New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, and on the southwest by Delaware. New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia and is the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income as of 2014.

New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The English later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey after the largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey, and granting it as a colony to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton. New Jersey was the site of several decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century.

In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, and Elizabeth helped to drive the Industrial Revolution. New Jersey’s geographic location at the center of the Northeast megalopolis, between Boston and New York City to the northeast, and Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., to the southwest, fueled its rapid growth through the process of suburbanization in the second half of the 20th century. In the first decades of the 21st century, this suburbanization began reverting to consolidation of New Jersey’s culturally diverse populace toward more urban settings within the state, with towns’ home to commuter rail stations outpacing the population growth of more automobile-oriented suburbs since 2008.

Geography

Main article: Geography of New Jersey

See also: List of counties in New Jersey

High Point Monument as seen from Lake Marcia at High Point, Sussex County, the highest elevation in New Jersey at 1803 feet above sea level.

New Jersey shares the Delaware Water Gap with neighboring Pennsylvania

Sunset at Cape May on the Jersey Shore

Part of the Palisades Interstate Park, the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades overlook the Hudson River

South Mountain Reservation in Millburn, Essex County

The Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson, dedicated as a U.S. National Park in November 2011, incorporates one of the largest waterfalls in the eastern United States.

New Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New York (parts of which are across the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, and the Arthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest by Delaware across Delaware Bay; and on the west by Pennsylvania across the Delaware River.

New Jersey can be thought of as five regions, based on natural geography and population. Northeastern New Jersey, the Gateway Region, lies closest to Manhattan in New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city to work via automobile or mass transit. Northwestern New Jersey, or the “Skylands”, is, compared to the northeast, more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The “Shore”, along the Atlantic Coast in the central-east and southeast, has its own natural, residential, and lifestyle characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. The Delaware Valley includes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. The fifth region is the Pine Barrens in the interior of the southern part. Covered rather extensively by mixed pine and oak forest, it has a much lower population density than much of the rest of the state.

New Jersey also can be broadly divided into three geographic regions: North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. Some New Jersey residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right, but others believe it is a separate geographic and cultural area from the North and South.

The federal Office of Management and Budget divides New Jersey’s counties into seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas, including sixteen counties in the New York City or Philadelphia metro areas. Four counties have independent metro areas, and Warren County is part of the Pennsylvania-based Lehigh Valley metro area. (See Metropolitan Statistical Areas of New Jersey.)

It is also at the center of the Northeast megalopolis.

Additionally, the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth, & Tourism Commission divides the state into six distinct regions to facilitate the state’s tourism industry. The regions are:

• Gateway Region, encompassing Middlesex County, Union County, Essex County, Hudson County, Bergen County, and Passaic County.
• Sky Lands Region, encompassing Sussex County, Morris County, Warren County, Hunterdon County, and Somerset County.
• Shore Region, encompassing Monmouth County and Ocean County.
• Delaware River Region, encompassing Mercer County, Burlington County, Camden County, Gloucester County, and Salem County.
• Greater Atlantic City Region, encompassing Atlantic County.
• Southern Shore Region, encompassing Cumberland County and Cape May County.

High Point, in Montague Township, Sussex County, is the highest elevation, at 1,803 feet (550 m). The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the lower west side of the Hudson River, in Bergen County and Hudson County.

Major rivers include the Hudson, Delaware, Raritan, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Musconetcong, Mullica, Rancocas, Manasquan, Maurice, and  Toms rivers.

Sandy Hook, along the eastern coast, is a popular recreational beach. It is a barrier spit and an extension of the Barnegat Peninsula along the state’s Atlantic Ocean coast.

Long Beach Island (“LBI”), a barrier island along the eastern coast, has popular recreational beaches. The primary access point to the island is by a single bridge connection to the mainland. Barnegat Lighthouse is on the northern tip.

Climate

New Jersey map of Köppen climate classification

There are two climatic conditions in the state. The south, central, and northeast parts of the state have a humid subtropical climate, while the northwest has a humid continental climate (microthermal), with much cooler temperatures due to higher elevation. New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually.

Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures could, for brief interludes, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and occasionally rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone classification ranges from 6 in the northwest of the state, to between 7B and 8A near Cape May. All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936 in Runyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904 in River Vale, Bergen County.

Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), uniformly spread through the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer.

