By Katie Feather 

For generations, New Jersey has been one of America’s most densely populated states. Its cities, suburbs, and small towns - nestled between New York City and Philadelphia - have been shaped by waves of immigration, industrialization, and suburban expansion. 

Today, more than 9.5 million people call the Garden State home, the largest population in its history. Since 2020 alone, New Jersey has added more than a quarter of a million residents, fueled largely by international immigration and a post-pandemic spike in suburban living. 

Now, what if every one of those new residents cared about New Jersey history?

I was once a “new” New Jersey resident. My husband and I moved to Hoboken in 2015 because it was the shortest commute to our jobs in New York City that also fit our budget. Unfortunately, as young professionals, we thought of Hoboken like an extension of Manhattan, not as the vibrant, historic city it had been for generations. A few years later, we moved to Maplewood, a New Jersey town that, while farther afield from NYC, was still dubbed by the NYTimes in 2014 as “Brooklyn West.” 

Then in 2020 we started a family. For the first time, I stopped thinking about New Jersey in terms of its distance from Manhattan and (very belatedly) began to recognize it as its own singular place. Most importantly, I started thinking about it as the place where my children would grow up. Someday, when people asked them where they were from, they would say, “New Jersey.” 

That realization made our next move feel different. 

In 2022, we settled in Morris County. For the first time, it felt like we weren’t just buying another house - we were choosing our new hometown. 

As I explored the area, I realized I knew far more about the plumbing and electrical wiring in our new (to us) fifty year old house than I did about the community around it. I found myself slowing down to admire old buildings, Googling the names on library plaques, and wondering who had built this town long before my family arrived. I had questions everywhere I looked, but no single place to find the answers.

Now might be the right time to tell you that I ask questions and look for answers for a living. Back in the life I had in Maplewood and Hoboken, I was a reporter and radio producer for public radio and podcasts. I enjoy writing and working in that medium because audio stories are so accessible. And for someone like me - a multitasker with a love of learning - they are easy to fit into a busy life.

I kept wishing there was a podcast that could introduce me to my new hometown. Then it occurred to me: maybe I should make it. 

Hometown History NJ is a podcast about the people, places and events that make a small New Jersey town someplace people call home. It grew out of a simple desire to understand the community where I was putting down roots, to appreciate the generations who came before me, and to create something that could give back to the place my family now calls home. 

The more I thought about it, the more obvious the idea seemed. Because my story isn’t unique. 

Every year, thousands of people move to New Jersey. They buy homes, enroll their children in school, and become part of communities that have existed for centuries. Yet most of us arrive knowing very little about the stories hidden in the communities we drive through every day. 

What would happen if every newcomer spent just one afternoon learning why their town exists? Who founded it? What industries built it? What triumphs and tragedies shaped it? How many people would feel just a little more connected to the place they now call home? 

More than two years and twenty episodes later, what began as a personal search for answers has grown into something much larger. Thousands of people have listened: lifelong New Jerseyans, recent transplants, and even former residents scattered around the world who simply want to reconnect with a place that still feels like home. 

Trying something new takes courage, whether it’s moving to a different town, starting a business, or pressing play on a podcast you’ve never heard before. But what feels new to us is almost always very old to someone else. 

Our hometowns didn’t begin when we arrived. They were shaped over generations by farmers and factory workers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, teachers and volunteers, people from different countries, cultures, and faiths who collectively built the communities we inherit today. We benefit from their work every day, often without realizing it. 

I think we owe them a little curiosity. Every generation has left its mark on the landscape, transforming colonial villages into market towns, farming communities into railroad suburbs, and quiet crossroads into thriving neighborhoods. Understanding how and why our towns grew is one of the best ways to understand the people who call them home today. 

That’s the journey Hometown History NJ hopes to share, one town at a time. 

To find out more about Hometown History NJ and to listen to the podcast, go to www.hometownhistorynj.com or hometownhistory.substack.com and subscribe for free.