Do you think New Jersey deserves its nickname "the Armpit of America"?

Nah… some areas of NJ are beautiful. Although the deplorable southern part of the state is, well, deplorable.

Many, many parts of NJ are some of the prettiest in the country. But when it’s at its ugliest it’s some of the ugliest parts of America.

As long as there is Mississippi, New Jersey is certainly not the Armpit of America.

The only reason is called that is due to the short stretch of the NJ Turnpike between Newark/Elizabeth and the Lincoln Tunnel/George Washington Bridge where there are oil refineries.

And that's the main stretch most people see when they fly in to Newark Airport and go into the city.

I had to go out to Morristown a while back. I'd never been there before and it was impressive. But yeah, there are definitely armpit areas within NJ.

Unfortunately the good ol’ US of A has A LOT of armpits! It’s hard to choose just one!

NJ is "The Garden State"

It also used to come out on top as highest per capita income lists since so many ultra rich people choose to live there.

The Jersey jokes are just water off a duck’s backs to us. We live here and know the truth.

Conversely, I imagine the North Dakota jokes from Minnesotans must sting.

To someone from NJ, people who make fun of NJ just sound incredibly ignorant.

R4–In the last century, the entire Hudson coastline was industrial, which also didn’t help. Now they call it The Gold Coast.

No. N.J. actually has some lovely areas and proximity to NYC of course. I adore Cape May.

New Jersey is inbetween two major metropolitan cities...NYC and Philadelphia. So...some of the outskirts of those cities are pretty ugly and crime ridden, with some old defunct industrial factories There's a lot of gorgeous country and farms in northern and western NJ...the shore area is really nice, too...but a lot of deplorables down there. There are quaint villages and towns. It's hardly an armpit. I can think of other armpits in this country now.

No. I've been to Quartzsite, AZ. Racist armpit of America.

I moved from NYC to NJ in Hunterdon County in a small river town situated on the Delaware River across from Bucks County, PA. Couldn't be happier as long as I can get into the city when I need a fix. An easy commute to NYC or Philadelphia. A thriving arts scene. Great for an elder gay but the town has its share young hipsters and creative types that makes for a diverse and interesting mix. A new bookstore just opened in town with a great selection of books as an added bonus. Each state has its armpit areas. We are happily a blue state but there are those areas that still have Trump banners flying and a vibe like you've stepped into a scene from "Deliverance". Isn't that America in 2021 though?

Lambertville?

Western Jersey is very beautiful and rural. Excellent roads for driving a vert.

I live in the asshole of the US.

America to is the armpit if the world but the whole planret is just a throbbing pus filled boil on the universe.

I lived in the Morristown area the first 35 years of my life, R5. Far, far from NJ stereotype.

"Lambertville?"

Lambertville, and its counterpart on the west bank of the Delaware, New Hope, have been overrun with Karens, their bratty, obnoxious, privately schooled kids and their asshole lawyer/stock broker/investment banker husbands for the last 20 years.

New York City's gain is our loss.

Jealous?

Some armpits are beautiful.

R14 Are you near New Hope?

Drew University in Madison is gorgeous (near Morristown)

Anyone who says that hasn't been to Alabama.

I could never move there after watching THE SOPRANOS, which made it look like a violent hellhole, where no one in their right mind would open any kind of business because it would mean getting shaken down by the Mafia.

Where did The Sopranos live supposedly?

North Jersey...North Caldwell.^^

Be careful r14, there was a terrible flood in Lambertville, around 15-20 years ago. It could happen again.

Gary, Indiana R17?

Summit has produced some remarkable artists.

I've been to NJ a couple times in my life & I've seen many beautiful places.

The only people that use the expression " Armpit of America" in reference to Jersey are from NYC.

Oklahoma, NW Indiana, large chunks of Texas, the abandoned textile factory corridor on I-85 in SC---so many armpits.

NW Indiana. It's worse than an armpit.

I've dined on some fine armpits. But there's nothing in NW Indiana to redeem it.

Joisey? Joisey? 🤡

Well, if New England was a raised arm, then yes, that would be about right.

Literary references:

Dove billboard:

Despite the richness and uniqueness of this state, a lot of people metamorphically coined the phrase Armpit of America to New Jersey because of several reasons:

1. Since it had the highest population with almost 90% of the people living in its urban areas, the state also creates too much garbage and wastes. 2. It has more than a hundred toxic waste dumps which is the highest of all the states. 3. It is the largest chemical producing state in the US. 4. It is also referred as an urban wasteland. 5. Aside from the wastes, people had negative feedbacks about New Jersey such as its dense traffic, boring highway system, and dull neighborhoods.

