Welcome to the third edition of the Insider NJ History and Heritage Spotlight! The previous two editions have offered a wide variety of subjects of interest to New Jerseyans and visitors to the Garden State. This issue will recognize the 250th anniversary of American independence, and as such will have a particular focus on the American Revolution.

New Jersey has always been torn in two since its earliest days. North and South (is Central Jersey really a thing? Massachusetts-born Gov. Phil Murphy thought so.) Yankees and Knicks territory to Sixers, Flyers, and Phillies territory. Taylor ham and pork roll. Subs and hoagies. Essentially, New Jersey has been caught between the influence of New York City and Philadelphia, with no comparable urban equivalent of its own. New Jersey’s largest city, Newark, has a population of 326,000 compared to Philly’s 1.5 million and New York’s 8.5 million. There’s just no contest. But this split is nothing new, either.

New Jersey seems to have had a less contentious relationship with Pennsylvania than New York, as readers will find later. Since the focus of this edition is the period of American independence, a look at the map shows very clearly why New Jersey was called the Crossroads of the Revolution. A fantastic map can be found online at the Crossroads of the American Revolution Association website, showing their catalog of over 150 Revolutionary War sites in New Jersey. Not surprisingly, the densest proliferation of these locations is found in the corridor between New York City and Philadelphia. This edition will explore some of that New Jersey Revolutionary history, as well as other elements which have made the Garden State and its people what we have today.
It is the writer’s hope you will enjoy the material herein and, perhaps, learn something new.

--John Van Vliet

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