April Update: We've been notified by Geocaching HQ that the 2023 Metro Mega will have 2 (TWO) Lackey’s, Brent (DribbleCastle) and Steven (WanderingVenser) attending the Mega Event!
Come join the entire New Jersey Geocaching community as The Northern New Jersey Cachers, NNJC and Central Jersey Cachers. CJC, hosts the 9th Annual area Metro Gathering Event. Geocachers from across the United States and beyond are invited June 17th, 2023, to attend this annual Metro Gathering Event.
The 2023 Mega event theme will showcase New Jersey’s heritage with "Greetings from New Jersey: A Postcard journey of the Garden State". The state is featured with many national and state parks, historical sites, resorts, museums, harbor towns, entertainment spots like the Jersey shore and Atlantic City. There are also some amazing Weird NJ stories out there, so lets take a postcard journey across the Garden State!
The Metro Mega pre registration store in now open:
MEGA STORE LINK HERE
Greetings Postcard from New Jersey
New Jersey was named for an English colonist who had previously served as governor of the "Isle of Jersey" in Britain. New Jersey is one of the thirteen original colonies, attained statehood on December 18, 1787, becoming the 3rd state to join the Union.
Despite the fact that New Jersey is one of the smallest states in the Union, it has five distinct climate regions – Northern, Central, Pine Barrens, Southwest, and Coastal.
New Jersey is well known as the Garden State. The state has more than 10,000 farms and produces more than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables. The state is ranked nationally in the top 10 as a producer of items such as squash, bell peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, peaches and cranberries.
The state has 28 state parks and 11 state forests. More than two-fifths of the land is forested. The state has 21 counties and 566 municipalities.
Lakes and ponds cover about 300 square miles of the state’s area. The Delaware is its major river and the state shares it with Pennsylvania. The Hudson River forms the boundary between New Jersey and New York. On the eastern border of New Jersey is a stretch of white sand coast that is 120 miles long and contains some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. The lighthouse located at Sandy Hook is in service since June 11, 1764.
NEW JERSEY FIRST'S
New Jersey was also home to the first Native American reservation, which was created in 1758 and sold to the state by the inhabitants in 1801.
The world’s oldest and first boardwalk is built in Atlantic City in 1870. At 5.5 miles, it is the longest on Earth and the oldest in the United States.
Atlantic City is home to Miss America pageant and where the street names came from for the game monopoly
Cape May is the nation’s first sea side resort, named for the Dutch sea Capt. Cornelius Jacobsen Mey.
The first submarine ride: Passaic River, Paterson by inventor John P Holland.
The first drive-in movie theater opened in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey.
The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The first ever college football game took place in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1869, when Princeton lost to Rutgers in front of an audience of around 100 people.
The first solid-body electric guitar: invented in Mahwah by Les Paul.
The first transistor: Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill.
The first electrical telegraph: by Samuel F B Morse in Morristown.
The Pulaski Skyway was the first skyway ever built.
The first steam locomotive made in America was built in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1824.
Paterson, New Jersey, was the United States' first planned industrial city; it was founded In 1792 by Alexander Hamilton, America's first Secretary of the Treasury.
The Holland Tunnel which connects Jersey City, New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City, New York is the first mechanically ventilated underwater tunnel in the world.
The world’s first dinosaur was discovered in Haddonfield, New Jersey in October 1858.
Thomas Edison introduced the world to his idea of an electric light bulb. Thomas Edison's laboratory at Menlo Park in New Jersey eventually covered two city blocks, earning Edison the nickname "The Wizard of Menlo Park." It is now the site of a national park with a museum dedicated to Edison and his inventions. Prolific inventor Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the quadruplex telegraph, DC current, the carbon microphone, the fluoroscope, and the light bulb all while living in Newark, New Jersey.
The first city fully illuminated by electric street light: Roselle.
The first electric sewing machine: by the Singer Company in Elizabeth.
New Jersey firsts include the first professional basketball games.
The first vacuum tube: by Lee de Forest of Jersey City.
The first air conditioner: by Willis Carrier, Newark.
The first medical center was opened in Jersey City, New Jersey.
One of the original 13 colonies, New Jersey was an important battleground during the American Revolution. New Jersey is located in the heart of the bustling Atlantic corridor, nestled between New York and Pennsylvania. 100 battles were fought in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. Representatives from New Jersey were the first to sign the Bill of Rights on behalf of their state.
Lucy the Margate Elephant is an elephant-shaped structure, six stories tall and weighing 90 tons, that was built near Atlantic City in 1881 to attract residents to the area and has since been declared a National Historic Landmark.
Other Fun Facts
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are actually in New Jersey.
In New Jersey we don't pump gas!, self-service gasoline pumps are illegal.
Salt water taffy, that chewy, stringy candy delight, was invented on the Atlantic City boardwalk in the 1880s.
NJ has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the diner capital of the world
NJ is home to National Football League teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets, both play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford's Meadowlands Sports Complex.
NJ also popular as the “Medicine chest of the World”, there are many top class pharmaceutical companies.
New Jersey is a leading industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation.
Just 25 miles from NYC, The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is located in Morris County, contains over 6,000 acres of freshwater wetlands that were placed under federal preservation when New Jersey locals petitioned to keep it in its primeval condition as a federal Wildlife area. The eastern half of the refuge was designated as wilderness by Congress in 1968, making it the first wilderness area within the Department of the Interior.
New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US located in Elizabeth.
New Jersey is a massive talent hub. The state has produced numerous actors, activists, athletes and even astronauts. Many incredible inventors, writers and historical figures have called this state home. Here are just a few of the state’s biggest stars;
Buzz Aldrin, Jon Bon Jovi, David Copperfield, , Danny DeVito, Peter Dinklage, Michael Douglas, Whitney Houston, Shaquille O'Neal, Joe Pesci, Kelly Ripa, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Martha Stewart, Merly Streep, John Travolta, Paul Wesley, Jack Nicholson, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifa, Shaq, Judy Blume, Arron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Whitney Houston, Eddie Money, Frank Sinatra, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman.
Metro Gathering Event Mega ~ Location:
The 2023 Metro Gathering will hold the event at East Jersey Old Town Village. This village is a collection of historic structures that were relocated to Johnson Park in Piscataway. The village is comprised of sixteen reconstructed and replica 18th and 19th century structures that represent architecture typical of farm and merchant communities once found in the Raritan Valley.
Visitors today can explore the site and meet the historical interpreters that bring the Village to life through their historic trades and crafts. A gateway site for the Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area, situated along the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail, the Village offers award winning exhibits, living history, and seasonal programs.
Geocachers have attended the previous Metro Gathering event from all over the United States, Canada and many international geocachers! Come and Gather in this Metro area with all the local Geocaching clubs from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the Mid Atlantic States.
Metro Gathering Event Mega ~ Location:
East Jersey Old Town, 1050 River Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854-5645
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2023
Time: 10:00am to 4:00pm
NNJC is about promoting a quality caching experience in
Northern New Jersey.
NNJC.ORG, Metrogathering.org, njpatriots.org
The Metro Mega event registration packages and details will be available on the website in March 2023. METOGATHERING WEBSITE HERE!