I would not call 90% of the population "urban" as such. More like 90% suburban!

The travesty of New Jersey is the jug handle, who ever came up with the idea that to make a left hand turn one needs to exit right should be in the deepest level of hell!

I love the jughandle idea and wish they had it everywhere!

New Jersey exists solely to hold up the road approaching NYC from the south and west.

...and to continue producing pork roll.

We moved to New Jersey when I was two. I never knew pork roll existed until I was in my twenties. I miss "New Jersey 'sloppy Joe' deli sandwiches" which are more like Reubens (nothing to do with ground beef nor tomato sauce).

New Jersey exists to keep Pennsylvania isolated from NYC.

People from Philly bash Jersey too and call it “the armpit of America” all the time too not just New Yorkers

South Jersey across the Delaware from Philly is very rednecky

Central Jersey, Princeton and Trenton, the in between between Philly and NYC is more urban and suburban, also it’s odd in that you get BOTH NYC and Philly channels and new stations and I once lived in an apartment complex in Princeton and half the people worked in NYC and the other half in Philly

[quote]South Jersey across the Delaware from Philly is very rednecky

Home of Kellyanne Conway. 'nuff said.

R48 and Kelly Ripa!

NJ is only relevant because it connects NYC to Philly

I used to take New Jersey Transit from Philly to Trenton Nj and then get another train to NYC

And spend the day shopping in NYC and still make it home to Philly at a reasonable time, always work the next morning

Online shopping and now COVID killed a lot of that fun stuff

R43 Sounds kind of like a Michigan left.

You mean SEPTA from Philly to Trenton r50.

Anyway, New Jersey is one of the wealthiest and most educated states. Great access to NYC and Philly and ample beaches and boardwalks.

New Yorkers just like making fun of New Jersey so it became a "thing".

R52 yeah Septa but NJ Transit runs in Center City Philly and I believe you can take a NJ transit bus from CC Philly to Trenton NJ train station

If I had to do it all over again I think I would have wanted to do undergrad at Princeton, I wish Ms. Shields hadn’t tarnished its reputation when I was thinking about colleges and removed it from the list.

Jersey’s cool. Good bagels, good subs and you can get gravy on your fries.

My husband grew up in NJ and his family still lives there.

There is a fairly sizable area from say, Monclair down to Westfield and then out to Morristown that is all picture postcard upper middle class suburbia, the quintessential "leafy suburbs" with houses that were built in the 1910s to 1930s, small cute downtowns built around the NJ Transit station into NYC and populations that largely consist of people who moved out from Manhattan and Brooklyn for more space and better schools.

You have a lot of media people in Montclair and Maplewood (Colbert being the best known), a lot of investment bankers and BigLaw partners in Short Hills, Summit and Chatham and a big gay and lesbian community in Maplewood and South Orange too.

That said, there are plenty of crappy postwar tract houses suburbs in other parts of the state and odd McMansion suburbs in Monmouth County.

Some part of the state--far north, west and south--are actually quite rurual--sort of a surprise to drive 30 minutes west from Newark Airport and be in farm country.

There's also the horse country around Bernardsville and Far Hills which is where DL Fave Jackie On Assistance had her country house--lots of big old houses on 20+ acres, a little over an hour and change from Manhattan.

Plus the Shore, which is not all Snookie-ville.

As for jughandle turns, I've come to appreciate them, they're mostly on 6 or 8 lane roads and make a lot of sense given that many people are making U-turns to get to the other side of the road, rather than actually making a left turn.

^^Montclair

I can get to NYC in an hour. I can get to Philadelphia in an hour. I can get to the shore in maybe an hour and a half. I can get to Amish country in PA in two hours. I can get to Princeton in fifteen minutes. I can get to DC in three hours. I can get to Lambertville in forty-five minutes. This is all by car, but I could park at a train station to get to NYC, Philadelphia, or DC. It is beautiful here. We have deer and foxes in our yard. One evening when the fox kits were frolicking, my son said it looked like a Disney movie. We pay a lot for this, but yes, you should be jealous.Nj

R35: He's more right than he imagines. You just have to get off of I-65 to see what hell really looks like.

I remember being a kid in South Philly living in a row home on a mostly Italian block and every time my friends moved from the neighborhood, they always “moved to Jersey “

My best friends, Victor and Jeffrey “moved to Jersey “ one summer, while I, ironically, was in Jersey myself for two weeks on vacation at the Jersey shore (Ocean City), and I never got to say goodbye to them

Because of that I hated dirty Jersey

What is the weather like r58?

