JOURNEY ALONG INVENTION AVENUE: A GUIDE TO NEW JERSEY'S HISTORIC SITES OF INNOVATION
New Jersey at Work
Embark on a journey navigating popular sites of New Jersey’s innovative past. This three-day travel itinerary features crucial sites of our nation's quest for scientific and technological advancement. The Garden State has been the proud home of revolutionary ideas since its early founding. While exploring the rich history, you can also check out some of the popular dining in the area! These sites are sure to inspire the next generation of Jersey innovators!
Illumination and Sound
Spend the day learning about America’s greatest inventor, Thomas Edison. The Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves Edison’s laboratory and residence, Glenmont, in nearby Llewellyn Park. Explore all three floors of the laboratory to learn about some of Edison’s 1,093 patents, wander the courtyard to see and learn about the Black Maria Film Studio, and take a tour of Glenmont.
Hungry? Grab a bite to eat at some of the delectable restaurants located within the Main Street Four Point neighborhood in Downtown West Orange.
Cranberry and Blueberry Agriculture
Get an early start to your day and hit to road to Historic Whitesbog Village, the site of the largest New Jersey cranberry in the early 1900s and the where highbush blueberries were successfully cultivated by Elizabeth C. White. Then head to Double Trouble Village State Historic Site that provides a window into Pine Barrens industry with a complete company town, a sawmill, and a cranberry sorting and packing house.
Worked up an appetite? Explore the diverse range of restaurants on County Road 520 in Brown Mills.
Set Sail: NJ Maritime History
Immerse yourself in the heyday of the oyster industry in the 1920s at the Bayshore Center at Bivalve. Stroll the exhibits in the Delaware Bay Museum that tells the story of NJ’s maritime history along the Delaware Bay and then set sail on New Jersey’s official tall ship the AJ Meerwald, a restored 1928 oyster dredging schooner. Feeling ambitious? Travel across the state to Tuckerton Seaport, a maritime village located along the historic Tuckerton Creek. Daily demonstrators and traditional artists bring the Jersey Shore’s rich maritime heritage to life.
You’re in luck! Located on site at the Bayshore Center is the Oyster Cracker Café. Relax and enjoy some delicious chowder.
There’s more to see and do: Extend your stay and add these stops
Marvel America’s 397th national park that was established in 2009 to protect and interpret the innovative waterpower system and natural features of the Paterson Great Falls on the Passaic River which powered America’s first planned industrial city. Visit the Roebling Museum, situated on the seven-acre grounds of a former historic steel mill, the museum interprets the seminal engineering innovations of the John A. Roebling’s Sons Company, builders of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as numerous other bridges including one over Niagara Falls.
DISCOVER NJ
New Jersey history is everywhere, hidden away on quiet back roads, right out in plain sight, in urban areas, country towns and villages, and along the Jersey shore. Historic sites across the state tell intriguing stories of New Jersey’s diverse, inventive, creative, and revolutionary people. History is alive and waiting for you. View Additional Resources