In Peter Stone’s masterful script for “1776”, after yet another roll call of the Continental Congress, an exasperated Samuel Adams askes the assemblage where is New Jersey. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania delivers the reply above. So almost from its inception, New Jersey has been something of the bastard redheaded child of the original 13 colonies. But there is really so much more to the State than being suburb satellites to New York City and Philadelphia!
New Jersey has swaths of pasture lands dedicated to horses. There is even white water rafting to be had at the Delaware Water Gap. There is a lot more to New Jersey than petrochemical refineries, the opening credits of “The Sopranos”, and a certain combination Golf Club and cemetery.
There were members of several Native American tribes residing in the area now known as New Jersey as long as 12,000 years ago! Europeans first stumbled on the area in 1524 when the Italian explorer Giovanni di Verrazano stumbled on the place while possibly looking for a place to put a really long suspension bridge in a few hundred years. Swedes, Finns and the Dutch then came and settled the area and fought over the future New Jersey until 1664 when the British took over management and New Jersey became one of the 13 original colonies. The area was named in honor of early British colonist George Carteret. So, how did we get from Carteret to New Jersey? Carteret had been the governor of the Isle of Jersey, hence “New” Jersey.
Eventually the colonies got tired of taxation without representation (amongst other things) and the Revolutionary War was fought. What many people do not understand is that more battles in that War took place in New Jersey than any other part of the original colonies. In fact, one of the first major military victories for the upstart United States occurred in 1776 when General George Washington crossed the Delaware River and took Trenton, New Jersey! After the War was won, New Jersey became the third State and was the first to sign the Bill of Rights!
New Jersey was designated as the Garden State during the centennial due to the vast amount of food grown there.

New Jersey has given us a lot of firsts. The very first Congressional chaplain was the Reverend John Witherspoon, Congressional delegate from New Jersey at the time the country was established. The very first seaside resort town in the USA was Cape May, New Jersey (which is still going strong, by the way, and is host to several major re-enactor events for people obsessed with the Victorian Age). Personally, I never “got” some people’s fascination with the Victorian Age. Now, given me a good Renaissance or Tudor era recreation and I am there! New Jersey also hosts several Revolutionary War re-enactments each year too, but don’t worry, we always still win.
The very first submarine was tested in New Jersey in the Passaic River in 1878 by its inventor, John Holland. Unlike some attempts during the Civil War, this was a completely submersible vehicle. Not something we generally associate with NJ!
What we do associate with NJ are light bulbs, thanks to a certain Wizard of Menlo Park (which is conveniently in New Jersey), Thomas Alva Edison. He also established New Jersey as one of the original centers of the American movie business, probably because Edison invented the movie projector in Menlo Park too. I could probably have done this whole article on things invented in New Jersey come to think of it.
In sports, we have New Jersey to thank for the first professional baseball game ever which was played in Hoboken in 1846. The first ever intercollegiate football game also happened in New Jersey in 1869 when New Jersey (the university) played Rutgers. Rutgers won the game, which was played in New Brunswick. New Jersey was so aghast at the loss that they later changed the name of the school to something catchier, Princeton. By the way, cheerleading at sports event also started in New Jersey in 1869. So, for everyone that was snubbed by the cheerleaders in High School, blame New Jersey.
In 1858 William Foulke unearthed the first intact dinosaur skeleton found in North American near Haddonfield, New Jersey. The skeleton was assembled and put on display in 1968. “Haddie” as it is known (the Hadrosaurus foulkii) was also the first fossil evidence that dinosaurs could stand erect and be bipedal) is still on display after a fashion today. The town of Haddonfield, New Jersey has a wonderful, life size, sculpture of the beast as it may have appeared in life erected in the downtown section of town!
The largest seaport in the Unites States is not found in New York, or Texas or California. The largest U.S. seaport is in Elizabeth. And I can tell you from years of personal commuting observation that a LOT of cars enter the US at that port.
New Jersey has more diners than any other State, which is probably a good thing since it is also the most densely populated State too! 90% of New Jersey residents are considered urban residents. And with all those people it should come as no surprise that New Jersey has the most complex highway and road system too. One odd quirk about New Jersey is the tendency of residents to identify themselves by exit off of either the GSP (Garden State Parkway) or “the Turnpike”. When I lived in Freehold, NJ I was an exit 11 gal. Okay, so you still had to travel 30 miles down Route 9 to get to Freehold, but you got to Route 9 via exit 11 of the Turnpike.
The longest boardwalk in the world can be found in Atlantic City (which is also where the Miss America pageant started in 1921) The boardwalk was built in 1854 and has remained a tourist attraction ever since. And speaking of Atlantic City, even if you have never been there you probably know the neighborhoods thanks to a little board game called Monopoly. The property names in the game are taken from street names in AC. (If you want to get ahead in Monopoly, try and get the orange and red properties, that can be a very lucrative corner to monopolize!)
The first drive-in movie theatre was built in Camden, New Jersey. The real surprise here is that it was built in 1933, before either cars or movies hit peak popularity.
Here are some other things one does not usually associate with NJ – volcanos and mountains! But there is actually an extinct volcano in Beemerville. In addition, Bald Mountain, Bellot Mountain, Drag Hill, Green Hill and High Mountain are also all in New Jersey and are considered part of Appalachian Mountains.
Of less distinction, the area in and around Newark, NJ, is the car theft capitol of the US. More cars are stolen there than anywhere else. In fact, more cars are stolen in Newark than are stolen in New York City and Los Angeles. Combined. My advice, if you feel compelled to visit Newark, use public transportation. Better yet, seek medical attention for such a compulsion.
I could give you a list of famous people that came from New Jersey, but after Frank Sinatra no one really cares that Donald Rumsfeld also came from the Garden State.
I could not let our brief look at NJ go without mentioning Lambert Castle, home to the world’s largest spoon collection (over 5.400 of them). Yeah, I got nothing.
Finally, the usual collection of a few odd laws:
• It is illegal to wear a bullet-proof vest while committing a violent crime
• It is illegal to sell a car on Sunday, but you can sell a motorcycle
• It is illegal to pump your own gasoline in New Jersey
• You cannot get vanity license plates for your vehicles if you have a DUI conviction within the last 3 years
• In Trenton, it is illegal to eat pickles on Sundays
• If you run an ice cream parlour or other establishment with outdoor seating for 20 or more people, you must post a security guard after 4 pm.
• It is illegal for men to knit during fishing season
• And finally, I am still scratching my head at this one – it is illegal to raise chickens in bottles