During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experience “nor’easters”, which are capable of causing blizzards or flooding throughout the northeastern United States. Hurricanes and tropical storms (such as Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999), tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare, although New Jersey was severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012 with the storm making landfall in the state at 90 mph.

Major Cities

For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey has a relative paucity of classic large cities. This paradox is most pronounced in Bergen County, New Jersey’s most populous county, whose more than 930,000 residents in 2014 inhabited 70 municipalities, the most populous being Hackensack, with 44,519 residents estimated in 2014. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey cities (and indeed municipalities in general) tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all of the top five have land area under 30 square miles. As of the United States 2010 Census, only four municipalities had populations in excess of 100,000, although Edison and Woodbridge came very close.

 

	Rank	Name	County	Pop.
	1	Newark	Essex	277,140
	2	Jersey City	Hudson	247,597
	3	Paterson	Passaic	146,199
	4	Elizabeth	Union	124,969
	5	Edison	Middlesex	99,967
	6	Woodbridge	Middlesex	99,585
	7	Lakewood	Ocean	92,843
	8	Toms River	Ocean	91,239
	9	Hamilton	Mercer	88,464
	10	Trenton	Mercer	84,913

Natural Resources

Forests cover 45%, or approximately 2.1 million acres, of New Jersey’s land area. The chief tree of the northern forests is the oak. The Pine Barrens, consisting of pine forests, is in the southern part of the state.

Some mining activity of zinc, iron, and manganese still takes place in the area in and around the Franklin Furnace.

New Jersey is second in the nation in solar power installations, enabled by one of the country’s most favorable net metering policies, and the renewable energy certificates program. The state has more than 10,000 solar installations.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in New Jersey

See also: List of New Jersey State Highways

Roadways

Map of New Jersey showing major transportation networks and cities

The George Washington Bridge, connecting Fort Lee (foreground) in Bergen County across the Hudson River to New York City, is the world’s busiest motor vehicle bridge.

The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the most prominent and heavily traveled roadways in the United States. This toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware and New York, and the East Coast in general. Commonly referred to as simply “the Turnpike,” it is known for its numerous rest-areas named after prominent New Jerseyans as diverse as inventor Thomas Edison; United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; United States Presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson; writers James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman; patriot Molly Pitcher; Red Cross founder Clara Barton; and football coach Vince Lombardi.

The Garden State Parkway, or simply “the Parkway,” carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from the town of Montvale along New Jersey’s northern border to its southernmost tip at Cape May for 172.4 miles (277.5 km). It is the trunk that connects the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City and is consistently one of the safest roads in the nation. With a total of 15 travel and 6 shoulder lanes, the Driscoll Bridge on the Parkway, spanning the Raritan River in Middlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest.

New Jersey is connected to New York City via various bridges and tunnels. The double-decked George Washington Bridge carries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, over fourteen lanes, from Fort Lee, New Jersey in Bergen County across the Hudson River to the Trans-Manhattan Expressway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City; Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the Hudson River via the “GWB”, while U.S. Route 46, which lies entirely within New Jersey, ends halfway across the bridge at the state border with New York. The Lincoln Tunnel connects to Midtown Manhattan carrying New Jersey State Route 495 and the Holland Tunnel connects to Lower Manhattan carrying I-78. These are the three major Hudson River crossings that see heavy vehicular traffic. New Jersey is also connected to Staten Island by three bridges — from south to north: the Outer Bridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge, and Bayonne Bridge.

Other expressways in New Jersey include the Atlantic City Expressway, the Palisades Interstate Parkway, Interstate 76, Interstate 78, Interstate 80, Interstate 95, Interstate 195, Interstate 278, Interstate 280, Interstate 287, Interstate 295, and Interstate 676. Other major roadways include U.S. 1, New Jersey Route 4, U.S. 9, New Jersey Route 10, and New Jersey Route 17.

New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three of its neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes into and out of New Jersey. Bridge tolls are collected in one direction only – it is free to cross into New Jersey, but motorists must pay when exiting the state. Exceptions to this are the Dingmans Ferry Bridge and the Delaware River – Turnpike Toll Bridge where tolls are charged both ways. The Washington Crossing and Scudders Falls (on I-95) bridges near Trenton, as well as Trenton’s Calhoun Street and Bridge Street (“Trenton Makes”) bridges, are toll-free. In addition, * Riverton-Belvidere Bridge, Northampton Street Bridge, Riegelsville Bridge, and Upper Black Eddy-Milford Bridge are free Delaware River bridges into and out of NJ.

