Баскинг Ридж: Нью-Джерси штатындағы елді мекен

Populated place in Somerset County, New Jersey, US

Basking Ridge is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) located within Bernards Township in the Somerset Hills region of Somerset County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey. Settled during colonial times, Basking Ridge is in the Raritan Valley and is a commercial hub for northern central New Jersey and is a commuter town of New York City. It was home to the old AT&T Headquarters, now operated by Verizon. Basking Ridge is the current headquarters for Collabera, Verizon Wireless, Peraton Labs, Lawyer. com, and Barnes & Noble College Booksellers. The community also hosts a train station along the Gladstone Branch (one of the two branches of the Morris & Essex Lines), which connects to Hoboken Terminal and New York Penn Station. The community of Basking Ridge is part of greater Bernards Township, which also includes the neighborhoods of Liberty Corner, Lyons and West Millington. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census

Basking Ridge was originally settled in the 1720s by British Presbyterians escaping religious persecution. The land was bought from the Lenape Native Americans. Bernards Township was officially chartered on May 21, 1760, granted by King George II and granted to Sir Francis Bernard, first governor of the noted section which includes Basking Ridge. On the morning of December 13, 1776, General Charles Lee was captured by the British at Widow White's tavern. Lee had ranked next to Washington in command. A referendum to create an independent borough of Basking Ridge failed in June 1921. Voters rejected the proposed borough by a more than 4–1 margin. The downtown area of Bernards Township known as Basking Ridge was added to the New Jersey and National Registries as a Historic District. on August 8, 1974.

Basking Ridge has an annual event in May called Charter Day. Many rides are set up in the Oak Street field—a bounce house, inflatable race tracks, and spinning rides. Also, in the center of the town hundreds of stands are set up mostly promoting school sports, but there are also many kettle corn stands, which is a traditional food children eat during Charter Day. At night, the traditional Battle of the Bands takes place, which many teenagers sign up for to play their favorite songs.

Basking Ridge was home to the Old Oak Tree, a 600 year old white oak, perhaps the oldest white oak in the world. The tree was located on the historic graveyard of the local Presbyterian church. The tree was high and had a trunk circumference of and its lower branches were supported. In 2016 the tree showed signs of distress as its upper parts failed to sprout leaves. The tree has since been cut down as of April 26, 2017. A specially designed experimental hospital was built in 1779 by local resident John "Rebel Banker" Morton with the help of Dr. James Tilton in the winter of 1779 80. The hospital was built with three wards, that held patients in its hub and each of the three wards held eight patients. Patient beds were oriented so that their heads were closest to the walls of the buildings. When temperatures fell, a "fire was built in the midst of the ward, without any chimney, and the smoke circulating about, passed off through an opening about 4 inches wide in the ridge of the roof." Tilton described how the design of the building allowed infection to be fought using smoke, "without giving the least offense to the patient, for it always rose above their heads, before it spread abroad in the ward." This hospital, which could accommodate up to 55 patients, provided an uncrowded but fully ventilated space in which those with infectious disease could be kept apart from those who were wounded. The Bernards Township Municipal Hall was once owned by the Astors. The estate was built in 1912 by Samuel Owen of Newark, New Jersey. The Brick Academy was built in 1809 as the Basking Ridge Classical School; its function was to prepare young men for the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University). It has also served as a public school, a union hall, a public library, and the municipal hall for Bernards Township. It now serves as a historic museum for Basking Ridge and as the home of The Historical Society of the Somerset Hills. The Van Dorn Mill was built in 1768 as a wooden structure; it was rebuilt in 1843 with foundations extending 20 feet (6 m) below ground level, using thousands of stones hauled from the hedgerows of nearby farms. The Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church is a Greek Revival church built in 1839 and expanded in 1869, that is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1974. The Warren Kinney Memorial Oak Tree commemorates the life of a well known dairy farmer and community leader from New Vernon, NJ. According to Mr. Kinney's 1975 obituary, he "helped lead a fight to prevent a jetport from being built on the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge in Morris County," and was "a founding member of the Madison Square Club, and trustee of the New York Zoological Society." The Devil's Tree is a solitary oak with some dead limbs growing in an undeveloped field on Mountain Road, opposite Emerald Valley Lane. Local legend, documented in Weird NJ magazine and the book based on it, tells that the tree is cursed or the property of the Devil and has been a site of lynchings by the Ku Klux Klan in the past. Alward Farm House is a Colonial era farmhouse representing the simple lifestyle of early settlers. Built c.1740, it is one of the first structures in Bernards Township. Entered in State and National Registers, 1986.

There are several parks within Basking Ridge. Four are county parks: Lord Stirling Park, Rebel Hill, Southard, and Harry Dunham. The fifth is Pleasant Valley Park which contains the town pool and miles of woodchip trails.

Bernards High School was founded by the Bernards Township Board of Education in 1924. When Bernardsville separated from Bernards Township, the schools still remained one system until 1947 when the original high school became the property of Bernardsville. From 1948, however, township students continued attending Bernards High School as tuition students. In 1960 a contract was issued for the construction of a new Ridge High School and Cedar Hill School which were built on approximately of land. William Annin Middle School was originally named after a colonial patriot who settled in Basking Ridge in 1722. Construction started in 1968 and the school was dedicated on September 28, 1969, as William Annin Junior High School and contained grades 6 through 8. The following year it shifted to grades 7 through 9. It became a middle school in 1982. It currently contains grades 6 through 8. The school is one of the few in the United States to have a seismograph. There are four elementary schools in Basking Ridge. Liberty Corner School, was built for a farming community in 1905. It is the oldest school in the district. Part of the original building still remains today. It is located in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township. Oak Street School was built in 1938, although it was completed late. It was dedicated on November 21, 1939, and opened on November 23, the day before Thanksgiving. Dr. Horatio Gates Whitnall originally owned the property on which Oak Street School was built. The land was used for farming and his home was what is now the Summit Bank. Over the years, the population rose rapidly. It serves downtown Basking Ridge which is the area around the Presbyterian Church and the Old Oak Tree. Cedar Hill School was built 1956. It is situated on land which was once the property of a succession of wealthy families: Owen, Lee, Bissell, and Astor. It was donated in the Mid 1950s by the Lees. It serves the area around William Annin Middle School and Ridge High School. Mount Prospect was built in 1999. The school was built because a new population rolled in by 2000. Basking Ridge was extended southward and a new subdivision was built: The Hills. Mount Prospect is the newest school in the district and serves the Hills. The former Maple Avenue School, a two story, eight classroom structure, was demolished in the 1970s to make room for the current Basking Ridge Public Library.

NJ Transit's Gladstone Branch runs through Basking Ridge. There are two stations that residents can use to get to New York City and Hoboken Terminal:
Basking Ridge: Built in 1912 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, it serves downtown and north Basking Ridge. Lyons: Built in 1931 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, it serves the Hills, and south Basking Ridge in addition to Liberty Corner. Lyons gets more passengers than Basking Ridge.

Lakeland Bus Lines (Route 78) provides service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan during peak commuting hours.