Definitely not. But as the most densely populated state I think the residents are fine with that reputation since it keeps things from getting more crowded. On a personal note, I live in NYC and planned a hike with some friends last summer. We looked at the Hudson Valley but everything online said the trails were packed and parking was impossible due to the number of people from the city swarming the area. Instead, we drove out to Sussex County, N—it was absolutely beautiful and we had an entire mountain practically to ourselves because of all the idiotic NYers who turn their noses up at NJ.

Since I brought it up, let me elaborate, jug handles are all well and good if you know ahead of time which random intersections you’re going to find them at, so they are great for the locals and the visitors get screwed. I’ve lived in many states throughout the country, but I will say that in no other place does one have driving stacked against you as a newcomer more then New Jersey. Unless you’ve grown up there there is a huge learning curb for driving around on local roads and the “correct” or “easy” way to get somewhere. It like there’s this whole inside information kept secret and always these back ways or roads to get somewhere. I’m sure with GPS this probably doesn’t register as much of a problem anymore, but prior to that I always confirmed driving plans with a born and bred native to confirm how to get anywhere.

One word: Mississippi

Atlantic City is fun but overran by NEW YORKERS and PHILLY peeps

They all have gave the East Coast attitude

A place where iconic figures such as Albert Einstein, Connie Francis and Walt Whitman lived can't possibly be that bad.

Unfortunately, they are overshadowed by these citizens, R 66

No one here says Joisey...and I'm from New Jersey, and still live there. Only the ones, not from here, say that as a bad interpretation of the state.

still live *here...

In New Jersey all seems to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

You bring up a great point, R63!

I worked with a woman who had just moved to New Jersey from Illinois. She kept referring to roads by their three digit county designations! So, I had no idea that, say, 845 meant what I knew as Green Valley Road.

Agreed on the back roads - - they're a lot easier between Summit and Morristown, rather than stopping at every other traffic light on 124 through Chatham and Madison.

R49 Ripa is from Berlin and Voohies.

R68, notice that people from Newark call it Nork and Pusake is heard for Passaic.

R72 yeah from Berlin, which is South Jersey, not far from the infamous Camden and right across the bridge from Center City Philadelphia

More like Nerk/Nurk and P'sake (like Greek letter Psi).

R61, the weather has been a little hot lately but we kind of like that. No droughts or wildfires. We have four seasons. Fall is usually really nice. Winter can get bad but that's just because I don't like the cold. It's not as cold as farther north. Sometimes in the spring it doesn't warm up fast enough, but the blooming trees and bushes make you think you're in paradise.

"Ripa is from Berlin and Voohies."

Oh, dear!!!

For a small state, it pretty much has a divide between North and South. North is very metropolitan, since near NYC, and South is pretty rural, almost like a southern state.

As somebody who grew up in a true shit hole, I recognized undeserved bashing of the Garden State when I heard it.

My trips to NJ have been beautiful - with the exception of Ocean City with angry drivers.

R75, I notice only people from my parents' generation pronounce it as "Nerk." Everyone younger says "Nork."

And re Secaucus: Every news person pronounces it "Se-CAU-cus," but everyone I know says "SEA-cau-cus."

R78 yes it’s definitely divided by North Jersey, suburb of NYC and South Jersey, suburb of Philadelphia

Trenton/Hamilton Township/Princeton is the in between, where the NYC and Philly side mix it up, you literally will see NY Giants, Mets, and Yankees merchandise right next to Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles merchandise at the Targets and Walmart’s in Central Jersey

And it seems every major sports star from both the NYC and Philly teams lives in New Jersey

I think every Philadelphia Flyer lives in Jersey, of course the Flyers practice in Voorhees, New Jersey

So Jersey can’t be that bad

It’s SEA-cau-cus and the nearby town of Kearney is CAR-ny

R83 yup, I had family in CAR-NEY

Don’t get me started on Forked River.

R80: I'd use the first one myself, but the second is one I heard a lot as well when I lived in NJ. How else would you pronounce Kearney? Forked River = ha ha ha!

I one met a guy from Chatham at a gay group in NYC, asking him "Borough or Township?" His bf from New Hampshire asked us both with some exasperation, "Why does everyone [italic]always[/italic] ask that right away?" He and I had both lived in the borough.

(I've not been much on Route 17, but Route 22 is scary-as-hell!)

It's an adventure.

