Sourland Mountain history and ownership dates back as far as 1664 when the British drove away the Dutch from their lands on the eastern seaboard. King Charles II gave his younger brother, James, Duke of York (who would become James II) the territories between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. James then proceeded to give the land between the Hudson and the Delaware to two close friends: John, Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. John, Lord Berkeley received lands looking toward the Delaware River, then called the province of West Jersey; while Sir George Carteret received the lands that looked to New York, then called province of East Jersey.
A boundary line was agreed to in 1676 and eventually finalized in 1687 using surveys of George Keith. Despite the unification of West and East Jersey and the American Revolution, the boundary lines, called the "Keith Line” still remain fairly intact. According to T.J. Luce, in the book, New Jersey’s Sourland Mountain, “...that part of Sourland Mountain belonging to Somerset, the northern part was in Hillsborough Township, created in 1771 from the county’s western precinct (i.e. west of the Millstone River) and named in honor of Lord Hillsborough, the first Secretary of State for the colonies, a post created in 1768. Hillsborough tried to enforce the Townshend Acts, which among other things laid duties on items such as tea, paper and glass. When in his so-called Massachusetts Circular Letter John Adams urged the colonists to repudiate the Acts, Hillsborough instructed the royal governors to treat the letter “with the contempt it deserves.” Lord Hillsborough resigned his post in the year following the naming of the township in his honor.”
The southern half of Sourland Mountain in Somerset County was in Montgomery Township. This township was created in 1798 from the same western precinct and the name came from General Richard Montgomery who died in the Battle of Quebec in 1775. His name was given to other Montgomeries around the United States, including Montgomery, Alabama.
The history of the name Sourland has caused a great deal of debate over the years. The most widely held explanation refers to the nature of the soil. This has referred to the poor quality of the land in the Sourlands, to the sour smell the woods seem to emit after a rain, or to the acidic nature of soil generally in this part of New Jersey. The word “Sourland” could be derived from “sorrel-land” which describes the sorrel (reddish-brown) colored soils encountered by the pioneering German farmers. Another usage of sorrel signifies plants and trees called sorrel, whose sap or juice has a sour taste.
Dutch farmers who settled in the region appreciated their land so it is uncertain whether they really did refer to it as “sour.” There is data that shows that Dutch farmers around the village of Harlingen (in Montgomery Township) may have indeed believed the land lacked nutrients and therefore made it sour. There is doubt whether these Dutch farmers added lime to the soils, but there is evidence in favor of wood ashes or potash being applied to the soil to make it sweeter.
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