Why is New Jersey called the ‘Garden State’?

Why is New Jersey called the ‘Garden State’?

One field that really boosts the reputation of New Jersey is agriculture, thus they are given the moniker as ‘The Garden State,. Why wouldn’t they? Almost 50% of New Jersey is filled with trees and wildlife. If you look around, you will find lots of parks, bird sanctuaries, historical garden sites, arboretums and garden museums. Isn’t it enough reason?

Here’s more. Ever since it was called as the ‘Garden State’, New Jersey has become the ‘Mecca’ for gardening, gardening studies and gardening clubs. Gardening became an extremely popular hobby in this state. New Jersey has two large community gardens, Denville Community Garden and the Greater Newark Conservancy. They also have approximately twelve garden clubs and several state associations.

In addition, they have large individual farmlands supplying the whole country with fresh vegetables and fruits like tomatoes, corn, potatoes, apples, strawberries and more. They are also famous for their fruit wines with almost three dozen wineries across the state.

Lastly, they value nature. The government of New Jersey strongly pushes for land conservation and protection of its natural forests, resources and wildlife.

So where did the name come from? This nickname originated from Abraham Browning, a lawyer and New Jersey resident when he compared the state of New Jersey to ‘an immense barrel filled with good things to eat and open at both ends, with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and the New Yorkers from the other., He stated this during Jersey Day, at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in August 24, 1876. He called New Jersey as the ‘Garden State’ and since that day, it has held on to its nickname., But according to other historians, Browning was not the first one to use this term. Benjamin Franklin also wrote a similar comparison of the imagery of New Jersey ‘as a barrel tapped at both ends’ long before Browning. In the end, it doesn’t matter who started the name but what matters is the impact that this name has given to the state of New Jersey.

In conclusion, New Jersey has really lived up to its name and for me, these are more than enough reason to be called as the Garden State.