What You May Not Know About My Adopted State - New Jersey

1. New Jersey is a peninsula.

2. Highlands, New Jersey has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Florida.

3. New Jersey is the only state where all of its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.

4. New Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky.

5. New Jersey has more Cubans in Union City (1 sq mi.) than Havana, Cuba.

6. New Jersey has the densest system of highways and railroads in the US.

7. New Jersey has the highest cost of living.

8. New Jersey has the highest cost of auto insurance.

9. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.

10. New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the "Diner Capital of the World."

11. New Jersey is home to the original Mystery Pork Parts Club (no, not Spam): Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.

12. Home to the less mysterious but the best Italian hot dogs and Italian sausage w/peppers and onions.

13. North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world, with seven major shopping malls in a 25 square mile radius.

14. New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

15. The Passaic River was the site of the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.

16. New Jersey has 50+ resort cities & towns; some of the nation's most famous: Asbury Park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Long Branch, Cape May.

17. New Jersey has the most stringent testing along our coastline for water quality control than any other seaboard state in the entire country.

18. New Jersey is a leading technology & industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation when you include pharmaceuticals.

19. Jersey tomatoes are known the world over as being the best you can buy.

20. New Jersey is the world leader in blueberry and cranberry production (and here you thought Massachusetts?)

21. Here's to New Jersey - the toast of the country! In 1642, the first brewery in America, opened in Hoboken.

22. New Jersey rocks! The famous Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar in Mahwah, in 1940.

23. New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US, located in Elizabeth. Nearly 80 percent of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.

24. New Jersey is home to one of the nation's busiest airports (in Newark), Liberty International.

25. George Washington slept here. Several important Revolutionary War battles were fought on New Jersey soil, led by General George Washington.

26. The light bulb, phonograph (record player), and motion picture projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ, laboratory.

27. We also boast the first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs.

28. The first seaplane was built in Keyport, NJ.

29. The first airmail (to Chicago) was started from Keyport, NJ.

30. The first phonograph records were made in Camden, NJ.

31. New Jersey is home to the Miss America Pageant held in Atlantic City.

32. The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on it's playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City.

33. And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world, not to mention salt water taffy.

34. New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

35. The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey, in the Watchung Mountains.

36. New Jersey has the tallest water-tower in the world. (Union, NJ!!!)

37. New Jersey had the first medical center, in Jersey City.

38. The Pulaski Sky Way, from Jersey City to Newark, was the first skyway highway.

39. NJ built the first tunnel under a river, the Hudson (Holland Tunnel).

40. The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ, which is also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra.

41. The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick in 1889 (Rutgers College played Princeton).

42. The first drive-in movie theater was opened in Camden, NJ (but they're all gone now!).

43. New Jersey is home to both of "NEW YORK'S" pro football teams.

44. The first radio station and broadcast was in Paterson, NJ.

45. The first FM radio broadcast was made from Alpine, NJ, by Maj. Thomas Armstrong.

46. All New Jersey natives: Sal Martorano, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifah, Susan Sarandon, Connie Francis, Shaq, Judy Blume, Aaron Burr, Joan Robertson, Ken Kross, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughn, Budd Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Marilynn McCoo, Flip Wilson, Alexander Hamilton, Whitney Houston, Eddie Money, Linda McElroy, Eileen Donnelly, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Jerry Lewis, Tom Cruise, Joyce Kilmer, Bruce Willis, Caesar Romero, Lauryn Hill, Ice-T, Nick Adams, Nathan Lane, Sandra Dee, Danny DeVito, Richard Conti, Joe Pesci, Joe Piscopo, Robert Blake, John Forsythe, Mer yl Streep, Loretta Swit, Norman Lloyd, Paul Simon, Jerry Herman, Gorden McCrae, Kevin Spacey, John Travolta, Phyllis Newman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Eva Marie Saint, Elisabeth Shue, Zebulon Pike, James Fennimore Cooper, Admiral Wm.Halsey,Jr., Dave Thomas (Wendy's), William Carlos Williams, Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl, Bob Reyers, Paul Robeson, Ernie Kovacs, Joseph Macchia and, of course, Francis Albert Sinatra and "Uncle Floyd" Vivino, Kelly Ripa.

HT to "Ain't it Amazing?" for these fun facts!