Chaotic Couture > Represent Your State > Garden State
NJ: The Garden State: This nickname seems to have originated at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia on Jersey Day, August 24, 1876. Alfred M. Heston states in his 1926 work, Jersey Waggon Jaunts, that "The Garden State" was used by Abraham Browning, of Camden. "In his address Mr. Browning compared 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 called New Jersey the Garden State, and the name has clung to it ever since."
In later years, the explanation has evolved to reference New Jersey truck farms that provide floral and agricultural produce to cities in the area instead of an "immense barrel." These farms have catered, particularly, to the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Some support the nickname with stories of the Revolutionary War and the food provided to soldiers by the small farms of New Jersey.
Probably the most intense promotion of this nickname for New Jersey began when the legislature voted to add the legend "Garden State" to New Jersey license plates in 1954, in spite of the Governor's refusal to sign the bill, in part because "New Jersey is noted for its great strides in manufacturing, mining, commerce, construction, power, transportation, shipping, merchandising, fishing and recreation, as well as in agriculture. I do not believe that the average citizen of New Jersey regards his state as more peculiarly identifiable with gardening for farming than any of its other industries or occupations."
