New Jersey

Including Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area, NJ's Riverfront Cities

I love New Jersey's train system!

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.J. Stat. 2019 §§2C:7-1 through 2C:7-23

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

10 days for initial registration; updates to address due 10 days prior to move; updates to employment and school enrollment within 5 days.  Statute only applies to residents, students, and non-resident employees. 

Visitors: Residence is apparently established by presence in the state for 10 days. §2C:7-2c.(3).

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None.

Duration & updates:

Life. Petition to remove – 15 years, exceptions. §2C:7-2f. Updates for “compulsive or repeat” offenders quarterly; others annually, §2C:7-2

Most recent visit: Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area - May 2025

For a registered visitor, New Jersey is a pretty easy state to get along with.  As with a number of other states, its statutes don’t specifically address visitors.  However, you should assume that the same ten day registration grace period that applies to new residents applies to visitors too.  There appears to be no limit on return visits per month or year. Beyond that there are no statewide residency separation or presence requirements, although you should be careful about any local rules that might apply to you. 

It so happens that I travel to New Jersey at least once per year because I was born and raised in the sprawling suburbs of the Garden State and still have family there. Most states’ registry procedures require your local sheriff’s department to report your “temporary address” and dates of travel to your own state’s SOR office, who will then send that info to the SOR office of the state you’re going to. 

Then it’s that state’s (in this case New Jersey) SOR office’s responsibility to pass the word along.  Whether any of that actually happens I have no idea.  I always adhere to my travel schedule and show up at the temporary address I have provided to my local sheriff’s department on the day I said I would, but I don’t go report to the local police, nor have they ever shown up anywhere I’ve ever gone to check on me.

Van Campen's Glen 

Now let me tell you about one of America’s truly great National Recreation Areas, a place mostly overlooked because it stands in the shadow of the New York metro area.  While growing up in northern New Jersey I hiked and camped all over the Kittatinny Mountains.  Most of my summer camps were there too.  It’s a joy to see it now as the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and I want you to know what it has to offer.

First there are the rugged and beautiful Kittatinny Mountains of my youth.  Points of interest include Millbrook Village, Blue Mountain Lakes, the Appalachian Trail, Crater Lake and Buttermilk Falls.  Nearby are Worthington and Stokes State Forests and High Point State Park, each with their own attractions.  On the Pennsylvania side there are Turn Farm, Pocono Environmental Center, Dingman’s Falls and Raymondskill Falls, and Cliff Park.

Then there is of course the mighty Delaware River, offering all manner of canoeing, kayaking, water sports, everything. On your trip down the river you’ll pass through the spectacular Delaware Water Gap.  And remember – these are two states where you’ll face no residency or presence restrictions. 

But wait, there's more ...

On my return trip after 50 years there was one place I wanted to see more than anywhere else – Van Campen’s Glen.  Park in the Upper Glen parking lot and follow the trail south less than a mile toward the waterfall.  On your way you will pass through The Most Amazing Place I Ever Saw Growing Up.  I wanted to make sure it was still there, safe under the protection of the US Parks Service.

Most recent visit: Same Old Newark – May 2025

On this trip to New Jersey I went to Newark where I spent my college years (Rutgers-Newark) just to see how it’s doing.  The answer is that Newark has come a ways since the dark days of the 1970’s, having ringed its downtown with a performing arts center, sports facilities and museums.  The Rutgers University campus just west of downtown has grown exponentially.  However …

Newark's downtown as seen from Bridge Street

I arrived by train that Memorial Day morning, with a plan to go for a walk from Penn Station, west on Market Street through Newark’s downtown “Four Corners,” continue up the hill to the Rutgers campus, then north through the Rutgers campus, and then if time permitted head for the Ironbound neighborhood.

But when I tried to take this midday walk I found it to be the Same Old Newark I remember from the 1970’s.  Four Corners was dirty, sleazy and filled with scary looking people hanging out.  That’s bad enough at the city’s main intersection, but as I looked westward up the Market Street hill it looked just as forbidding and I’d be in less public areas as I went. 

