Um...Washingtons Crossing? What else. We were talking about this at work and couldn't think about too many things. All the other states have great rich history and what do we have?

 

Campbells Soup?

Thomas Edison

Didn't think of that one...good one.

the "Great Train Robbery" one of the first movies was filmed in Milltown

NJ was the center of the lace and embroidery industry, the glass industry and was an iron mining and smelting center up until the middle of 19th century, and maybe a bit later for the lace and embroidery.

The Jersey Devil, plus worlds leader in eggplant production.

Birthplace of baseball

Jersey shore, Atlantic City, Baseball in Hoboken, ummmmm

The sopranos

Boardwalk empire

Major locations of the Revolutionary War (Trenton,Monmouth) Princeton Univ.... Major Military Installments (Dix/McGuire/Lakehurst) Hindenburg disaster (i know not good, but notable) Bruce Springsteen (duh) Hamilton-Burr Duel (when shooting people was civilized)

 

I may add a few here and there but these stick out at me for being staples of NJ's history.

 

NJ Turnpike... not many roads as dense, regularly traveled, and now highly unaffordable to commute like the NJTP.

Snookie.

 

Thomas Edison

 

Good one.

 

NJ was the center of the lace and embroidery industry, the glass industry and was an iron mining and smelting center up until the middle of 19th century, and maybe a bit later for the lace and embroidery.

 

I've serviced lace, dyeing, and finishing and yes they are almost all gone. I've watched some of the last ones leave or die over the past 10 years.

 

These may not be strictly historical facts but they are some that I like. NJ has the largest forest from VA to MA. The Kirkwood Cohansey aquifer is probably the largest aquifer of pristine water in the US and has been considered a national security asset in the past. It is the biggest reason for all of those crazy Pinelands laws. Jersey corn and tomatoes kick the asses of all others everywhere at the same time. Camden sucks more azz than anywhere. As do the Giants. In the past I read that NJ has more diners and strip clubs than any other state, but you can't always believe what I hear NJ has probably sired more recognizable top-bill movie stars than any other state. You make a list of the top movie stars (by familiarity/memorability) over the past 30 or 40 years and I bet half are from NJ.

 

I think the first fossils were found in NJ. In Haddonfield marl deposits IIRC. I've found fossils in marl 110 feet deep from sediments untouched for 150 million years. But only clam shells Never anything cool. Not even a shark tooth. I found some tiny trilobytes in the NJ QP stone dropped off on my old driveway but I don't think that really counts. I have found some fossils outside NJ.

 

I think Cow Town has some sort of historical Rodeo honor. Either the first of some sort or the longest running of some type.

 

Back in the early 90s NJ had one of the last 2 or 3 drive-in theaters in the US. This is before they made a comeback. I saw the Star Trek movie (gag) along with the Saturn 5 (schwing!!!) double feature at that theater.

 

 

 

 

Theres a log house near Swedesboro that may be the oldest in the country.

Now this is pretty sad:

 

In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.

We have this: The NJ Driver

• Turn signals will give away your next move. A real New Jersey driver never uses them.
  
• Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you,or the space will be filled in by somebody else putting you in an even more dangerous situation.
  
• Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane-change is considered going with the flow.
  
• The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you have of getting hit.
  
• Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it and it will inevitably result in you being rear ended. If you want your insurance company to pay for a new rear bumper, come to a complete stop at all stop signs.
  
• A right lane construction closure is just a game to see how many people can cut in line by passing you on the right as you sit in the left lane waiting for the same jerks to squeeze their way back in before hitting the orange construction barrels.
  
• Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork. New Jersey is a no-fault insurance state and the other guy doesn't have anything to lose.
  
• Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake pedal pulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to stretch your legs.
  
• Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It's a good way to scare people entering the highway.
  
• Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as suggestions and are apparently not enforceable in New Jersey during rush hour.
  
• Just because you're in the left lane and have no room to speed up or move over doesn't mean that a New Jersey driver flashing his high beams behind you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot.
  
• Please remember that there is no such thing as a shortcut during rush-hour traffic in New Jersey.
  
• Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even someone changing a tire.
  
• Learn to swerve abruptly. New Jersey is the home of high-speed slalom driving thanks to the State Highway Department, which puts potholes in key locations to test drivers' reflexes and keep them on their toes.
  
• It is traditional in New Jersey to honk your horn at cars that don't move the instant the light changes.
  
• Never take a green light at face value. Always look right and left before proceeding.
  
• Remember that the goal of every New Jersey driver is to get there first,by whatever means necessary.
  
