Proper Place and Time

At one of the final Charter Study Commission meetings, a long-time resident suggested some changes to the history section of the commission's final report. Specifically she asked for the inclusion of Clover Hill among the list of Hillsborough's many villages. That small village, centered around the Clover Hill Reformed Church on Amwell Road is indeed in Hillsborough.

A quick study of Hagstrom's 1945 map of Somerset County finds these other place names in use in Hillsborough sixty years ago. Some are familiar, some are not, but they are all within Hillsborough's 54 square miles - and as Pogo might say "they is us".

Neshanic - centered around the Neshanic Reformed Church at the corner of Amwell and Zion Roads.

Higgins Mills - Just south of Three Bridges.

Montgomery - near the intersection of Montgomery and Wertsville Roads.

Rock Mill - in the extreme southwest corner of Hillsborough.

Zion - just east of Rock Mill.

Pleasant View - near Pleasant View Road and Route 206 (then called State Highway 31)

Frankfort - at the juncture of Amwell Road and South Branch Road.

Flagtown - west of South Branch Road, both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey had stations here.

Woods Tavern - at the corner of Route 206 and Amwell Road.

Hamilton - a station on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad (now CSX) between Hamilton Road and Amwell Road.

South Branch - the village in the northwest corner of the township.

Roycefield - the station on the Central Railroad of New Jersey line at present day Roycefield Road (then called Somerville Avenue).

Royce Valley - the station on the Lehigh Valley line where the railroad crosses Route 206.

Belle Mead - straddling the border between Hillsborough and Montgomery Townships.

Blackwells Mills - on Millstone River Road, south of Millstone.

and finally

Hillsborough - at the intersection of Hillsborough Road and Willow Road.