Recently raised by Governor Murphy and then broadcasted by Stephen Colbert is the interesting issue of how New Jersey is divided. Some think there is North and South Jersey only, but they are wrong. There are at least 3 divisions. I have listed in my location for over a decade that I live in Central Jersey. The exact borders of Central Jersey are open for debate, but I live solidly in Central Jersey.
We are the part of the Great State of NJ that has given to the world *Jack Nicholson, Danny Devito, Kevin Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and many others.
*
We are also the particular part of New Jersey that Jon Stewart correctly calls home.
Honestly I think the state has more than 3 divisions.
The North East is the suburb of NYC.
The Camden area is hell on earth, I mean a suburb of Philly.
The Pine Barrens are the Pine Barrens.
Cape May, Wildwood and Atlantic City is an area.
Vineland and the Southwest is still the garden of the Garden State.
The North West is a distinct are.
Monmouth & Ocean County are basically the Jersey Shore.
etc.
It’s a very tricky thing. And there is also Northwest Jersey which almost seamlessly blends into Rockland and Orange counties in New York. And plenty of other distinct sub-regions. Central Jersey is just a descriptive phrase that indicates the part of the state generally east of Philadelphia.
Correct. My daughter got into the University of Maryland and the University of Delaware. She chose Maryland when she found that every student at Delaware she talked to was in the process of transferring to Maryland. Probably when they found the state didn’t exist.
The area, however, does exist - but it is actually a large parking lot for DuPont.
Lying below route 78 you could make that claim. But otherwise there’s nothing that clearly distinguishes it from the other densely populated towns that continue from there on north. It looks like Northern Jersey. Remember, it’s barely south of Staten Island.
I grew up in Hamilton Township (Yardville, to be exact). I always tell people I grew up near Trenton, because nobody knows where Yardville is. My wife has been trying for decades to get me to say, “near Princeton,” because it sounds better. Sorry, but I’m not snobby enough to be from Princeton.
And, Central Jersey certainly exists. I think of it as that narrow band where Philadelphia and New York accents meet, clash, and ultimately result in something not quite either one.
