Bernardsville Station is a New Jersey Transit station in Bernardsville, New Jersey along the Gladstone Branch of the Morris and Essex line.- Physical facilities :...
  
  , US Route 202 (10)
• John Parker Tavern, 2 Morristown Road (11)
• Reynolds Scherman House, 71 Hardscrabble Rd (12)
• Morristown National Historical Park
  Morristown National Historical Park
  Morristown National Historical Park consists of three sites, the Ford Mansion, Fort Nonsense, and Jockey Hollow that were important during the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775 and was ended in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris...
  
  , NJ Brigade (F)
• Olcott Avenue Historic District, above Olcott Center

Far Hills Borough

• Far Hills
  Far Hills (NJT station)
  Far Hills is a New Jersey Transit station in the borough of Far Hills, New Jersey located at the intersection of Route 202 and CR 512, ½ mile east of U.S...
  
   Train Station, US Route 202 (21)
• Alexander and James Linn Homestead, Minebrook Rd (22)

Peapack-Gladstone Borough

• Gladstone
  Gladstone (NJT station)
  Gladstone Station is a New Jersey Transit station in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey. It is the western terminus of the Gladstone Branch of the Morris and Essex line....
  
  Train Station, Main Street (38)

Federal, state and county representation

The Somerset Hills Region is in the Eleventh Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 16th Legislative District.

Media/News

• News source and blog for all that's happening in the Somerset Hills

External links

• Bernardsville official web site
• Bernards Township official web site
• Borough of Peapack Gladstone
• The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills
• National Center for Education Statistics data for the Bernards Township School District
• New Jersey Country Homes - The Somerset Hills Vol.1 and Vol.2.
• Top 10 Historic Businesses in the Somerset Hills