Saturday, January 9, 2016

Up with U.S. Geography: New Jersey

State Name:
New Jersey

Capital:
Trenton

Date of Entry:
December 18, 1787

Maps:

Map of USA. New Jersey outlined in dark ink, shaded,
and with a line pointing to it.

A close-up of New Jersey & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania

Water Borders:
Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Bay, Delaware River

Total Area:
8,723 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Edison

Famous Geographical Point:
Delaware River

State Nickname:
The Garden State. Supposedly the nickname was coined by a guy named Abraham Browning in 1876 (something about farmland and a barrel, didn't make much sense to me, HERE is a link), although pretty much everyone agrees that the moniker isn't especially apt.

Famous Person:
Buzz Aldrin, astronaut & second man to walk on the moon*

Book Set In/About:
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

A young teenager grapples with moving from the city to the suburbs, with her mixed religious heritage, and with puberty. It's a classic coming-of-age tale for girls.

Movie Set In/About:
"Garden State" (2004), directed by Zach Braff

A young man struggling with depression returns home after his mother's death.

Headline of the Day:
"Troopers Alex Muro and Arnaldo Mateo Deliver Baby Roadside" in People Magazine.

*Too cute not to share: Aldrin's birth name was Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., but when one of his sisters mispronounced "brother" as "buzzer," he earned his nickname. He made it his legal name in 1988.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

Wow. Good job Jersey for not having any really important things happen, news-wise.

I had a "squee" moment with your book choice. That was one of the first books where New Jersey made an impression on me. There's a paragraph in there about how they ended up moving to Jersey that I didn't understand as an 11-year old (Connecticut was to expensive, such and such was too something else, etc.) but the premise intrigued me, and I remember reading it later when I was older and totally getting it.

My ultimate Jersey movie is Chasing Amy.

Patricia said...

Also, for unknown reasons, the name Paterson, New Jersey just feels right to me. Though I would like there to be two "t's".