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Map of New Jersey
Featured Locations
Tdorante10, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
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Atlantic City
Coastal resort city in New Jersey, known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches
darlingtrk, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
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Cape May
City located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations and known for its concentration of Victorian buildings
High Point State Park
Park covering 15,413 acres including part of the Kittatinny Mountains, the highest point in the state of New Jersey
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
One of the United States' largest waterfalls, it played a significant role in the early industrial development of New Jersey starting in the earliest days of the nation
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Hypnotica Studios Infinite from Toms River, New Jersey, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Image Size Adjusted
Seaside Heights Beach and Boardwalk
Popular destination includes resort community, beach, amusement-oriented boardwalk, and numerous clubs and bars
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state based on land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents, is the 11th-most populous and most densely populated. New Jersey's state capital is Trenton, while the state's most populous city is Newark.
New Jersey was first inhabited by Native Americans for at least 2,800 years, with the Lenape being the dominant group when Europeans arrived in the early 17th century. Dutch and the Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state. The English later seized control of the region and established the Province of New Jersey, after the largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey. The colony's fertile lands and relative religious tolerance drew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among the Thirteen Colonies that opposed Great Britain, hosting numerous pivotal battles and military commands in the American Revolutionary War. The state remained in the Union during the U.S. Civil War, and thereafter became a major center of manufacturing and immigration; it helped drive the nation's Industrial Revolution, and became the site of numerous technological and commercial innovations into the mid 20th century.
New Jersey remains a major destination for immigrants, with one of the most multicultural populations in the U.S. Echoing historic trends, the state has increasingly re-urbanized, with growth in the cities outpacing the suburbs since 2008. New Jersey is one of the wealthiest states in the U.S., with the second highest median household income in 2017. Close one-tenth of all households, or over 323,000 of 3.3 million, are millionaires, the highest rate per capita in the country.
Within those regions are five distinct areas, based upon natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey lies closest to Manhattan in New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many via public transportation. Northwestern New Jersey is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The Jersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural 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 Pine Barrens region is in the southern interior of New Jersey; covered rather extensively by mixed pine and oak forest, this region has a lower population density than most of the rest of the state.
High Point, in Montague Township, Sussex County, is the state's highest elevation, at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highest prominence is Kitty Ann Mountain in Morris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the west side of the Hudson River, in Bergen and Hudson Counties. Major New Jersey rivers include the Hudson, Delaware, Raritan, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Musconetcong, Mullica, Rancocas, Manasquan, Maurice, and Toms rivers. Due to New Jersey's peninsular geography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore.
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 other casino resort in the country. Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the first and longest boardwalk in the world. Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states.
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.
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.
Diners are iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world.
New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, including Taylor Ham (also known as pork roll), sloppy joe sandwiches, tomato pies, and Texas wieners.
New Jersey has long been an important origin for both rock and rap music. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include:
- 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, where the eldest and youngest brothers of the group, Kevin and Frankie Jonas, were born.
- Irvington's Queen Latifah was one of the first female rappers to succeed in music, film, and television.
- Lauryn Hill is from South Orange. 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.
- Redman (Reggie Noble) was born, raised, and resides in Newark.
- All members of The Sugarhill Gang were born in Englewood.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Horror punk band The Misfits hail from Lodi, as well as their founder Glenn Danzig.
- Punk rock poet Patti Smith is from Mantua.
- Black Label Society's and Ozzy Osbourne's famed guitarist Zakk Wylde was born in Bayonne and raised in Jackson.
- As a child, singer Akon grew up in Union City, Newark, and Jersey City.
- My Chemical Romance's Frank Iero, Gerard Way, Mikey Way, and Ray Toro all are from New Jersey.
- Debbie Harry, born in Miami, Florida, in 1945 but raised by her adoptive parents in Hawthorne.
New Jersey currently has six teams from major professional sports leagues playing in the state, although one Major League Soccer team and two National Football League teams identify themselves as being from the New York metropolitan area.
The National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, based in Newark at the Prudential Center, is the only major league sports franchise to bear the state's name.
The New York Metropolitan Area's two National Football League teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets, play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford's Meadowlands Sports Complex.
National Parks, Monuments, Reserves, and Trails
- Appalachian National Scenic Trail
- Crossroads of the American Revolution
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- Ellis Island National Monument
- Gateway National Recreation Area
- Great Egg Harbor National Scenic and Recreational River
- Morristown National Historical Park
- New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve
- Patterson Great Falls National Historical Park
- Statue of Liberty National Monument
- Thomas Edison National Historical Park
- Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
New Jersey is the location of most of the boardwalks in the U.S., with nearly every town and city along the Jersey Shore area each having a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, miniature golf, arcades, water parks with various water rides, including water slides, lazy rivers, wave pools, etc., and amusement parks hosting rides and attractions including roller coasters, carousels, Ferris wheels, bumper cars, teacups, etc.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "New Jersey" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0