[quote]One word: Mississippi

What?

New Jersey ranks 3rd in the US for median income. Mississippi ranks 50th.

Also: New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

NJ ranks #1 for its education system.

Route 22 may be the world;s scariest road to drive on,

No idea what they were thinking: it's a three lane roadway in both directions. Only there's a large center section that also has stores and parking lots for those stores. So cars are entering the road from the left side and from the right. The only way to get to the other side is via a U-Turn lane that does not have a very long runway when you attempt to re-enter traffic on the other side. Plus cars might be coming in from the center right in front of you as you attempt to merge in.

Another unusual pronunciation is "Bernardsville" which is "BURR-nerds-ville" --sort of like the UK pronunciation of "Bernard"

[quote] How else would you pronounce Kearney?

Ker-ney.

R88, take you feud up with NYC. They are the ones who perpetuate it. The rest of us have either never heard about it or just don't care.

I associate Bernardsville with Lacey Davenport. It's also the town where we had monthly after-school dancing lessons. (a story in itself)

I live in NJ for almost 30 years and I'm fine with it as the armpit of America. I love armpits. Love licking them, the bushier the better.

From NJ and some of it is beautiful. One of the most educated states. Seconding the idea that it's the transplants who think it all looks like the drive to Newark airport.

I do like that New Jersey recognizes how complicated, fucked up and isolating their road system is that they create wild animal crossing bridges for them to get safely over the highways, I’ve never seen that anywhere else.

America has lots of armpits and assholes.

The cities in New Jersey are pretty crappy. Camden, Trenton, Paterson, Elizabeth are all shitty. Newark is pretty shitty as well, it's gotten a little better but still a long way to go.

I think that is part of the perception. New Yorkers think of Newark and Philly people think of Camden.

R98 yup!

The whole Patterson, Passaic and Parsippany thing always threw me off, confusing me with which one was which. I do highly recommend visiting the Stickley Museum and Craftsman Farms in the latter, that’s where Barbra had the key piece of furniture, a sideboard from, and was such a bitch not selling it to them directly returning it to its rightly place, but instead making them buy it at auction for a zillion dollars.

Much of Jersey is a festering sewer, but there are some pretty areas. Just ignore the people.

Kidding, kidding

OP needs to get out more and see places in the Rust Belt, like Mason, OH, and Port Arthur, TX.

NJ has beautiful towns. Saddle River comes to mind, Montclair, places like that.

R102 Cape May in the most Southern part of NJ

R89 - the really scary thing about that center section of Rt 22 is when idiots try to run across the highway to get from a store on one side of the highway to another on the opposite side.

Still, as much as I dislike 22, I find Rt 4 scarier because at least 22 has shoulder lanes while 4 does not.

OMG! Parsippany is nothing like Paterson and Passaic!

I have not had the pleasure to drive on Route 4, R104.

My husband took me to Route 22 once, when we were out at his parents, mostly just to prove how bad it was.

And I agree R98, Newark has potential--it even has its own subway system and a lot of nice older public buildings and housing stock. It may be too far gone though.

Same thing with Elizabeth, which actually has a few fairly nice sections

I grew up in Elizabeth. The Elmora section and Westminster section were the nicest parts of Elizabeth. Elmora had a lot of doctors and some nice homes...tudor style and a few big, stately homes. Westminster was the wealthiest section. That was many years ago and a lot has changed now. I lived in the Elmora section.

I worked in Newark many years ago, and took the bus into work. Riding in, I saw some beautiful brownstones that looked run down, but had a lot of potential. You can tell that Newark was a beautiful city at one time. The same with Trenton. There are a lot of very old, historic homes..and along the Delaware River, some lovely homes there, too.

[quote] Newark has potential--it even has its own subway system and a lot of nice older public buildings and housing stock. It may be too far gone though.

The Ironbound neighborhood is pretty vibrant and safe. It has a mix of young South Americans and older Portuguese.

The Downtown and Military Park areas are being slowly gentrified as a bedroom community for NYC-based renters. Nearby is Rutgers Newark campus. The University has purchased old offices buildings and converted them for student housing and administrative uses.

There’s a ton of “luxury” rentals going up across the Passaic in Kearney. Nearby Tops Diner in East Newark is about to open a gigantic new space right behind the current restaurant.

Elizabeth. What great name for a town. It sets a certain tone.

[quote]There’s a ton of “luxury” rentals going up across the Passaic in Kearney.

That's actually Harrison that has all of that development, especially around the PATH station.

R110 Judy Blume is from Elizabeth, does that still set your tone?

