Short answers, pulled from the story.
Basking Ridge is known as the headquarters for Verizon Wireless and Peraton Labs, both successors to the former AT&T headquarters that was once located there. It is also recognized for its concentration of historic sites, including the Basking Ridge Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and as a commuter community for New York City via NJ Transit's Gladstone Branch.
Bernards Township was officially chartered on the 21st of May 1760, granted by King George II. It was named for Sir Francis Bernard, the first governor of the noted section that includes Basking Ridge.
The Old Oak Tree, a white oak estimated at 600 years old and potentially the oldest white oak in the world, stood in the graveyard of the local Presbyterian church. It was 97 feet tall with a trunk circumference of 20 feet. In 2016 its upper parts failed to sprout leaves, and it was cut down on the 26th of April 2017 due to decay.
Notable people from Basking Ridge include actress Meryl Streep, born in 1949; NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson, born in 1979; soccer player and two-time World Cup champion Tobin Heath, born in 1988; filmmaker J. C. Chandor, born in 1974; and mountaineer Scott Fischer, who was the first American to climb Lhotse and died on the 11th of May 1996 in the 1996 Everest Disaster.
The Brick Academy was built in 1809 as the Basking Ridge Classical School, originally serving to prepare young men for the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Over its history it has also functioned as a public school, a union hall, a public library, and the municipal hall for Bernards Township. It now operates as a historic museum and the home of the Historical Society of the Somerset Hills.
According to the 2020 census, Basking Ridge had a population of 7,196. The median age was 45.4 years, and 35.8% of households had children under 18. Basking Ridge was first listed as a census-designated place in the 2020 census, having appeared as an unincorporated place in earlier counts.