As a whole, the state of New Jersey has a very unique history. Inhabited by Lenape Indians for nearly 15,000 years, Europeans first visited the area when Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano dropped anchor along the Jersey Shore in 1524. Settlements started popping up over a century later, when our state was still a part of the New Netherland territory. From 1690-1730, much of our coast was frequented by pirates and in 1776 our state was one of the 13 original colonies that broke off from England.

While I could easily write an entire article about New Jersey’s rich history, this particular post focuses on the start of some of our exceptional cities and towns. Since so many towns in the Garden State have interesting pasts, I chose to focus on the county seat of each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.

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Did you learn anything new? What was your favorite fact? Is there any other New Jersey town trivia you could add to this list? What other aspects of New Jersey history would you be interested in learning about.

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