• Uhlerstown-Frenchtown Bridge – (NJ 12)
• Lumberville-Raven Rock Bridge – (pedestrian)
• Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge – (PA 263 / CR 523)

New Jersey became the only U.S. state where all fuel dispensing stations are required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times, after Oregon’s introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect in 2016. It is unlawful for a customer to serve oneself gasoline in New Jersey.

Airports

New York City skyline from Continental (now United) Terminal C in Newark Liberty Airport

Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the other two major airports in the New York metropolitan area (John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport), it is one of the main airports serving the New York City area. United Airlines is the facility’s largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark, which it uses as one of its primary hubs. FedEx Express operates a large cargo hub. The adjacent Newark Airport railroad station provides access to the trains of Amtrak and NJ Transit along the Northeast Corridor Line.

Two smaller commercial airports, Atlantic City International Airport and Trenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of New Jersey. Teeterboro Airport, in Bergen County, is a general aviation airport popular with private and corporate aircraft, due to its proximity to New York City. Millville Municipal Airport, in Cumberland County, is a general aviation airport popular with private and corporate aircraft, due to its proximity to the shore.

Rail and Bus

Main article: New Jersey Transit

Further information: New Jersey Transit Bus Operations, New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, Port Authority Trans-Hudson and PATCO Speedline

A NJ Transit train heads down the Northeast Corridor through Rahway, New Jersey

Two Hudson-Bergen Light Rail trains in Jersey City, New Jersey

The NJ Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. NJ Transit is a state-run corporation that began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey. In the early 1980s, it acquired the commuter train operations of Conrail that connect towns in northern and central New Jersey to New York City. NJ Transit has eleven lines that run throughout different parts of the state. Most of the trains start at various points in the state and most end at either Pennsylvania Station, in New York City, or Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken. NJ Transit began service between Atlantic City and Lindenwold in 1989 and extended it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1990s.

NJ Transit also operates three light rail systems in the state. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail connects Bayonne to North Bergen, with planned expansion into Bergen County communities. The Newark Light Rail is partially underground, and connects downtown Newark with other parts of the city. The River Line connects Trenton and Camden.

The PATH is a subway and above-ground railway which links Hoboken, Jersey City, Harrison and Newark with New York City. The PATH operates four lines that connect various points in North Jersey and New York. The lines all terminate in Hudson County, Essex County or Manhattan in New York City.

The PATCO High Speedline links Camden County and Philadelphia. PATCO operates a single elevated and subway line that runs from Lindenwold to Center City Philadelphia. PATCO operates stations in Lindenwold, Voorhees, Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Haddon Township, Collingswood, and Camden, along with four stations in Philadelphia.

Amtrak also operates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations include Trenton Rail Station, Metropark, and the grand historic Newark Penn Station.

SEPTA also has two lines that operate into New Jersey. The Trenton Line terminates at the Trenton Transit Center, and the West Trenton Line terminates at the West Trenton Rail Station in Ewing.

AirTrain Newark is a monorail connecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport’s terminals and parking lots.

Some private bus carriers still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers of which Coach USA companies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware to the casino resorts of Atlantic City.

Ferries

The Cape May-Lewes Ferry connects New Jersey and Delaware across the Delaware Bay

On the Delaware Bay, the Delaware River and Bay Authority operates the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. The agency also operates the Delaware City–Salem Ferry for passengers across the Delaware River. The Delaware River Port Authority operates the River Link Ferry between the Camden waterfront and Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In the Port of New York and New Jersey, New York Waterway has ferry terminals at Belford Harbor, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, and Edgewater Landing. There are slips at Port Liberte, Liberty Harbor, Exchange Place in Jersey City, Port Imperial and Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken, Hoboken Terminal and 14th Street in Hoboken. Manhattan terminals are located at Wall Street/Pier 11, Battery Park City (BPC) or West Midtown Ferry Terminal. Liberty Water Taxi in Jersey City has ferries from Paulus Hook and Liberty State Park to (BPC). Statue Cruises has service from Liberty State Park and Statue of Liberty National Monument, including Ellis Island. (Although there is a bridge from Ellis Island to the park built for renovations on the island it is not open for public use.) Sea Streak offers services from the Raritan Bayshore to Manhattan and during the Met’s season to Shea Stadium. The ferries on leave from Atlantic Highlands and two terminals in Highlands. Ferry service from Keyport and Perth Amboy have been also been proposed. Service from Elizabeth at Newark Bay is proposed in conjunction with re-development plans on the shore near Jersey Gardens.

