Another big reason for New Jersey’s massive population is its standing as a pivot point for the greater manufacturing industry in North America. Dubbed the “Crossroads of the East,” New Jersey is home to thousands of manufacturers which ship goods all over the world. Its biggest export is chemicals, but New Jersey is also known for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, apparel, electronics and electrical goods, machinery, and musical instruments.
In addition to its extremely impressive manufacturing sector, New Jersey is known the world over for its research centers. Some of the most important pharmaceutical and chemical tests in the nation take place in the Garden State, and there are a host of other research facilities conducting tests for a wide swath of different industries and philanthropic aims.
If you thinking of New Jersey as an outsider, farmland is probably not the first thing that pops up in your mind. However, perhaps it should be. About one-sixth of New Jersey’s relatively small land mass is covered by farmland currently in use. That’s 790,000 acres worth of farmland in a state that is under 5 million acres in size. New Jersey is a key producer and distributor of many different foods including dairy products, seafood, poultry, peaches, blueberries, cranberries, carrots, and a host of other vegetables.
While manufacturing and agriculture have huge financial implications for the Garden State, tourism is actually the second most profitable industry in the state behind general manufacturing. With 127 miles of coastline to its credit, New Jersey is home to a litany of different resorts which each offer something intriguing and different. There’s also the legal gambling industry in New Jersey after a 1977 ruling opened the doors for casinos to come to Atlantic City. Those casinos are a huge moneymaker and also a huge employer of New Jersey residents.
Casinos and resorts aren’t the only tourist attractions worth checking out in the Garden State. There are many other points of interest you should circle on your to-do list including the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, the world-famous Princeton University, Liberty State Park, the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden, Jersey City, and the Delaware Water Gap. These sites draw tourists in from both all over the Northeast and all over the world.
Speaking of the world, New Jersey is home to immigrants from 5 other continents who have brought an amazing bit of culinary culture to the Garden State. One thing that helps all this is the supply of fresh seafood constantly distributed to restaurants from off the Jersey shoreline. There are a litany of different seafood restaurants which are well worth your time and money.
That’s not all for New Jersey food culture, though. The Garden State is home to some very unique culinary contributions such as the sloppy joe, the thin-crust Trenton tomato pie, Jersey-style hot dogs, beefsteak, and the pork roll. An intriguing mixture of European influences, New York style, and a host of other cultural contributions, New Jersey is a dream for the adventurous foodie in your family.
Are you a sports fan living in New Jersey or planning on moving there? It’s an extremely interesting and exciting place for a sports fan! For one, the National Football League’s New York Giants and New York Jets share MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. There’s also a handful of other professional sports teams, some semi-professional squads, and some collegiate teams to boot!
What really makes things interesting for a sports fan residing in New Jersey is the New Jersey Turnpike which serves as one of the primary thoroughfares for automobile travel in the Northeast. If you want to catch a New York Yankees game in New York City or even catch a connector down to Boston to watch the Celtics play, New Jersey is connected brilliant to the rest of the Northeast by the Turnpike and other adjacent highways and byways.
One thing of note when having your car or truck shipped to your place in New Jersey. Be wary of the double-decked George Washington Bridge between the hours of 3pm and 7pm. It’s one of the key bridges which connect New Jersey and New York and it’s also the heaviest trafficked bridge in the entire world. While it has fourteen lanes to its credit, it can still get backed up something fierce during rush hour.
(One last thing about driving in New Jersey – don’t try to pump your own gas. New Jersey is the only state in the Union with required full-service gas stations, although Oregon does the same in a more limited capacity.)
If you plan on raising a family in New Jersey, you’ll be happy to know that the public school system is one of the most well-funded systems in the entire nation. New Jersey ranks in the top five in the nation on dollar spent per public school student, with half of those funds directed towards paying teachers and tutors. So, it’s also a great state to consider if you’re a public school teacher looking for work.
And just to sell you on the public school system in New Jersey even more, it was ranked best in the nation back in 2014 by the folks over at Wallet Hub. Add in two of the more prestigious higher education institutions in the nation in Princeton University and Rutgers University, a host of other universities and small colleges, and some trade schools and you can see why the Garden State is regularly lauded as of the best states to live for a full stay-at-home education.
Now that you’re familiar with a lot of what New Jersey has to offer, it’s time to boost your trivia knowledge about the Garden State. First, let’s take a look at the official living and inanimate symbols of the State of New Jersey:
That’s just the tip of the trivia iceberg for the State of New Jersey. Here’s some other intriguing and weird and awesome facts about the Garden State:
Are you hungry? Like right now? If so and you’re in the State of New Jersey, you’re in luck. Known as the “Diner Capital of the Country,” New Jersey is home to approximately 525 diners serving everything from American classics to regional cuisines from around the world.
Once you have your car, truck, or van shipped to your new home or temporary locale in New Jersey, you’ll be able to bypass crowded public transportation in favor of driving to and from some of the coolest spots in all of the nation. Whether you’re watching a Jets game in East Rutherford or heading out to play some blackjack in Atlantic City, the arrival of your vehicle won’t just be your key to everything New Jersey has to offer. With the state’s comprehensive highway and byway system at your disposal, you’ll be able to see what the entire Northeastern United States is all about.
