New Jersey Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

Looking for New Jersey trivia? Try our list New Jersey little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor (pop. 1,025) is designed to look like a turn-of-the-century Coast Guard building, and overlooks some 6,000 acres of pristine coastal wetlands and hosts 40,000 visitors a year.

first appeared: 2/29/2004

George Washington and his Continental Army spent most of their time in the state during the Revolutionary War. It was the site of his famed crossing of the Delaware and defeat of the British at Trenton.

first appeared: 2/22/2004

The Hunterdon Historical Museum in Clinton (pop. 2,632) features an 1810 grist mill, an 1860 one-room school house, an 18th-century log cabin, and some 40,000 historical artifacts.

first appeared: 2/15/2004

The first commercial Christmas tree farm in the United Stated was planted with Norway spruce in 1901 near Trenton. The trees were harvested in 1908 and sold for $1 each.

first appeared: 2/8/2004

Street names for the game of Monopoly all come from Atlantic City (pop. 40,517), which the game’s 1934 inventor had once visited.

first appeared: 2/1/2004

The state has more roadside diners than any other—roughly 280 at last count, or one for every two towns.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

Harbor seals found along the Atlantic Coast—and at the state aquarium in Camden—use their hind flippers for propulsion in water and their fore flippers for steering.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

William Basie of Red Bank (pop. 11,844) left high school after the 11th grade to become a musician in the early 1920s. “Count” Basie later said it was the worst decision he ever made, even though he ended up as one of the greatest band leaders in history.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

The Friendship Fire Company Museum in Woodbury (pop. 10,307) features a 1799 hand-pumper and a 1911 steam-powered engine among its many fire-fighting artifacts.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

Spartina grass covers about 75 percent of salt marsh wetlands on the state’s eastern coast. Its roots prevent erosion of the marsh mud, while its seeds are food for ducks and songbirds.

first appeared: 12/28/2003

The Garden State produces roughly 65 million pounds of apples annually, including the Winesap variety, which dates back to the 1700s.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

In 1887, the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin of Newark sensitized a piece of celluloid to hold photographic images, resulting in flexible film, which could be stored in rolls. This made photography accessible to amateurs and led to the mass production of cameras and film.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

Alvin Kelly, better known as “Shipwreck Kelly,” set a record for flagpole sitting in 1929. Kelly spent 49 days atop the Steel Pier flagpole in Atlantic City (pop. 40,517).

first appeared: 12/7/2003

The Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown (pop. 3,136) was launched in 1929 by the Harris family. The event was shelved in 1938, revived in 1955, and today features seasonal professional rodeo performances.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

Weighing 475 pounds and measuring 60-by-90 feet, the world’s largest free-flying American flag drops from under the upper arch of the New Jersey tower of the George Washington Bridge on select holidays.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

Rutgers and Princeton universities made history in 1869 when they played the first college football game in New Brunswick (pop. 48,573). Rutgers won by a score of 6-4.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

When unpaid soldiers demanding their wages threatened the Continental Congress in 1783, the body fled from Philadelphia to Princeton (pop. 16,027). From its headquarters at Princeton University, the Congress received word of England’s recognition of the nation’s independence.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

The New Jersey Highway Authority was created in 1952 to build a self-supporting toll road to and along the state’s coastline. The result—the 173-mile Garden State Parkway—was completed in 1955.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Nobel laureate John Nash, a brilliant mathematician plagued by mental illness, did his graduate studies at Princeton University in Princeton (pop. 16,027). Nash was the subject of the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

Cranbury (pop. 3,227) is home to the largest pawpaw tree in the state. At 31 feet in height, the tree soars over others of its kind, which ordinarily mature to a height of 20 feet.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

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