Rodney Dangerfield often summed up his life with the one simple phrase quoted above. To those of us who live, work and love our state, it is an admonishment sometimes felt by those proud New Jerseyans who wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Late-night comedians often make light of our state, but even Ben Franklin wrote stories at the expense of New Jersey. Squeezed between New York City and Philadelphia, has often left us subject to being less sophisticated and culturally poorer than our surrounding urban centers. What we may lack in big city life, we more than make up for in other areas: agriculture, world renowned entertainers, a rich center of science and technology, beautiful country side - both north and south, and 130 miles of coast line.
Garden State
There is a reason New Jersey is called the Garden State. Tiny little NJ has (6) vegetables/fruits which are in the top ten for production in the United States: 3rd - cranberries, 3rd - peaches, 3rd - spinach, 3rd - bell peppers, 5th - blueberries, and 8th - tomatoes, Speaking of the tomato, anyone who has the good fortune to eat one mid-summer knows the gastronomic delight of its flavor and juiciness. The history of the tomato is often linked with the Campbell Soup Co. Joseph Campbell was a fruit and vegetable vender who joined Abraham Andersen, a commercial canner and packer to form the firm of Andersen and Campbell in 1869. In 1895, the first ready to eat soup in a jar was introduced — Beefsteak Tomato Soup. Two years later the invention of condensed canned soup was introduced and as they say the rest is history. The The Campbell Co. (the name changed in 2024) has its world headquarters still in Camden, NJ where it all began.
Celebrities - Entertainers and Sports
One of the benefits of being located adjacent to New York City are the many entertainment and sport celebrities who have chose to make NJ their home: Stephen Colbert, Eddie Murphy, Jon Stewart, Lil Kim, Dennis Rodman, Eli Manning, and Carl Lewis to name a few. Others who were born here add to the list: Meryl Streep, Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, Diane Warwick, Joe Pesci, Derek Jeter and of course Bruce Springsteen who still lives here. And, we mustn't forget Yogi Berra. As they sometime say, there must be something in the water with all that talent springing forth. If you're hoping for a celebrity citing try one of the following: the Short Hills Mall, walking the streets of Montclair, and The Stony Pony in Asbury Park might give you an opportunity. Just ten days ago, Jennifer Lopez was filming a new Netflix film at a Hunan restaurant in Denville, so you never know who or where someone will pop up.
Technology and Job Opportunities Flourish
But New Jersey doesn't just show off the glitz and glamour of celerity life. Science and technology are an essential part of the fabric of NJ. One of the premier players in the technology field is Bell Labs (bought out by NOKIA) with operation throughout the state. Its headquarters were built in Murray Hill (between New Providence and Berkeley Heights) between 1942 and 1945. They were on the cutting edge of science when a team of scientists developed the transistor in 1947. Other important milestones were the UNIX operating system and C programming."NJ has the highest concentration of scientists and engineers in the nation" (researchwithNJ.com)as well as being home to 63 universities. The following statistic alone will clearly show how the technology industry values being in the Garden State — there are more that 10,000 technology companies spread across the state. The other big player in the field of science is "big pharma" - Pozen, Celgene, and Merck are just three of the major pharmaceutical companies. One of the reasons these companies have settled in NJ is an industry friendly government which offers tax incentives to keep these companies here. Not only do these companies provide a growth and development of future technologies providing jobs for thousands of NJ workers but which will also benefit not just citizens of NJ but citizens of the world.
Beautiful Countryside Abounds
When flying into Liberty Newark Airport, passengers often don't appreciate the beautiful landscape that is much of New Jersey. They see the NJ turnpike an surrounding industry on the most northeastern edge of the state. The area know as the Skylands in northwest NJ include the rolling hills of Morris, Somerset and Hunterdon counties, the Great Swamp - a nationally set aside wildlife preserve in the slightly north of center of the state,. and, the Pine Barrens, which cover a large portion of the southern part of the state are just a few examples of the natural beauty extending throughout the state. A little-known fact about the Great Swamp is if one looks at a present-day map of NJ, it clearly seen that RTs. 78, 24, and 287 form a triangle around the area we now call The Great Swamp. This was because the planned intention for this area was to build the next big International airport. Due to the efforts of four women who opposed this, (long before there was an internet) , a ground swell against the project developed and it was ultimately stopped and an act of Congress set this precious natural preserve aside for future generations to appreciate.
