New Jersey, United States — Towns & Travel Guide

What is New Jersey known for?

New Jersey answers to the Garden State, a nickname older than the turnpikes that cross it. Its coast carries the name that sticks. The Jersey Shore runs the length of the Atlantic edge, a chain of boardwalk resorts from Asbury Park down to the Victorian streets of Cape May, and Atlantic City laid the first boardwalk in the country.

Diners line its highways in greater number than anywhere else in the United States. Much of the state lives as a commuter belt, its towns feeding workers into New York City and Philadelphia across the two rivers that frame it.

Where is New Jersey?

New Jersey sits at the crowded hub of the Northeast, a small state hemmed by water on almost every side. Three of its four edges are wet. New York wraps around the northwest, north, and northeast, while the Atlantic Ocean forms the long eastern and southern coast. Along the west the Delaware River divides the state from Pennsylvania, and in the far southwest Delaware Bay widens toward Delaware.

Only a short stretch of the northern border runs overland. Inland the ground climbs from the sea in bands. The northwest corner is ridge country, where the Kittatinny Mountain carries the grain of the Appalachian Mountains and the Delaware River has cut the Delaware Water Gap clean through the rock.

High Point, the state's tallest ground, stands up here. A rolling Piedmont of red sandstone fills the middle, sloping south into the Pine Barrens, a wide flat sweep of pine woods and cedar streams behind the dunes of the Jersey Shore. Every county here is counted as urban, and no other state packs its people so densely.

The Hudson River closes the northeastern corner, its western bank rising in the dark cliffs of the Palisades across from New York City. Small as it is, New Jersey ranks among the least spacious states by land area, and it still touches ocean, bay, and two working rivers.

What is New Jersey like?

New Jersey's culture runs loud and unpretentious, shaped by the two big cities it sits between. Suburbs fill the gaps. Its towns feed commuters into New York City and Philadelphia, yet the state keeps a strong voice of its own, built by waves of Italian, Irish, and later Latino and South Asian arrivals.

Food carries much of that identity, from the diner counter to the pork roll griddled at the corner deli. The diner is close to a state institution. Music and invention run deep here.

Thomas Edison built his laboratories at Menlo Park and West Orange, drafting the phonograph and the light bulb on New Jersey ground. Frank Sinatra grew up in Hoboken, in sight of the Manhattan skyline he would sing about. Bruce Springsteen made his name on the bars of Asbury Park, and the shore sound went out from that boardwalk to the world.

The game of Monopoly took its street names straight from Atlantic City.

What is the history of New Jersey?

New Jersey was one of the Thirteen Colonies, and in 1787 it became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution. Its vote was unanimous. So many marches and battles crossed its soil during the Revolution that the state took the name Crossroads of the Revolution, and Washington's crossing of the Delaware River led straight to his victories at Trenton and Princeton.

Paterson came later. Founded around the Great Falls of the Passaic as the young republic's first planned industrial city, it set New Jersey on the path to mills and factories.

What is the climate of New Jersey?

New Jersey runs through four full seasons, with hot, humid summers and cold winters. The weather splits north from south. The southern half and the Jersey Shore hold a milder, humid-subtropical air that the Atlantic Ocean keeps from swinging too far, while the northwest ridges around the Kittatinny Mountain turn colder and hold deeper snow.

Coastal storms called nor'easters sweep in off the water through the colder months, driving wind and heavy snow across the state. Spring and autumn stay short and changeable.

How do you get to New Jersey?

Most travellers reach New Jersey through Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the busiest airports on the East Coast. Rail does the rest. The Northeast Corridor line threads the state, linking New York City and Philadelphia with fast trains and dense commuter service.

Bridges and tunnels carry road traffic under the Hudson River into Manhattan, while the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway run the length of the state. From the south, many arrive by way of Philadelphia across the Delaware River.