Here are Thirteen things you maybe didn’t know about South Jersey.
- South Jersey is home to one of the largest natural areas in the Mid-Atlantic region, the Pine Barrens (aka the Pinelands)–1.1 million acres of which is officially designated as the Pinelands National Reserve. The Pine Barrens is packed full of thick forests, boggy wetlands, and unusual wildlife and plant life, including three native groups of carnivorous plants. The area has adapted over centuries to fire and relies on fire to keep it’s ecosystem healthy. Despite that, the area is also the location of 17 trillion gallons of the purest drinking water in the country. The water in most areas of the Pine Barrens is tinged to a tea color by iron from the ground and the area cedar trees but it stays potable longer than any other water and was prized back in the day by sea captains for taking on their voyages.
- Wharton Park exists because Joseph Wharton of Philadelphia acquired thousands of acres of land in the Pine Barrens in expectation of shipping the pure water from there into the city of Philadelphia, which had disgusting drinking water. New Jersey prohibited the export of water, so he was unable to use the land as he’d intended and it ended up being purchased by the State of NJ from his heirs.
- Glassmaking and ironworks were big industries in South Jersey back in the day. The Pine Barrens area was a big supplier of iron and supplies for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Southern Jersey is the birthplace of the American glass industry and the mason jar we have today was actually invented there.
- Besides the famous “blue hole” of New Jersey and other dangerous water holes, there are many sand and gravel pits, old mining locations that are now full of water. While they often attract swimmers, they can be deadly because all or most have sudden drop-offs where the bottom is 50 or 100 feet down. The water is also unusually cold and can cause cramping that can take down even strong swimmers. Near where I grew up, we had the “Sand Wash” which was a popular swimming hole. There was even a rope hanging from a tree on one of the sandy cliffs surrounding the water where kids would swing out and jump into the water. The Sand Wash was also the site of a very many lost-forever cars that had sunk into the depths never to be recovered.
- South Jersey is home to the Cowtown Farmer’s Market and to the longest running regular Saturday night rodeo (yes, rodeo) in the United States, the Cowtown Rodeo. Located in Pilesgrove, New Jersey, the rodeo has been running (first annually and then weekly) since it was started in 1929 (except for a few years when World War II put it on hold; when it came back in 1955, it began weekly rodeos).
- We had dinosaurs “first.” In 1858, the complete skeleton of a dinosaur (the very first complete one to be unearthed in North America) was dug up in Haddonfield, which is located in Southern New Jersey’s Camden County.
- The Atlantic City Boardwalk is the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world. Atlantic City and the boardwalk are also the home of and the place where Salt Water Taffy was invented, and the location of the very first Miss America Pageant. The original Monopoly board game properties were also named for actual streets in Atlantic City.
- The first drive-in movie theater was created in Camden, started by R.M. Hollingshead Corporation. Camden was also home (more towards the end of his life) to the famous poet Walt Whitman, and Whitman is buried there in a hillside crypt that he designed himself.
- Despite being the second biggest producer of blueberries, Hammonton, NJ is known as the “Blueberry Capital of the World”…probably because the blueberries are so amazing (as is Sweet Jersey Corn and our Peaches).
- Cape May is home to the oldest resort community in the United States. Named after a Dutch captain, Cornelius Jacobson Mey, the paperwork had a misspelling, so “Mey” became “May.” The famous pirate, Captain William Kidd, is said to have buried treasure somewhere in the sands of Cape May.
- Lucy the Elephant is a famous tourist attraction in Margate, NJ. Lucy is actually five years older than the Statue of Liberty (and she’s also older than the Eiffel Tower). On a side note, Margate is officially called Margate City but was previously known as South Atlantic City (something the residents would hate to admit).
- Brigantine, NJ is named after sailing vessels of the 1600s called “brigantines”…because of the numerous shipwrecks (most of which were brigantine ships) that occurred in the area. Brigantine was also home to the famous Brigantine Castle and Amusement Pier, which sadly was lost to us in the early 1980s. You can read more about the Castle’s history here: https://brigantinenow.com/looking-back-the-popular-infamous-brigantine-castle/
- We’re the only state with an official state “demon”…the Jersey Devil. (Technically this final thing is about all of Jersey, but since South Jersey is the only REAL Jersey 😊, I’ll leave it!)