Private Bus Carriers

Several private bus lines provide transportation service in the state of New Jersey. Below is a list of major carriers and their areas of operation:

• Academy – commuter bus service from Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties to lower and midtown Manhattan
• Broadway Bus – local bus service in Bayonne
• Coach USA
  • Community Coach – commuter bus service from Essex and Morris counties
  • ONE Bus/Olympia Trails – local bus service in Essex and Union counties, commuter bus service from the Raritan Valley to Manhattan
  • Red & Tan in Hudson County – local bus service in Hudson County
  • Rockland Coaches – commuter and local bus service from Bergen County to Manhattan
  • Suburban Trails – commuter bus service from Middlesex County to Manhattan, local bus service in Middlesex County
• DeCamp Bus Lines – commuter bus service from Essex County to Manhattan
• Greyhound – interstate bus service from terminals in Newark, Atlantic City, and Mount Laurel
• Lakeland Bus Lines – commuter and local bus service from Morris, Somerset, Union, and Sussex counties to Manhattan
• Martz Trailways – service from Warren County to Manhattan
• Montgomery & West Side IBOA—local bus service in Jersey City
• Trans-Bridge Lines – service from the Skylands Region to and from Manhattan

Counties

Further information: List of New Jersey counties

New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recently Union County in 1857. New Jersey is the only state in the nation where elected county officials are called “Freeholders,” governing each county as part of its own Board of Chosen Freeholders. The number of freeholders in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members.

Depending on the county, the executive and legislative functions may be performed by the Board of Chosen Freeholders or split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, members of the Board of Chosen Freeholders perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each Freeholder assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other 5 counties (Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Mercer), there is a directly elected County Executive who performs the executive functions while the Board of Chosen Freeholders retains a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions.

Municipalities

New Jersey currently has 565 municipalities; the number was 566 before Princeton Township and Princeton Borough merged to form the municipality of Princeton on January 1, 2013. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, Governor Jon Corzine proposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs. In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation.

CULTURE

Points of Interests Museums

See also: List of museums in New Jersey

New Jersey has many museums of all kinds. A few major museums in the state are listed.

Museum	Location	Year Opened	Type
New Jersey State Museum	Trenton	1895	General Education
Liberty Science Center	Liberty State Park, Jersey City	1993	Science museum
Maywood Station Museum	Maywood	2004	Railroad museum
Montclair Art Museum	Montclair	1914	Art museum
Newark Museum	Newark	1909	Natural Science & Art museum
Princeton University Art Museum	Princeton	1884	Art museum
Thomas Edison Museum	Menlo Park	1938	Thomas Edison museum

 

GENERAL

Like every state, New Jersey has its own cuisine, religious communities, museums, and halls of fame.

New Jersey is the birthplace of modern inventions such as: FM radio, the motion picture camera, the lithium battery, the light bulb, transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce, the postcard, the boardwalk, the zipper, the phonograph, saltwater taffy, the dirigible, the seedless watermelon, the first use of a submarine in warfare, and the ice cream cone.

A 1950s-style diner in Orange

There are mineral museums in Franklin and Ogdensburg.

Diners are common in New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has more diners than any other state: over 600. There are more diners in the state of New Jersey than any other place in the world.

New Jersey is the only state without a state song. I’m From New Jersey is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when in 1996 the New Jersey Arts Council submitted their suggestions to the New Jersey Legislature.

New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture, especially from New York City-based television shows, such as Saturday Night Live. Academic Michael Aaron Rockland attributes this to New Yorkers’ view that New Jersey is the beginning of Middle America. The New Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones. Reality television shows like Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey have reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture, but Rockland cited The Sopranos and the music of Bruce Springsteen as exporting a more positive image.

