Including Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area, NJ's Riverfront Cities
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: New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities – April 2024
Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, West New York, Bayonne, Union City, Secaucus, Kearny, Harrison & Ironbound (Newark) - places like that
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!
After leaving the NARSOL Conference in late June 2026 the next stop in my Northeast and New England road trip was my sister-in-law’s house in far northern New Jersey. I stayed three nights and two days, and because NJ like most states counts all partial days toward your running total, that means a total of four days there.
Other than visiting, my plan was to spend one day in New Jersey’s Riverfront Cities, and the second day in Manhattan. In both cases I wanted to go places and do things that, even though I’ve been in and out of this region my whole life, I had never gotten around to before. On Day 1, that included getting on the train to Hoboken in Middletown NY, more than twice as far up the Metro North line as I had ever been before. It was a fabulous two hour ride (each way) even though the train ran express from the Route 17 station south.
Hoboken Station became the first place on my road trip where I encountered FIFA World Cup traffic. There was a game later that day at whatever they call Meadowlands Stadium these days. There were a bunch of special trains to the stadium, big crowds and a seemingly endless supply of “helpful staff temps” asking how they could help. It was hard to escape them and get to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail platform, only to find more helpful staff there. But here’s the good news – fare payment for the entire light rail system was on the honor system all day (because they just didn’t feel like dealing with confused foreigners)! Tadahhh!
The next thing I’d never done before was take each branch of the Light Rail line all the way to the end and see what was there. When you do that, sometimes you come to something great, and sometimes not. On the plus side are Point Imperial in West New York and Lincoln Harbor in Weehawken.
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.
Washington Street, Hoboken
But it’s the Hudson River waterfront that’s the star of the show. The views of Midtown and 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.
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.
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.
Previous visit: Delaware Water Gap Nat. Rec. Area - May 2025
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.
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.
Previous 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 …
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.
Bruce Hossfield, Atwo Zee Registered Traveler
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