The New Jersey towns that make up the Somerset Hills include Bernards Twp (Basking Ridge), Bernardsville, Bedminster, Far Hills, Peapack/Gladstone). Starting back in the late 1800′s many of the richest and most famous people lived in the Somerset Hills.

Remembering who they are is one thing.
Remembering what they did is another.
Remembering where they live(d) is tougher still.

Here’s a list of some of the most famous people to live in the area.

If you have more, feel free to post.

John Jacob Astor – Basking Ridge – American Tobacco Company Founder – 1950

John Roebling- Bernardsville- Grandfather designed the Brooklyn Bridge

John Forest Dryden- Bernardsville- Founder of Prudential Insurance 1950

Francis Lloyd- Bernardsville – Developed Brooks Brothers into a major retail chain.

Percy Pyne- Bernardsville- Banker (Upton Pyne Estate)

Robert L. Stevens, Bernardsville, Inventor

Charles Pfizer, Bernardsville, Drug Inventor 1881

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

George B. Post – Bernardsville – Famous Architect – 1896

James Brady – Bedminster – Peapack – Wall Street Financier -1921

Clarence Dillon – Bedminster – Read & Company, Purchased Dodge, National Cash Register 1928

C. Ledyard Blair – Peapack – Investment Banker, Blair & Co., Made it on Erie Lackawana Railroad. – 1898

John McGraw – Bedminster, Founder of McGraw Hill Companies – 1968

Malcolm Forbes – Bedminster, Publisher of Forbes Magazine

Cyrus Vance – Bernards Twp (Liberty Corner- Secretary of State under Carter

Cristine Todd Whitman – Far Hills – Former Governor of NJ and great grandaughter to Grant Schley

Jackie Kennedy Onassis – Bernardsville – First Lady

John DeLorean – Bedminster – Former GM Exec, Automaker (later sold to Trump as now Trump National Golf Club)

Woody Johnson – Bedminster – (aka Robert Wood Johnson IV) Owner of the New York Jets

Steve Forbes – Bedminster – Publisher (Current)

Bill Moyers – Bernardsville – Broadcaster (Current)

Mark Ecko – Bernardsville – Entrepreneur – Stronghold Estate (Current)

Elizabeth Merck – Bedminster – Heir to the Merck Pharmacuitical family (Current)

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