Many Americans are familiar with Thomas Edison's "invention factory" in Menlo Park, where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb and more than one thousand other items. Yet many other ideas have grown in the Garden State, too--New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the very first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&Ms are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like the batting cage, catcher's mask and even professional baseball itself, started in New Jersey. Life would be a lot harder...

For nearly one hundred seventy years, the Delaware and Raritan Canal has meandered across the narrow waist of New Jersey through bustling cities, suburban towns, and rural landscapes. One of the most successful towpath canals in the United States, the Delaware and Raritan carried more tonnage in 1866 than the famous Erie Canal. Transporting mainly anthracite coal, the Delaware and Raritan also stimulated industries as diverse as Roebling's wire-rope factory in Trenton, Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals in New Brunswick, and Fleischmann's Distillery in East Millstone. Today, as the centerpiece...