It would be one thing back in the old days when I knew my way around and what to stay away from, but now I was a stranger in a dangerous place.  Without a car I couldn’t safely get as far as the Rutgers Campus, and all the museums were closed for the holiday, so I turned north on Broad Street, saw how Military Park looks these days (no worse than ever), and crossed the Passaic River to go back to my old haunts in Harrison, Kearny and Ironbound (all on foot).

Harrison, Kearny and Ironbound are great places to experience, but they’re much more a part of New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities than part of Newark, so I will include them in that description below.

Previous visit: New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities – April 2024

Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Union City, Secaucus, Kearny, Harrison & Ironbound (Newark)

I have been a visitor to New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities for as long as I can remember, but when I was studying city planning at Rutgers-Newark naturally we paid more attention to Battleground Newark and all I knew about the Riverfront Cities was that they were old industrial towns with decaying neighborhoods.

Well if you want to see a place that has completely re-invented itself in the past 50 years, come to New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities.  But DON’T drive because that’s a nightmare.  Park at any NJ Transit train station anywhere in the suburbs and get a train to Hoboken – the train ride is part of the fun!

Downtown Jersey City as seen from its waterfront

In April 2024 while traveling (by car this time) with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever, I enticed my bff to stop at Liberty State Park in Jersey City to see its commanding view of the Statue of Liberty and go to the Liberty Science Center (very nice!).  Then I managed to get her onto the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to see Jersey City’s fabulous new high rise downtown.  It’s an amazing place that has spectacular front row seat views of Lower Manhattan.  We got off the light rail at Exchange Place to take in that view.  My bff was so impressed she insisted on going for a walk along the riverfront to see more, especially the 9-11 memorials.  It was a sunny morning and there was a Latin Jazzercise class going on one of Jersey City’s riverfront boardwalk plazas.  My bff said, “I’m always glad I go with you to these places – This is great!”

Turn around and you see this

However, on that trip I was only able to scratch the surface with my bff.  All the other Riverfront Cities are easily accessible by light rail or PATH Train.  Jersey City’s high rises serve as the downtown for the remaining cities that have preserved and built upon their historic neighborhoods and main streets.  The easiest example to see is Hoboken – all you have to do is walk out of the train terminal and you’re right there on Washington Street!  Have a great time and enjoy all that ethnic cuisine.

Latin Jazzercise on the Jersey City riverfront.

But it’s the Hudson River waterfront that’s the star of the show.  The views of Lower Manhattan are incredible and you see them everywhere.

Two cities have taken different routes to their reinvention.  It turns out that lowly Secaucus, butt of so many jokes, was where the old Erie Main Line and Penn Central Railroads crossed.  When NJ Transit took over they put New Jersey’s busiest train transfer station there, instantly converting Secaucus into New York’s most desirable suburb with a lot of new construction.  I guarantee you and I could never afford to live there now.

The re-invention of Harrison, NJ

Then there is Harrison.  When I lived there in my college years most of the town’s land area was old decaying empty factories along the Passaic River.  There was no chance of any of those industries ever returning.  But even then I could see that unlike Newark there were a lot of new homes being built in Harrison, even on some of the empty industrial parking lots near my house.  Since then all the factories have been scraped and it looks like they are about halfway done with reinventing the entire place as upscale high density inner suburb.

Portuguese Bakery in Newark's Ironbound neighborhood. Yummmmmm!

Lastly, Ironbound, Newark’s vibrant Portuguese and Latino neighborhood.  Whenever I go to NJ’s Riverfront Cities I like to head for Ironbound (a.k.a. “Down Neck”) and have lunch at a Portuguese (or on this occasion Brazilian) restaurant, followed up by a drool-worthy stop at a Portuguese bakery. Yum! 

And remember – all this is in a state with no residency or presence restrictions, so you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder, unless you stay more than 10 days.