Music

Main article: Music of New Jersey

New Jersey has long been an important area for both rock and rap music. Some prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey are:

• Singer Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken. He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared in Neighborhood Theater amateur shows before he became an Academy Award–winning actor.
• Bruce Springsteen, who has sung of New Jersey life on most of his albums, is from Freehold. Some of his songs that represent New Jersey life are “Born to Run”, “Spirit In The Night,” “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)”, “Thunder Road”, “Atlantic City”, and “Jungleland”.
• The Jonas Brothers all reside in Wyckoff, New Jersey, where the eldest and youngest brothers of the group, Kevin and Frankie Jonas, were born.
• Irvington’s Queen Latifah was the first female rapper to succeed in music, film, and television.^]
• Lauryn Hill is from South Orange, New Jersey. Her 1998 debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, sold 10 million copies internationally. She also sold millions with The Fugees second album The Score.
• Southside Johnny, eponymous leader of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was raised in Ocean Grove. He is considered the “Grandfather of the New Jersey Sound” and is cited by Jersey-born Jon Bon Jovi as his reason for singing.
• Redman (Reggie Noble) was born, raised, and resides in Newark. He is the most successful African-American solo hip-hop artist out of New Jersey.
• All members of The Sugarhill Gang were born in Englewood.
• Roc-A-Fella Records rap producer Just Blaze is from Paterson, New Jersey.
• Jon Bon Jovi, from Sayreville, reached fame in the 1980s with hard rock outfit Bon Jovi. The band has also written many songs about life in New Jersey including “Livin’ On A Prayer”^]and named one of their albums after the state. (see New Jersey)
• Singer Dionne Warwick was born in East Orange.
• Singer Whitney Houston (who is Dionne Warwick’s cousin) was born in Newark, and grew up in neighboring East Orange.
• Jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie was born in Red Bank in 1904. In the 1960s, he collaborated on several albums with fellow New Jersey native Frank Sinatra. The Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank is named in his honor.
• Parliament-Funkadelic, the funk music collective, was formed in Plainfield by George Clinton.
• Asbury Park is home of The Stone Pony, which Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi frequented early in their careers
• Hip-hop pioneers Naughty By Nature are from East Orange.
• In 1964, the Isley Brothers founded the record label T-Neck Records, named after Teaneck, their home at the time.
• The Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” is based on the lives of the members of the Four Seasons, three of whose members were born in New Jersey (Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, and Nick Massi) while a fourth Bob Gaudio was born out of state but raised in Bergenfield, NJ.
• Jazz pianist Bill Evans was born in Plainfield in 1929.
• Post-hardcore band Thursday was formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Numerous songs reference the city.
• Horror punk band The Misfits hail from Lodi, as well as their founder Glenn Danzig.
• Punk rock poet Patti Smith is from Mantua.
• Indie rock veterans Yo La Tengo are based in Hoboken. They also have a song called “The Night Falls on Hoboken”.
• New Jersey was the East Coast hub for ska music in the 1990s. Some of the most popular ska bands, such as Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto, come from East Brunswick.^]
• Black Label Society’s and Ozzy Osbourne’s famed guitarist Zakk Wylde was born in Bayonne and raised in Jackson
• The Bouncing Souls original four members grew up in Basking Ridge and formed in New Brunswick in the late 1980s.^]
• My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, and Ray Toro all are from New Jersey.
• Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta is from New Jersey
• Punk band The Gaslight Anthem hails from New Brunswick, New Jersey.^]
• Experimental metal band The Dillinger Escape Plan are from Morris Plains, NJ.^]
• Debbie Harry, born in Miami, Florida, in 1945 but raised by her adoptive parents in Hawthorne.

CUISINE OF NEW JERSEY

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The cuisine of New Jersey is derived from the long history of immigrants to the state and its close proximity to New York City and Philadelphia. The state of New Jersey is known for its commercial food and industrial production, with the founding of Campbell’s Soup in 1869. Campbell’s Soup is currently headquartered in Camden, New Jersey. Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a state of the art and sustainable corporate headquarters in Jersey City, New Jersey as part of a $500 million global expansion plan. Restaurants make use of locally grown ingredients such as asparagus, blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, corn, and peaches. The state is the nation’s third largest producer of bell peppers, cranberries, and spinach. With a passionate fast food culture, Italian subs, (hoagies in South Jersey), are an icon. New Jersey is home to approximately 525 diners. Disco fries are a long-standing tradition at New Jersey diners. M&M candy has been produced in Hackettstown since 1958 and the Mars Company has been headquarter in New Jersey for over 75 years. Food writer, influencer, and Chef Anthony Bourdain was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. He often profiles New Jersey restaurants on his multiple television shows. Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey is the setting for TLC’s reality television series, Cake Boss.

