From Far Hills Website:

In 1885, with John G. Moore, he formed the brokerage house of Moore and Schley, and in 1900 with Thomas Fortune Ryan, he effected the combination of the American Tobacco Company. One of Schley's major interests was the Elliot-Fisher Company, which was later merged into the Underwood Typewriter Company, of which he was chairman of the board for many years.

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Schwaebische Alb - Warren NJ - (now Springdale House - 142 Washington Valley Road, Warren, NJ) Between King George road and Warrenville Road.

The story of the Schwaebische Alb began in January 1926, when Herman and Clara Mauser, his wife, and William Schwarz, all of Newark, bought a 56-acre farm from Henry and Alice Lind for $3,300. When their dreams of a successful chicken farm evaporated in the turmoil of the Great Depression, the Mausers, Schwarz and new partners, Richard Fry and Richard Steimer, opened a modest restaurant in the Mauser's home, catering to German-Americans from Newark and Irvington. Prohibition's repeal in December 1933 opened new vistas (theirs was only the second liquor license issued in Somerset County) and very soon the restaurant, bar and picnic grounds became a success.

http://www.warrennj.org/wths/index.htm

Willies Tavern History

The building was erected in 1780 by Aaron Melick for his son, John, who was returning home from the Revolutionary War. Since that time it has served as a pub, a polling place, a pool room, a package store, a political forum, a speakeasy, a hotel and a restaurant. There have been numerous proprietors over the years and we honor its most colorful owner, Mr. Willie Howard. In 1893 Willie came to Gladstone with Charles Pfizer and served as huntsman for Essex Hunt. In 1898 Willie and his wife, Bertha, purchased the Bedminster Hotel, as it was called, for $5,000. The hotel was renamed the "Howard Hotel" and in 1912 the first indoor plumbing was installed.

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Mike Tyson and Faircourt

Oct. 2, 1988: Police go to Tyson's Bernardsville, N. J., home after he hurls furniture out the window and forces Givens and her mother to flee the house. Five days later, Givens files for divorce.

Shortly after the Barbara Walters interview on ABC's 20/20, Tyson reportedly goes into a rage in his $4.5 million mansion in Bernardsville, N. J. Robin says she is terrified. She packs her bags and flees to her Los Angeles home. She hires famed "palimony" lawyer Marvin Mitchelson to file divorce papers, alleging that Tyson had attacked her after the TV show, and that it was "the latest in a continuous horror story for me." She claims that "Michael has repeatedly hit me, thrown things at me, threatened to kill me" and also "threatened to kill my mother, Ruth Roper, and my sister, Stephanie Givens, and an employee." She continues: "My husband, Michael Tyson, has throughout our marriage been violent and physically abusive, and prone to unprovoked rages of violence and destruction." She asks for an equitable share of money, properties and other assets. A few days later she and Mitchelson split and she hires another lawyer, Raoul Felder of New York. Bernardsville, New Jersey, police chief Thomas Sciaretta - says incident was routine domestic violence.

Here's a good NY Times Reprint about the history and Mike's troubles - 1994

The Kenilwood Estate

Curtis Jackson (aka 50 Cent) purchased Kenilwood Estate in Bernardsville approx 2004? Approximate Location 67 Ravine Lake Road, Bernardsville, NJ.

This Gothic Revival mansion was built in 1896 by father and son architects George and William Post, as a wedding gift for daughter Harriet.

Blairsden Estate

Blairsden - A mansion located in Peapack-Gladstone, Somerset County, is a monument to the Victorian age of opulence. It was built in the late 1800's by Clinton Ledyard Blair (1869-1949), second son of John Insley Blair, who was an investment banker and a governor of the New York Stock Exchange. He was one of the founders of Blair & Company, 1 Wall Street, New York, NY. Blairsden took 3 years to build at a cost of 2 million dollars. It has 38 rooms, 25 fireplaces, a sunken pool, squash courts and Turkish baths. The Sisters of St. John the Baptist, a religious order of nuns, currently own the mansion, having purchased it from the Blair family in 1949 for $60,000.

