Last week, I posted a week's worth of stories about hiking in New Jersey. In one post about hiking the Appalachian Trail through our state, I said that hiking that trail takes you through areas that still look much like they did 200 years ago.
That made me think about what New Jersey was actually like in 1825. I'm not time-traveling way back to when the region was inhabited by the Lenni-Lenape Native Americans, who had settled here around 1000 AD. Later, European explorers, including Giovanni da Verrazzano and Sir Henry Hudson, had mapped the coastline and rivers, paving the way for colonization.
I'm not talking about the Colonial Era either. In 1664, King Charles II granted the land between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers to Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley, who divided the colony into East Jersey (now North Jersey) and West Jersey (now South Jersey). The capital of East Jersey was Perth Amboy, while Burlington served as the capital of West Jersey.
New Jersey in 1825 was a time of early industrial energy.
Photos didn’t exist yet in 1825—photography wouldn’t be invented until the late 1830s—but we do have some maps, drawings, and artifacts from that time that capture New Jersey’s look and feel.
Newark, East of Mulberry St. 1820-1825
Slavery was still legal, though slowly being phased out. The 1804 Gradual Abolition Act meant enslaved people born after that year would be freed at age 25, but full abolition didn’t come until 1844.
Belvidere became the county seat of Warren County, thanks to land donated by Garret D. Wall, who would later become governor. This sparked a building boom and helped shape the town’s layout.
Queen’s College was renamed Rutgers College, honoring Colonel Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War veteran and philanthropist who donated $5,000 and a bell to the school.
Colonel John Stevens demonstrated a steam locomotive at his Hoboken estate, showcasing New Jersey’s role in the early railroad era.
The state was emerging as a leader in the Industrial Revolution, with growing infrastructure and manufacturing hubs.
The Marquis de Lafayette, famed French hero of the American Revolution, toured the U.S. and made stops in Paterson and Morristown. His visit was a major event, drawing crowds and sparking celebrations.
The colony was diverse, with settlers from various ethnic backgrounds, including Dutch, English, Swedish, and Finnish. The Quakers, in particular, played a significant role in shaping the colony's history, especially in West Jersey. They established congregations, founded towns, and built distinctive patterned brick houses that showcased their wealth and status.
Our forest was dominated by native hardwoods like oak, hickory, chestnut, and maple. The American chestnut was still common before blight hit in the early 1900s. NJ is still rich in hardwoods, but chestnut is nearly gone, and invasive species like Norway maple and Japanese barberry have altered forest composition.
Salt marshes and bogs supported native grasses, sedges, and Atlantic white cedar swamps. Many wetlands have been drained or developed, but restoration efforts are underway. Native species compete with invasives like phragmites.
The Pine Barrens were vast and largely untouched, dominated by pitch pine, scrub oak, and unique understory plants like pyxie moss. Thankfully, it is still intact in many areas, though threatened by development and climate change. Conservation efforts help preserve rare species.
Wildflowers and shrubs, including meadow rue, butterflyweed, spicebush, and mountain laurel were widespread, and many still thrive, but habitat loss and suburban landscaping have reduced native populations.
Moving from flora to fauna, mammals included white-tailed deer, black bear, foxes, raccoons, and bobcats that roamed freely. Wolves and cougars were disappearing due to hunting. Deer are still abundant, and some studies show a larger population now than in the Colonial Era. Bears are rebounding to the point of more interactions with humans. Bobcats are rare but present. Wolves and cougars are long gone.
Passenger pigeons were still common. Shorebirds and songbirds thrived in forests and wetlands. Today, passenger pigeons are extinct, but bald eagles and ospreys have made a comeback. Habitat loss affects many species.
Reptiles and amphibians are quite similar, and included Eastern box turtles, timber rattlesnakes, and salamanders were widespread. Many species are now threatened or endangered due to habitat fragmentation and pollution.
In our waters, rivers teemed naturally with sturgeon, shad, and trout. Coastal waters supported whales and dolphins. Pollution and dams reduced river fish populations, and some species, such as trout, are only sustained through interventions by the state. Marine mammals still visit, but some are endangered.
1825 was a place of transformation for our state, balancing its colonial past with the promise of industrial and cultural progress.