Description

Due to its position between New York City and Philadelphia, many towns in New Jersey are bedroom communities of one or the other. As a result, the signature foods of both cities are very popular in their corresponding suburbs — pizza, bagels, pastrami, and submarine sandwiches (sometimes called heroes) in the New York Metropolitan Area communities of Northern and Central Jersey, and hoagies (the Philadelphia term for the aforementioned submarine sandwich), cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, water ices, and scrapple in the Philadelphia Area towns of South Jersey. Several of these regional dishes have achieved popularity statewide. Irish potatoes are a familiar South Jersey treat as well.

There are a number of foods which are especially prominent in or unique to the Garden State. North Jersey is renowned as a hot dog stronghold, with several variants that have their roots in its cities. The ripper is perhaps the most famous type of hot dog that is native to New Jersey. It is deep-fried in oil until the casing bursts, or “rips”, and might be best exemplified at Rutt’s Hut, a longtime hot dog eatery in Clifton, New Jersey. Texas wieners are another type of hot dog in the state. They are either grilled or deep-fried and served with spicy brown mustard, chopped onions, and a thin meat sauce similar to chili. Wieners ordered “all the way” are dressed with all three condiments. Interestingly, the Texas wiener was independently created in two different locations — Paterson, New Jersey and Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Another type of hot dog indigenous to North Jersey is the Italian hot dog, which originated at Jimmy Buff’s in Newark in 1932 and is one of the foods most synonymous with North Jersey’s Italian-American culture, especially in Essex County. The Italian hot dog is prepared by slicing a roll of round pizza bread in half (for a double order) or into quarters (for a single order), digging a pocket into it, and then spreading mustard along the inside of the roll. A deep-fried dog (two for a double order) is stuffed into the pocket, topped by fried or sautéed onions and peppers, and then followed by deep-fried potatoes that have been thinly sliced into discs or thickly-cut into chunks and drizzled with ketchup. Italian sausages can be substituted for the hot dogs and, as with their counterpart, are ordered as a single or double order.

Trenton, located near the boundary of Central and South Jersey, is known for two foods in particular: tomato pie and pork roll. In Trenton, tomato pie is basically an interchangeable term for pizza, albeit with a subtle difference: While traditional pizzas are prepared by placing the cheese and toppings on top of the sauce and dough, tomato pies are made by laying the cheese directly on top of the dough, then adding the toppings, and finally spreading the sauce atop the mix. This creates a more tomato-intensive taste for the thin-crust pie.

Cuban cuisine has also had an impact in New Jersey (especially in the Hudson County area). Typical Cuban food includes: Christianos y Moros (also known as arroz Moros/rice and black beans), lechon, the Cuban sandwich, arroz salteado and dulce de leche.

Pork roll is a sausage-like pork product developed by John Taylor of Trenton in the late 19th century and has become a popular breakfast and sandwich meat throughout the Garden State. In South Jersey, it is often referred to as a pork roll due to the “roll” or tube-like sack in which it is traditionally packaged, while in Northern and Central Jersey it is usually called Taylor ham. The meat is generally eaten sliced and grilled like Canadian bacon, but is also known to be fried.

Salt water taffy is a soft taffy originally produced and marketed in the South Jersey resort city of Atlantic City beginning in the late 19th century, and is a staple candy and souvenir item of the Jersey Shore boardwalk. It is widely sold throughout beachfront areas of the United States and Canada.

In addition to its local foods, New Jersey boasts a plethora of ethnic cuisines due to its large immigrant population. Some of the more prominent examples include Indian, Brazilian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Italian, Polish, and Greek food.

New Jersey is renowned for its multitude of diners, many of which are open around the clock. A large number of them are owned or were founded by Greeks and offer Greek dishes in addition to standard diner fare. New Jersey has more diners per capita than any other state in the U.S.

The Grease Trucks of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey have also been made famous by mentions in USA Today, and by Maxim Magazine naming the “Fat Darrell”, the top sandwich in the nation.

Foodtimeline.org. summarizes New Jersey cooking from the Lenni Lenape Native Americans to the present.