Funnily enough, I had always heard "Ohio is the armpit of the US". Frenchies and Brits refer to Belgium as the "Ohio of Europe". Belgium doesn't deserve such a distinction, IMHO, but I think Ohio does.

Jersey is beautiful, not only the land, but the many small downtown strips and squares in many towns/suburbs are quite charming. Most of the people are smart, progressive, and sophisticated, unlike most of the people I've met from Ohio.

What exactly is the issue with Jersey armpits?

I grew up in NJ - and yeah, always hated the NJ Turnpike corridor going past Newark /Elizabeth and the Bayway refineries. OMG the stench. Then I moved to Los Angeles (Long Beach refineries are worse, btw). After a few years I was visiting east - and I have to say ... I actually felt comforted by the smell as I drove that stretch of the Turnpike again.

Oh, and another thing: I also noticed how litter-free Jersey roads are - even the Elizabeth turnpike stretch. California roads (the 5, the 405, the 101, the 10, etc), however, are garbage dumps. A total embarrassment.

I will say, ever since they widened the NJ Turnpike near the Brunswicks and you don’t have that deadly slow down to standstill of lanes merging from the outer lanes into the center lanes it’s practically a pleasure to ride on the NJ Turnpike. Now if they could finally finish the section that will make the direct link on the same road between NYC and Philly, it will be a slice of heaven.

Go literally a couple of miles off the Turnpike and it gets beautiful very quickly. Northern and Central NJ that is. Route 202 is beautiful. South Jersey is a very different vibe (ie trash - with a couple of exceptions.) The NJ Philly suburbs especially.

I grew up on the Jersey Shore, now living in Los Angeles. I'll take Long Beach Island over Huntington Beach or Malibu any day. The Pacific is way colder than you'd expect - and it is a sewer. Literally, a sewer: they dump raw sewage into the ocean just a couple miles north of the famous California Beaches that Brian Wilson crooned about. You need a hepatitis shot in addition to your SPF-50.

R117 I always thought the opposite, South Jersey is more rural and more country and has lots of pretty places, I went to a beautiful winery in a small South Jersey town a few years back

North Jersey is too congested and smoggy

Danny Pintauro was born there so it deserves worse than that.

According to my mother-in-law, Orthodox Jews have moved into those nicer sections of Elizabeth you referenced R107-- not Hasids, but Modern Orthodox (like the Kushners) who send their kids to religious schools so don't have to deal with the public school system.

Not in the least. There are some awful parts, and there are some beautiful parts.

Forked River is FOR-ked.

R90 Bernardsville was named for Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, governor of the Province of New Jersey

South Jersey, Hammonton, has the best blueberries when in season. Of course, there's our tomatoes, too.

R121. Yes. There is an Orthodox Synagogue and school in the neighborhood I grew up, and we had a few Orthodox Jewish neighbors. They were nice and played with a couple of the kids, growing up. One woman had numbers tattooed on her arm, a remnant of WWII...in a German concentration camp.

Just stay out of the Pine Barrens

[quote]South Jersey is a very different vibe (ie trash - with a couple of exceptions.) The NJ Philly suburbs especially.

I beg your pardon. The Pine Barrens. Miles and miles of pristine forests. Stone Harbor. Avalon. One of the most beautiful smalls towns in the US: Cape May. Haddonfield. Collingswood. Even Hammonton. Very nicely situated: Philly to the left, NYC to the north. The ocean to the right.

The North Jersey/South Jersey division thing is a myth. I was born in jersey and lived there for close to 50 years. It's more like Quarters, not halves. NorthEast Jersey: densely populated, affluent suburbs with some urban centers. NorthWest Jersey: forests and lakes, not so populated - but has a strong racist KKK presence. SouthEast Jersey: basically, The Shore. All income levels - and simply sublime. SouthWest Jersey: like NorthWest Jersey, it has vast 'wilderness' and farmland but also lots of trash (trailer parks, crappy subdivisions, lots of Trump supporters, frightening Philly suburbs and omg Camden). Oh, and I guess there is a fifth zone: Central Jersey: which is pretty affluent and tony, but with urban centers, too. Princeton, the Brunswicks, Trenton.

The only thing that truly divides Jersey into North vs South is the Pork Roll / Taylor Ham debate.

Actually, there are quite a few linguistic differences between South Jersey and North Jersey.

