newjerseyhistory

__**Delaware Indians**__

The first people to live on the land now known as New Jersey were the Delaware Indians. They lived here starting at least 10,000 years ago. Anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 Delaware Indians lived in the area when the first Europeans arrived. Their name means "original people" or "genuine people." They spoke an Algonquian dialect.

__**Colonial Times**__

Around 1524, Giovanni de Verrazano became the first European to explore New Jersey. He sailed along the coast and anchored off Sandy Hook. The colonial history of New Jersey started after Henry Hudson sailed through Newark Bay in 1609. Although Hudson was British, he worked for the Netherlands, so he claimed the land for the Dutch. It was called New Netherlands.

In 1664 the Dutch lost New Netherlands when the British took control of the land and added it to their colonies. They divided the land in half and gave control to two proprietors: Sir George Carteret of the east side and Lord John Berkley of the west side. The land was officially named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.

Berkeley and Carteret sold the land at low prices and allowed the settlers to have political and religious freedom. As a result, New Jersey was more ethnically diverse than many other colonies. Primarily a rural society, the colony grew to have about 100,000 people.

Eventually, governing power was transferred back to England. For many years, New Jersey shared a royal governor with New York. The governorship was finally split in 1738 when New Jersey got its own governor, Lewis Morris.

__**Delaware Indians**__

The first people to live on the land now known as New Jersey were the Delaware Indians. They lived here starting at least 10,000 years ago. Anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 Delaware Indians lived in the area when the first Europeans arrived. Their name means "original people" or "genuine people." They spoke an Algonquian dialect.

__**Colonial Times**__

Around 1524, Giovanni de Verrazano became the first European to explore New Jersey. He sailed along the coast and anchored off Sandy Hook. The colonial history of New Jersey started after Henry Hudson sailed through Newark Bay in 1609. Although Hudson was British, he worked for the Netherlands, so he claimed the land for the Dutch. It was called New Netherlands.

In 1664 the Dutch lost New Netherlands when the British took control of the land and added it to their colonies. They divided the land in half and gave control to two proprietors: Sir George Carteret of the east side and Lord John Berkley of the west side. The land was officially named New Jersey after the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel.

Berkeley and Carteret sold the land at low prices and allowed the settlers to have political and religious freedom. As a result, New Jersey was more ethnically diverse than many other colonies. Primarily a rural society, the colony grew to have about 100,000 people.

Eventually, governing power was transferred back to England. For many years, New Jersey shared a royal governor with New York. The governorship was finally split in 1738 when New Jersey got its own governor, Lewis Morris.

=A Revolutionary Place in History= New Jersey is a treasure trove of historic places just waiting to be explored. Be transported back in time to retrace Washington’s footsteps along the “Crossroads of the American Revolution.” Or marvel at the invention factories in Thomas Edison’s laboratory and library. Stand in the Great Hall at Ellis Island and be astounded by the immigrant experience. At Monmouth Battlefield State Park witness the Battle of Monmouth re-enactment, the largest on the east coast. Celebrate New Jersey's role in the fight for independence during "Patriots Week" in historic Trenton. Get a glimpse of Native American life at the Rankokus Indian Reservation where the Native American Indian Heritage Museum is located. Climb aboard the Battleship New Jersey Memorial and Museum, the nation’s most decorated battleship, or scale one of New Jersey’s revered lighthouses.

__**The Individuality Of New Jersey**__ New Jersey is the only state in the nation that offers child abuse prevention workshops in every public school The first dinosaur skeleton found in the US was discoverd in Haddonfield, New Jersey

__**Fun Facts**__ Bird: Eastern Goldfinch Tree: Red Oak The official state tree is the red oak, Quercus borealis maxima. The red oak was authorized by a [|joint resolution] signed by Governor Alfred E. Driscoll June 13, 1950. The state memorial tree is the dogwood, authorized by [|Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 2 of 1951.] Flower: Common Violet The state flower of New Jersey was originally designated as such by a resolution of the Legislature in 1913. Unfortunately the force of resolution ended with the start of the 1914 legislative session, leaving the violet with uncertain status for the next fifty years. In 1963 an attempt was made to have the Legislature "officially" designate the violet as the state flower, but the legislation apparently failed. In 1971, at the urging of New Jersey's garden clubs, [|legislation] more specifically designating the Common Meadow Violet (Viola sororia) as the state flower was enacted. Dance: Square Dance The Square Dance has been designated as the American Folk Dance of the State of New Jersey by [|Joint Resolution No. 1, 1983.] Shell: Knobbed Whelk Fish: Brook Trout Animal: Horse Dinosaur: Hadrosaurus Fruit: Blueberry Insect: Honey Bee Ship: AJ Meerwald


 * 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