The Exasperating Conundrum That Is New Jersey!

Consider the conundrum of New Jersey.

The state is full of contradictions and can be at once fascinating and infuriating.

It's simultaneously a Garden State and an industrial state, a suburban state and an urban state, a beach state and a mountain state, one of America's richest states and one of its most heavily taxed, a place of extraordinary natural beauty and some of the nation's worst environmental disasters.

• New Jersey has the highest population density in America, yet nearly a million acres are preserved as forests, wildlife refuges, and state parks. In fact, one-fifth of the state is taken up by the vast emptiness of the Pine Barrens.
• New Jersey consistently ranks among the wealthiest states by household income. It has affluent suburbs, highly educated residents and major corporate headquarters. But many residents struggle with the state's high costs—especially property taxes, housing, insurance and commuting expenses and the state contains hugely distressed urban areas and major pockets of poverty.
• While the Jersey Shore is one of the state's most powerful cultural brands and New Jersey has one of America's strongest regional identities the state is simultaneously divided into fiercely competing loyalties: north vs south, urban vs suburban vs rural, New York oriented vs Philadelphia oriented, and on and on.
• New Jersey is rich in history and is often considered the Crossroads of the American Revolution. It's dotted with battlefields and historic sites but such places are often hidden behind office parks, shopping centers, strip malls, highways and abandoned industrial tracts. 
• New Jersey helped invent much of the modern world through Bell Labs, Thomas Edison, RCA, pharmaceutical research and telecommunications. Yet today it is often criticized for oppressive regulations, taxes, and a business climate that some companies say makes expansion more difficult. In fact, the state has often been cited as having the worst business climate in the nation.
• New Jersey has produced: governors who became national figures; powerful members of Congress; revered Supreme Court justices; beloved entertainers and sports figures and influential business leaders. But the state is also famous for: rampant political corruption scandals, unscrupulous public officials, merciless machine politics, the mob high-profile indictments and notorious criminals.
• Many Americans picture New Jersey as smokestacks, jammed highways, congestion and pollution -- a crowded, unpleasant corridor from one place to another. Indeed, two New Jersey cities recently ranked among the nation's dirtiest. Yet the state also has mountains, waterfalls, beaches, forests, lakes and rivers, vineyards, wetlands, wildlife refuges and Victorian Cape May where the entire pristine town is a national historic landmark. Incredibly, New Jersey is home to the longest-running weekly professional rodeo in the United States. On top of it all, New Jersey probably has more charming small towns per square mile than any other state in America. Sadly, the infamous industrial corridor along parts of the New Jersey Turnpike has shaped the state's image far more than its many scenic areas. And, the state has the most federal Superfund toxic waste sites in the United States. 
  
  
• Americans don't look upon New Jersey as an agricultural state but Hammonton NJ is the blueberry capital of the world and the state is one of the top cranberry-producing states in the US, harvesting roughly 580,000 barrels (around 20 million pounds) annually. New Jersey has fertile farmland, orchards, vineyards, cranberry bogs, blueberry fields, thousands of farms and countless roadside farm stands brimming with fresh produce, plants and flowers.
• When you think of horses you might think of Kentucky or Texas but, surprisingly, New Jersey plays a major role in the American equine community, boasting one of the highest numbers of horses per square mile in the country and maintaining thousands of active horse farms that preserve open green space. 
• On top of it all, New Jersey even has tulip fields (complete with windmills) that rival Holland and beautiful lavender farms. Who knew? See the photos, above, both take in New Jersey!