R129 but Bucks County PA is across the River from central Jersey and TONS of NYC peeps and North Jersey peeps have moved to Bucks County and have taken it over in recent years

It’s about 20 miles from Center City Philly and 60-70 miles from Manhattan NYC

And of course the famous Bucks County Playhouse

[quote] but has a strong racist KKK presence.

You say this because beyond Short Hills, there are many registered Republicans. KKK racists is a definite slur. I'm from that area, so qualify as an expert as what it's like there. It's like saying that the people in the northeast part of the state are all Sopranos-level trash.

I'm talking more north and west, starting around the West Milford lake region. It's a KKK hub - and I'm not generalizing. There are actual, organized Klan meetings , etc. throughout that area.

R132 South Jersey has a lot of Trump supporters (that’s a fact). Far Hills/Bernardsville area is never-Trumper Republican country.

Speaking of Trump et al, Chris Christie’s house is in one of the most beautiful towns, Mendham.

R15,R20,R23 I'm in Frenchtown. Moved 3 years ago.

All of those suburban Republican towns in the upper middle class Morris and Essex Line area voted heavily for Biden-- Summit, Chatham, Madison.

Divide the State in half at Trenton....large swaths of South Jersey vote Dem.

Pork Roll

"Pork Roll"

He's no longer Governor.

Chris Christie may be from Mendham, but he's not [italic]of[/ITALIC] it. We consider him of his native Verona.

Yes. Have met too many lowlifes from Jersey to change my mind.

There are often sort of funny tongue-in-cheek Twitter battles as to whether Central Jersey actually exists.

[quote]The only thing that truly divides Jersey into North vs South is the Pork Roll / Taylor Ham debate.

Plus NY vs Philly stations

Giants/Jets/Mets/Yankees/Devils/Knicks vs Phillies/Eagles/76ers/Flyers

Hoagies vs subs

Jimmies vs sprinkles

Going down the shore vs going to the beach

Also, aren't cheesesteaks popular in the south (vs reuben sandwiches up north)?

[quote] There are often sort of funny tongue-in-cheek Twitter battles as to whether Central Jersey actually exists.

I always think of Hazlet as central Jersey.

Yes. I went to Princeton, which is beautiful, but the people in New Jersey are terrible.

Somerset County is probably the best county in the state.

The people from the beautiful parts of NJ are fine with people thinking it's an armpit. Keeps out the Come Heres and Looky Loos.

R143 people in Philly say “going down the shore” when referring to the Jersey shore

They NEVER say, “I went to the beach “, it’s always “he’s at the shore in Wildwood”

Mercer and Hunterdon are pretty counties, too. Also Ocean County..

Aren’t there Breast Cancer and Autism clusters in Monmouth County?

I will say as a Pennsylvanian my family was always scandalized by New Jersey’s appropriation of OUR Molly Pitcher to name a Rest Stop after, or as they call it in their state a “Service Area.” It also sounds like the one where all the DL Gays have sex after dropping MDMA, “they don’t call it a service area for nothing!” I heard they are opening a whole new slew of “Service Areas” there named after musical stars. Bruce Springsteen declined, but I’m sure there will be lots of Gay sex happening in the restroom at Whitney Huston, and most likely drugs too.

Molly Pitcher was a PA native; however, she's gone down in history as taking an active part in The Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey! Hardly an appropriation as you suggest.

We have her body, she’s not even buried in NJ!

"Molly" was born in Trenton - and, as has been mentioned above, has the Battle of Monmouth connection.

Yes, Central NJ exists. I am posting from Central New Jersey.

[quote]it’s always “he’s at the shore in Wildwood”

Never.

It's "he's down the shore in Wildwood"

Central Jersey does exist, but really it's the southern part of North Jersey.

Take New Brunswick, think everyone would agree it is central jersey. It has a train station to go where? Directly to NY. Still part of the greater NYC sphere.

R157 but isn’t it closer to Philadelphia?

The Brunswicks are all closer to New York than Philly r158, NB for instance is like 36 miles from NY but 59 miles from Philly. And the public transportation is set up to get people back and forth from NY. Central Jersey is much more part of North Jersey than South Jersey, South Jersey really is its own distinct thing from the rest of Jersey.

Central Jersey seems more NJ oriented to me than commuter north Jersey, thoiugh of course there are commuters there.

I've had a TON of sex at the Service Areas along the Garden State Parkway. The NJ Turnpike Service Areas are just too sketchy.

Princeton is situated where it is because it’s about fifty miles from Philadelphia and fifty miles from NYC. As Benjamin Franklin said, “New Jersey is like a beer barrel, tapped at both ends, with all the live beer running into Philadelphia and New York.”