• Real New Jersey women drivers can put on pantyhose and apply eye makeup at seventy-five miles per hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
  
• Real New Jersey men drivers can remove their girlfriend's panties and bra at seventy-five miles per hour or in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
  
• In the New Jersey area 'flipping someone the bird' is considered a polite New Jersey salute. This gesture should always be returned.
  

njgunforums

Some Real Facts:

 

New Jersey Facts and Trivia

1. "I'm From New Jersey" is the only state song that is adaptable to any municipality with a two or three syllable name.
   
2. New Jersey has the highest population density in the U.S. An average 1,030 people per sq. mi., which is 13 times the national average.
   
3. New Jersey has the highest percent urban population in the U.S. with about 90% of the people living in an urban area.
   
4. In November of 1914, the New York Tribune, cooperating with Mr. Bertram Chapman Mayo (founder of Beachwood) issued an "Extra" announcing: "Subscribe to the New York Tribune and secure a lot at Beautiful Beachwood. Act at once, secure your lot in this Summer Paradise now!" This was the greatest premium offered by a newspaper - nothing equal to it was ever attempted in the United States.
   
5. New Jersey is the only state where all its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.
   
6. North Jersey is the car theft capital of the world, with more cars stolen in Newark then any other city. Even the 2 largest cities, NYC and LA put together.
   
7. New Jersey has the most dense system of highways and railroads in the U.S.
   
8. Picturesque Cape May holds the distinction of being the oldest seashore resort in the United States and one of the most unique.
   
9. In order to meet the increasing demand for his wire rope John Roebling opened a factory in Trenton, New Jersey in 1848. John Roebling, along with his two sons, Washington and Ferdinand, built a suspension bridge across the gorge of the Niagara River. They then built the Brooklyn Bridge plus many other suspension bridges in the United States.
   
10. New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the diner capital of the world.
    
11. North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world with seven major shopping malls in a 25 sq. mile radius.
    
12. Passaic river was the site to the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.
    
13. New Jersey has over 50 resort cities and towns, some of the nations most famous, Asbury park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside heights, Cape May.
    
14. New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.
    
15. New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the U.S. located in Elizabeth.
    
16. Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Redman, Das EFX, Naughty by Nature, Sugar Hill Gang, Lords of the Underground, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifa, Shaq, Judy Blume, Arron Burr, Whitney Houston, Eddie Money, Frank Sinatra, Grover Cleveland, all New Jersey natives.
    
17. The light bulb, phonograph (record player), motion picture projector were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park laboratory.
    
18. New Jersey is home to the Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City.
    
19. Atlantic City is where the street names came from for the game monopoly
    
20. Fort Dix is named for Major General John Adams Dix, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. During his distinguished public career, he was a United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, Minister to France and Governor of New York.
    
21. Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world.
    
22. New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.
    
23. The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey.
    
24. New Jersey has the tallest water tower in the world.
    
25. The first tin-foil phonograph developed by Thomas Edison was crude, but it proved his point-- that sound could be recorded and played back. Thomas Edison had phonograph demonstrations and became world-renowned as the "Wizard of Menlo Park" for this invention.
    
26. New Jersey is the only state in the nation which offers child abuse prevention workshops to every public school.
    
27. The first baseball game was played in Hoboken.
    
28. The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick, in 1869. Rutgers College played Princeton. Rutgers won.
    
29. The first Drive-In Movie theatre was opened in Camden.
    
30. New Jersey has 108 toxic waste dumps. Which is the most in any one state in the nation.
    
31. New Jersey has a spoon museum featuring over 5,400 spoons from every state and almost every country.
    
32. Origin of name: From the Channel Isle of Jersey.
    
33. Tourism is the second-largest industry in New Jersey.
    
34. In 1977, New Jersey voters approved legislation allowing legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City.
    
35. New Jersey has 21 counties.
    
36. Although the Borough of Ship Bottom was incorporated in 1925, the name dates back to a shipwreck that occurred in March 1817, when Captain Stephen Willets of Tuckerton rescued a young woman from the hull of a ship overturned in the shoals. The rescue became known as "Ship Bottom."
    
37. State motto is liberty and prosperity.
    
38. The honeybee, apis mellifera, is the New Jersey state bug.
    
39. The state seashell is the knobbed whelk, busycon carica gmelin, it is found on all beaches and bays of New Jersey.
    
40. Modern paleontology, the science of studying dinosaur fossils, began in 1858 with the discovery of the first nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur in Haddonfield, New Jersey. The Hadrosaurus is the official New Jersey state dinosaur.
    
41. Atlantic City's original summer visitors were the Absegami Indians of the Lenni Lenape tribe.
    
42. Fair Haven is believed to have been seasonally inhabited by native Indians prior to the coming of European settlers in the 1660's
    
43. Parsippany has been named Tree City USA for 24 consecutive years.
    
44. New Jersey's state seal was designed by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere and presented in May 1777.
    
