Union Academy of Bedford occupies a prominent situation Southeast of the Baptist church. Its principal is Alexander G. Reynolds.

Near the Hamlet are situated the residences of William P. Woodcock and Milton Robertson, Esq. To the North-east lies the Hook farm, the property of Francis A. Palmer, Esq., (formerly belonging to Col. James Holmes). Upon the 5th of April, 1774, James Smith and Mary, his wife, sold to James Holmes, "all that messuage lying in Bedford called the Hook, containing seventy-three acres.

Col. James Holmes was the son of John and Jemima Holmes ; his father John Holmes was a respectable farmer, a man of extensive real and personal property, a large proportion of which descended to him from his father John Holmes, who emigrated to this country from Beverly, Yorkshire, in England, about the year 1660, and was one of the original proprietors and settlers of this town. John Holmes, father of the said Col. James Holmes, held many civil and military appointments. He was for many years a town clerk, Justice of the Peace, and Captain of the Militia, which appointments he held till the time of his death.

During the French war between France and Great Britian, in 1757-8, CoL James Holmes volunteered in the service of his country, and was in the great and destructive battle under the command of General Abercrombie, in which were nineteen hundred men killed and wounded. After the conquest of Canada he returned to Bedford.

Upon the commencement of hostilities between America and Great Britain, he was appointed by the New York Convention one of a committee of three, viz. : Col. James Yan Courtland, Capt. Montgomery, (afterwards Gen. Montgomery,) and himself, to proceed to examine the heights about Kingsbridge, and report where it would be advisable to fortify. They performed this duty and reported satisfactorily.