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OT: The War for Central Jersey's Identity is On

Knight Shift

Knight Shift

Heisman
May 19, 2011
85,806
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Monmouth and Ocean County want no part of a Central Jersey that includes Union County. It's not personal.

"But proposed legislation that's working its way through the halls of Trenton may decide it, at least from a marketing and tourism point-of-view.

The bill would establish three tourism regions in the state for marketing and promotion. There would be Northern, Southern and Central regions."

"But for Central, things get a little tricky. It would include Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. And just about everyone in the state — all 9.3 million of us — has their own borders in mind. (Assuming they acknowledge Central Jersey at all)."

Maybe Monmouth and Ocean and Mercer Counties can secede from the state?


 
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RU4Real

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
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Ya know, I've said this before, but I guess it doesn't really resonate with anyone else on the board. Maybe @RUforester72 would get it. Probably.

Regardless, the 3 regions of NJ, in my opinion, align almost exactly with the 3 major geological provinces in the state.

In the north, you have the part of the state that was covered by the last glacier. The glacier's line of maximum advance was roughly the Raritan Bay. North of there you have lots of exposed bedrock (because the glacier strips everything else) and the hilly regions created by the erosion as the glacier was receding.

In the middle - "Central NJ" you have that part of the state south of the line of maximum glaciation that is comprised of glacial till - rocky soils created by runoff during melting and some topological relief, what is known as "kame and kettle" topography. This extends southward to the point where there is no more glacial till, the soil is mostly sand and there's almost no topological relief, i.e. it's flat. This is "South Jersey".
 
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RUforester72

RUforester72

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Jul 23, 2014
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RU4Real said:
Ya know, I've said this before, but I guess it doesn't really resonate with anyone else on the board. Maybe @RUforester72 would get it. Probably.

Regardless, the 3 regions of NJ, in my opinion, align almost exactly with the 3 major geological provinces in the state.

In the north, you have the part of the state that was covered by the last glacier. The glacier's line of maximum advance was roughly the Raritan Bay. North of there you have lots of exposed bedrock (because the glacier strips everything else) and the hilly regions created by the erosion as the glacier was receding.

In the middle - "Central NJ" you have that part of the state south of the line of maximum glaciation that is comprised of glacial till - rocky soils created by runoff during melting and some topological relief, what is known as "kame and kettle" topography. This extends southward to the point where there is no more glacial till, the soil is mostly sand and there's almost no topological relief, i.e. it's flat. This is "South Jersey".
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Yeah makes a lot of sense to me. And the vegetation transitions along those lines as well.

But I am cynical enough to doubt that any legislation would not follow the geological delineation.
 
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RUChoppin

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Dec 1, 2006
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colbert17 said:
IMHO after having lived all over the state here's my breakdown.

Central - Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth

Everything north of that is North Jersey and everything South is South Jersey.
Anyone who thinks Elizabeth is Central Jersey is insane.
Click to expand...

On a county level, this aligns with my own feelings of where "central" is... but the definition of central isn't necessarily defined by county.
 
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GoodOl'Rutgers

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Sep 11, 2006
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Monmouth and Ocen Counties are correct. Union is North Jersey. Westfield.. I feel their pain. They are more Central Jersey.. but Plainfield? which is south of Westfield.. that's North Jersey.

If this is about dollars.. I can see everyone's arguments. Union County will demand dollars based on population.. but if they are in north Jersey.. they are one of the smaller mouths looking to feed.

I say forget this plan and just divide the tourism dollars by how many tourists each county currently draws. Then again.. why is the government bothering with this? Allow some private organization to form to seek dollars from businesses interested in joining a collective to sell New Jersey tourism to the masses. To take taxpayer dollars to do this is just another way for politicians to give paydays to their supporters... aka The Friends and Family plan.
 
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Colbert17!

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Aug 30, 2014
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RUaMoose said:
I always considered Woodbridge the northern edge of CNJ. Anything north of there ( ie., Rahway) is NNJ. Any town around the same parallel as Woodbridge (Piscataway, S. Plainfield, Middlesex, BB, Somerville, Green Brook, etc) is also CNJ
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Agreed. A tough call is Carteret.
 
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CollegeSenior

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Apr 2, 2021
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If we are going to divide the state for tourism then I’d go with four regions: the densely packed northeast region, the mountains and lakes northwest region, the shore/southeast, and the rest/southwest.
 
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Section124

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Dec 21, 2002
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-RUFAN4LIFE- said:
Do they call it Taylor Ham in Union County?

If not, they don’t belong in North Jersey. 😂
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Born and raised in Union County. It's Taylor Ham area. I agree with what RUReal posted above. To me North Jersey alway started at the Driscoll Bridge. Northern Middlesex County is definitely North Jersey. Hell, as long as you are adjacent to Staten Island you can't be Central Jersey.
 
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CollegeSenior

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Section124 said:
Born and raised in Union County. It's Taylor Ham area. I agree with what RUReal posted below. To me North Jersey alway started at the Driscoll Bridge. Northern Middlesex County is definitely North Jersey. Hell, as long as you are adjacent to Staten Island you can't be Central Jersey.
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In my much younger days I met a girl in a shore nightclub who told me she was from the part of Staten Island that is in NJ. 🤔
 
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RU4Real

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Jul 25, 2001
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RUforester72 said:
Yeah makes a lot of sense to me. And the vegetation transitions along those lines as well.

But I am cynical enough to doubt that any legislation would not follow the geological delineation.
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Yeah, I don't have any hope that they'd actually use that complex a set of guardrails. But it makes me happy that some of us will always know the truth. 😉
 
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RU206

All-American
Jan 23, 2015
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colbert17 said:
IMHO after having lived all over the state here's my breakdown.

Central - Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth

Everything north of that is North Jersey and everything South is South Jersey.
Anyone who thinks Elizabeth is Central Jersey is insane.
Click to expand...
I agree with you if they want to divide it by county lines.
Central - Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth
Union is North
Ocean is South
 
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knightfan7

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Jul 30, 2003
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Plum Street

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Jun 21, 2009
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Section124 said:
Born and raised in Union County. It's Taylor Ham area. I agree with what RUReal posted above. To me North Jersey alway started at the Driscoll Bridge. Northern Middlesex County is definitely North Jersey. Hell, as long as you are adjacent to Staten Island you can't be Central Jersey.
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Last I checked the only thing adjacent to Staten Island is waterways. Hence the “island”
 
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Proud NJ Sports Fan

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May 11, 2010
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RUaMoose said:
I always considered Woodbridge the northern edge of CNJ. Anything north of there ( ie., Rahway) is NNJ. Any town around the same parallel as Woodbridge (Piscataway, S. Plainfield, Middlesex, BB, Somerville, Green Brook, etc) is also CNJ
Click to expand...

It’s debatable but Rahway is East of Colonia (Woodbridge)
 
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robcac26

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Nov 30, 2012
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colbert17 said:
This. I'm going to guess that there are more pressing problems for the state to address.
How about this? NJ ranks as having two of the top five dirtiest cities in America.

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If they allocated funds to cleaning those cities, people would still have a problem with it and would say those cities should be the ones footing the bill rather than taxpayers throughout the state.

Section124 said:
Born and raised in Union County. It's Taylor Ham area. I agree with what RUReal posted above. To me North Jersey alway started at the Driscoll Bridge. Northern Middlesex County is definitely North Jersey. Hell, as long as you are adjacent to Staten Island you can't be Central Jersey.
Click to expand...
I grew up in Iselin and live in Edison now, and never considered it North Jersey. Definitely Central.
 
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