(Blairsden Article- Weird NJ v12).

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New York Times 1/8/2006

In Bernardsville, the (Stronghold) estate of John Dryden, the founder of Prudential Insurance, at 450 Claremont Road, listed for $12 million, sold for $7.4 million - 62 percent of the asking price - after 546 days.

In Peapack, 27-29 Willow Avenue, listed for $13.9 million, sold two months ago for $11.5 million - 83 percent of list price - after 307 days. And last month, in Mendham, 475 Bernardsville Road, listed at $6.9 million, sold for $6 million, or 87 percent of list price, after 302 days.

Street Project- (naming of roads aka the Street Name file)

• Work with June Kennedy to create

Almost 100

• Bernards Inn - Opened in 1907
• Fire at the Somerset Inn - 1908
• Anniversary of the Income Tax - 1913

Look what turned 100 in the Somerset Hills

• June 15, 2005- Bernards High School, Bernardsville
• June 1, 2005- Liberty Corner Elementary School - Liberty Corner (Basking Ridge)
• 2004 - Basking Ridge Fire Department
• Liberty Corner Fire Department
• 1997- Bernardsville News (1897)
• 1972 - Rail service comes to Bernardsville (1872)
• 1860 - PC Henry General Store (Now Brushes Deli) built

Look what turned 150 in the Somerset Hills

• 1989- Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge (Built 1839)

Look what turned 200 in the Hills

• 1968- Van Dorn Mill - Basking Ridge
• 1960 - Basking Ridge Charter (Signed 1760)

Look what turned 250 years old

• 1717 - Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge
• 1730- Vealtown Tavern- Bernardsville, Now the former Library.

Historic Preservation Plan- Bernards Twp Click Here

Maps of New Jersey circa 1895 - http://www.livgenmi.com/1895/NJ/

Born in the Somerset Hills

William Lewis Dayton - Basking Ridge Distant relative of Jonathan Dayton who almost became Abraham Lincoln's Vice Presidential nominee....and we know what would've happened.

Samuel Lewis Southard- June 9, 1787 - son of Henry Southard who was a US Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and Governor of New Jersey. Died June 26, 1842

Most influential people who lived in the Somerset Hills

William Alexander (Lord Stirling) (1726 – 1783), He began building his grand estate in Basking Ridge, N. J. and upon its completion, sold his home in New York and moved there. George Washington was a guest there on several occasions during the revolution and gave away Stirling’s daughter at her wedding.

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Notable People from the Area:

John Roebling- Bernardsville- Grandfather designed the Brooklyn Bridge

John Forest Dryden- Bernardsville- Founder of Prudential Insurance

Francis Lloyd- Bernardsville - Developed Brooks Brothers into a major store.

Percy Pyne- Bernardsville- Banker (Upton Pyne Estate)

Robert L. Stevens, Bernardsville, Inventor

Charles Pfizer, Bernardsville, Drug Inventor

J. William Clarke, Bernardsville, - Founder of the thread company

 

Chamber of Commerce: Oldest Businesses......

Bernardsville-

Basking Ridge-

 

Ellsworth Dobbs Inc Realty (Bedminster) MLS and photographs- Talk to Jean Hill (Marion Kennedy)

 

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Residential

Recreation / Celebration

 

Tavern Early Submissions:

Name	Town/State	Still Operating?	Brief History
Bedminster Tavern	Bedminster, NJ	Yes	Bedminster Tavern (now Willies Tavern), Main Street Bedminster, NJ.
Coffee House	Basking Ridge, NJ	No	Coffee House Madisonville Road, Basking Ridge
Bullion's Tavern		No	Bullion's Tavern, Liberty Corner (Destroyed)
Teukesbury Inn		Yes	Teukesbury, New Jersey (Hunterdon County)
John Ringo's Tavern			Amwell - Sited numerous times in 1774 as the site where regional township representives met to discuss what to do about Britain.
Arnolds Tavern	Morristown, NJ	No	Morristown Green - (Destroyed). Washington was there more than once and for more than a while.