45. Software and software related companies account for nearly 2,700 companies in New Jersey.
    
46. The Statue, "Soldier At Rest" was dedicated to New Jersey Civil War veterans on June 28, 1875. It was purchased by the New Jersey State Legislature for $10,000.
    
47. General Philip Kearny had a New Jersey town and 2 military decorations named after him.
    
48. The Borough of Roosevelt is the only municipality in New Jersey that is, in its entirety, a registered National Historic Site
    

Weird NJ, and all the weirdness within there.

 

Also, this is my mom's father's family described here, "Through his five sons, Capt. William Carpenter became known as the father of "The Family of Heroes." Over 300 of his male lineal descendants served America in the Revolutionary War, more than any other American family."

 

Supposedly, my great, great great, great, great,great grandfather rode in the boat with Washington as he crossed the Deleware. I also know that an ancestor of mine sewed the death curtains for Lincoln's body, and another, F.B. Carpenter painted the picture of Lincoln that would later be the basis of the $5.

President Grover Cleveland was from NJ.

 

Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli, John Bon Jovi and this link sums up more music in NJ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_New_Jersey

 

Most of Bell Labs innovations came out of NJ.

 

Marconi and radio innovations: http://userpages.monmouth.com/~eroswell/histmarc.htm

 

Paterson was the center of the silk industry in the US originally.

 

Washington slept everwhere...

Now this is pretty sad:

 

In 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution and the first state to sign the Bill of Rights.

 

Well, there's The Hughes Ammendment.

 

- Hughes amendment – banning civilian machineguns

 

- Lautenberg Act – confiscation of weapons from anybody involved in domestic incident and prohibiting same persons

 

- First state to ban "assault weapons" and Clinton said it should be used as a model for the nation.

 

I know some NJ legislator either sponsored or was instrumental in the 1934 NFA, 1968 GCA, or AWB. I just can't remember this bit of trivia and a few minutes on the search engine yielded nothing.

Thomas Edison

 

Nothing to be proud of. He stole from other inventors (read, Tesla) and was a jerk. And he killed a lot of animals. And was a Jerk.

 

Actually, he's the perfect representative of our state's history XD.

Some Real Facts:

 

New Jersey Facts and Trivia

[*]New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.

[*]New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the U.S. located in Elizabeth.

 

Neither of these is true any longer. It's kind of funny they wee both right next to each other.

 

[*]New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

 

Not true.

 

[*]New Jersey has 108 toxic waste dumps. Which is the most in any one state in the nation.

 

I guess that depends on how you define that. Here is the latest NJDEP Known Contaminated Sites List, it is currently at over 12,000. The actual number of known contaminated sites in NJ is over 50,000 but they changed the way the track them.

 

http://www.nj.gov/dep/srp/kcsnj/

 

[*]State motto is liberty and prosperity.

 

Good one!

 

Diners! Pizza!

Diners! Pizza!

 

NJ has pizza as good as you can find anywhere and better than you can find almost everywhere.

From my hometown , North Arlington:

• Copper was mined at the Schuyler Copper Mine in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was one of the first true copper mines in North America.
  
• In 1755, the first steam engine in North American was assembled in North Arlington. The Newcomen steam engine was imported from England by John Schuyler to pump water out of his copper mine. He hired engineer Josiah Hornblower to assemble the machinery
  

Had a friend's swimming pool disappear down and old mine shaft one day about 25 years ago. Nobody was in it at the time.

Theres a log house near Swedesboro that may be the oldest in the country.

 

That's in gibbstown

The weather is not so bad. Not many tornado's hurricanes nor excessive dryness. After the zombie apocalypse there will be lots of left over bits to scavenge, good place to grow food as well, assuming the bunnies don't turn zombie too. Low on most natural disasters really.

The weather is not so bad. Not many tornado's hurricanes nor excessive dryness. After the zombie apocalypse there will be lots of left over bits to scavenge, good place to grow food as well, assuming the bunnies don't turn zombie too. Low on most natural disasters really.

 

WOW Vlad that's turning a lemon into lemonade!!!

 

Notice all the good mentional things were in the past. NJ currently sucks!

From my hometown , North Arlington:

• Copper was mined at the Schuyler Copper Mine in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was one of the first true copper mines in North America.
  
• In 1755, the first steam engine in North American was assembled in North Arlington. The Newcomen steam engine was imported from England by John Schuyler to pump water out of his copper mine. He hired engineer Josiah Hornblower to assemble the machinery
  

Had a friend's swimming pool disappear down and old mine shaft one day about 25 years ago. Nobody was in it at the time.

 

 

Lol I read all about that mine in Weird NJ

Taylor Ham

Taylor Ham

 

Hell yeah!!!