Enjoying the Rich History of New Jersey’s Gateway Areaby Marian BetancourtThe cities of northeastern New Jersey played a major role in our nation’s history but they are sometimes overlooked by travelers who pass them by in favor of New York City just across the Hudson River. However, the richness of the historic attractions in New Jersey’s “gateway” area may surprise you.  Hoboken was a major shipping hub with a mile long row of docks across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan and you may remember it as the setting for the 1954 movie, “On the Waterfront.” Those docks have been converted into the Hudson River Walkway and a former shipbuilding and repair facility known as the machine shop has been turned into a modern commercial and residential building with a small space occupied by the Hoboken Historical Museum.
Director Bob Foster, a veritable encyclopedia of Hoboken history, organizes small exhibitions about the city’s history and arts as well as events such as the annual October house tour, which is always sold out, for in recent times Hoboken has been rediscovered as a convenient and friendly place to live. Many of the old row houses that once housed sailors and dock workers have been converted into upscale condominiums. On a narrow street you may find workers on scaffolding and imagine you are on a movie set.  Hoboken is widely known as the birthplace of Frank Sinatra and indeed the museum offers a map to more than a dozen sites where Old Blue Eyes lived, attended school and performed. An equally famous name here is Colonel John Stevens, the patriot army’s “wartime treasurer on horseback” who bought the town in 1784 for $90,000, which today would not buy you a studio apartment here. Stevens and his sons, builders of the first steamboat on the Hudson and other marvels, established the Stevens Institute of Technology, the nation’s first college of mechanical engineering. Pick up the museum’s free colorfully illustrated walking tour map (in addition to the Sinatra map) and explore this quirky little mile-square city. Take Frank Sinatra Drive to Elysian Park, named for the fields where America’s first baseball match was played in 1846. The brownstone on Bloomfield Street with the bright pink awnings was once the home of Dorothea Lange, the famous Depression era photographer. You can see almost everything in about two hours, but take time to stop at the sidewalk cafes and shops. Check the museum web site (www.hobokenmuseum.org) to find about what’s going on in Hoboken.
 Newark is New Jersey’s largest city and like many urban areas, has suffered image problems that may inhibit potential visitors from the attractions of the downtown arts and culture district, which is easily accessible by train or car. There is a powerful new exhibition at The New Jersey Historical Society on Park Place. Taking its title from the famous Marvin Gaye song, “What’s Going On: Newark and the Legacy of the Sixties,” will be on view through the end of 2008. The exhibition uses , film, voices and objects to describe the urban unrest that killed 26 people here in July 1967. Oral histories were gathered from nearly 100 people who witnessed the riots and you can listen to excerpts here. (Complete transcripts are available in the Society’s library). A woman, then 14, remembers the sound of gunshots outside and her mother shouting for her to get down on the floor. A furniture store owner, unsure whether to flee or stay after a trash can was thrown through the window, describes the bravery of an employee who helped him try to keep looters away.
 Archival news film clips include stark images such as National Guard tanks patrolling deserted streets in the aftermath. Among the few objects that survived the riots are some spent bullet shells that were gathered up and saved by a young girl who is now a police officer. Ironically, the historical society is housed in a small elegant building that once served as a (white) men’s club. Open Tuesday through Saturday: www.jerseyhistory.org.
 You will need several visits to see everything at the nearby Newark Museum, the largest in the state with several wings built around an inner courtyard. Of particular interest is the Tibetan art collection, acknowledged as one of the best in North America, which includes a full-scale golden Buddhist altar that was constructed in the museum. The 14th Dalai Lama himself came to consecrate the altar and has visited several times. You will see his smiling face in a photo on a nearby wall. In a corner of the gallery is a trunk with Tibetan costumes that visiting school children dress up in while learning about this culture. (The museum is ranked third in the nation for its education programs.)
Another wing of the museum is attached to the 1885 Ballantine House, a brick and limestone mansion built for the family of a Scottish immigrant who made it rich in Newark with his beer company. Now a National Historic Landmark, the house is typical of the Victorian style (read over decorated) with stunning stained glass windows, especially the large one with a floral design on the staircase landing. Open Wednesday through Sunday: www.newarkmuseum.org.  Although Thomas Edison was born in Ohio, his inventing career began in Newark and the surrounding area, where in 1879 he first demonstrated the incandescent light bulb. Edison, whose son Charles was the state’s governor in 1941, is much loved by New Jersey and many roads, schools and monuments are named for him, not to mention a town and county. After the death of his first wife, Edison married Mina Miller, with whom he had three children, and spent the last 45 years of his life at Glenmont, a 13 acre estate near West Orange that he bought in 1886 for $125,000.
While it can hardly be called a masterpiece of architecture, this eclectic 29-room reddish colored Queen Anne house feels well lived in. The large family den on the second floor is full of comfortably stuffed chairs, family including one of Edison with his kids on his lap, books, and games, such as the Parcheesi board set out for play. Throughout the house there are several early Edison phonographs and other inventions along with bear and tiger skin rugs, which were apparently popular in the day. The dining room with its long table is where the Edisons entertained such luminaries as the King of Siam, President Hoover, and Orville Wright as well as personal friends like Henry Ford. Edison died here in 1931 and he and Mina are buried on the grounds. The former potting shed next to the restored greenhouse sells gardening implements, Edison books and souvenirs, as well as the tickets for the tours given by National Park rangers every half hour Friday through Sunday: www.nps.gov/edis. (Edison’s nearby laboratory is being restored and will soon open as a museum.)  Liberty State Park on the Jersey City waterfront was developed on a former industrial site and dedicated in 1976 as a bicentennial gift to the nation. Here, you are much closer to the Statue of Liberty (albeit her back) and Ellis Island than you are in lower Manhattan.
 More than 70 percent of the 12 million immigrants from Ellis Island boarded trains here to venture into the vast interior of America. The huge castle-like 1889 terminal of the Central Railroad of New Jersey has been restored and is used for exhibitions and special events and it is also where you buy tickets to the Ellis Island ferry, which, by the way, is a much shorter and less crowded trip from this side of the river. The park includes walkways, nature preserves, picnic grounds and plenty of parking (www.njparksandforests.org).
 Also located within the park is the spacious multi-story Liberty Science Center, which re-opened last summer following a two-year renovation. Hands-on exhibits allow you to operate (among other things) the controls of a cargo crane to unload a shipping container. Such exhibitions make the museum especially appealing to children but you may notice a few adults busy at these exhibits, muttering “cool” under their breaths. On the top floor overlooking the Hudson River, estuary wildlife is recreated in tanks of black sea bass and other river fish and plants. The museum also boasts the world’s largest IMAX theatre featuring short movies about mummies, hurricanes, or space travel. The gift shop is a vast bazaar of books, objects and games related to all the exhibitions and an especially interesting section about Einstein. Open daily: www.lsc.org.
 Comfortable modern hotels are available to travelers in this part of the state, including The Short Hills Hilton with 304 rooms and an excellent restaurant and spa. (www.hiltonshorthills.com). The very tempting Short Hills Mall (the most expensive in America) is just across the road.
The Heldrich, which opened in 2007 in the center of revitalized downtown New Brunswick, is named for the civic leader, John Heldrich. This 248-room hotel honors the history of the state by naming meeting rooms after historic figures: (www.theheldrich.com). | 