Dishes

• Disco fries- French fries with cheese (most commonly mozzarella) melted on top and covered with brown gravy.
• Texas Wiener- A deep-fried hot dog served with onions and chili sauce.
• Pork roll(South and Central Jersey name) Taylor Ham (North Jersey name) – Usually fried and eaten on a sandwich with eggs and/or cheese.
• Italian hot dog
• Roll and butter – A hard or Kaiser Roll with butter. Some establishments offer salad dressing in addition to butter.
• Sloppy joesandwich native to North-Central Jersey – A triple decker deli sandwich (most commonly containing corned beef or pastrami, turkey and ham, but with many variations) dressed with cole slaw and Russian dressing on thin-sliced rye bread.
• Jersey breakfast dog – Adanger dog (deep-fried bacon-wrapped hot dog) with eggs and melted cheese.
• In and Outers– Hot dogs that have been deep-fried until they blister slightly (see Danger dog)
• Rippers- Hot dogs that have been deep-fried until they rip apart (see Danger dog)
• Salt water taffy
• New York-style pizza
• Tomato pie
• Sausage sandwich
• Beefsteak (banquet)

SPORTS

Main article: Sport in New Jersey

MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, home to the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets.

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

New Jersey currently has four teams from major professional sports leagues playing in the state, although the Major League Soccer team and two National Football League teams identify themselves as being from New York.

The Prudential Center in Newark, home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils

Red Bull Arena in Harrison, home of the MLS’s New York Red Bulls

The National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils, based in Newark at the Prudential Center, is the only major league franchise to bear the state’s name. The Metropolitan Area’s two National Football League teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets, both play in East Rutherford, Bergen County, at MetLife Stadium. Completed at a cost of approximately $1.6 billion it is the most expensive stadium ever built. On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII, the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city.

The New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer play in Red Bull Arena, a soccer-specific stadium located in Harrison outside of downtown Newark.

The sports complex is also home to the Meadowlands Racetrack, one of three major harness racing tracks in the state. The Meadowlands Racetrack along with Freehold Raceway in Freehold are two of the major harness racing tracks in North America. Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport is also a popular spot for thoroughbred racing in New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation.

Additionally, New Jersey is home to two MLB affiliated Minor League Baseball teams: the Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees affiliate) and the Lakewood BlueClaws (Philadelphia Phillies affiliate).

The following table shows the major league sports teams in the state:

Club	Sport	League	Stadium
New Jersey Devils	Ice Hockey	National Hockey League	Prudential Center
New York Giants	Football	National Football League	MetLife Stadium
New York Jets	Football	National Football League	MetLife Stadium
New York Red Bulls	Soccer	Major League Soccer	Red Bull Arena

TOURISM

Atlantic City, looking southward, is an oceanfront resort and the nexus of New Jersey’s gaming industry

New Jersey’s location as a crossroads of commerce and its extensive transportation system have put over one third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabled seaside resorts such as Atlantic City and the remainder of the Jersey Shore, as well as the state’s other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to New Jersey’s record tourism revenue of $40.3 billion and 87.2 million tourist visitations in 2013.

Gambling

Main article: Gambling in New Jersey

In 1976, a referendum of New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened in 1978. At that time, Las Vegas was the only mega-casino resort. Several casinos lie along the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the first and longest boardwalk in the world. On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signed online gambling into law. Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos in 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states.

Entertainment and Concert Venues

View of Wildwood, Cape May County from the Mariner’s Landing Ferris wheel at night

Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including:

Venue	Type	Location	Year opened
Prudential Center	Arena	Newark	2007
Izod Center	Arena	Meadowlands Sports Complex	1981
PNC Bank Arts Center	Amphitheater	Holmdel	1977
NJPAC	Concert Hall	Newark	1997
Paper Mill Playhouse	Regional Theater	Millburn	1968
State Theater	Regional Theater	New Brunswick	1921
Boardwalk Hall	Arena	Atlantic City	1926
Susquehanna Bank Center	Amphitheater	Camden	1995
Sun National Bank Center	Arena	Trenton	1999

 

Theme Parks

Skyline of Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, Ocean County, the world’s largest theme park as of 2013. To the far left is Kingda Ka, the world’s tallest roller coaster.

Main Park	Other Parks	Location	Year opened
Six Flags Great Adventure	Six Flags Wild Safari, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor	Jackson	1974
Clementon Amusement Park	Splash World	Clementon	1907
Land of Make Believe	Pirate’s Cove	Hope	1958
Morey’s Piers	Raging Waters and Ocean Oasis Waterparks	Wildwood	1969
Action Park	None	Vernon	1998
Casino Pier	None	Seaside Heights	1960

Jersey Shore

Main article: Jersey Shore