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A shipwreck on the Jersey Shore. A dog that refuses to leave his master. A Revolutionary War captain who receives a warning he cannot explain. In this episode of The New Jersey History Podcast, Stephen Crane’s black dog legend inspires an original historical fiction vignette set around Barnegat Bay in 1778. The story connects a doomed coastal voyage with Captain Benjamin Dennis and the Pine Robbers of Monmouth County. Afterward, explore the history behind the fiction: Jacob Fagan’s attack on the Dennis household, the Pennsylvania Salt Works at Toms River, and the coastal tales of wreckers and mooncussers accused of using false lights to lure ships ashore. Discover which events are documented, which belong to folklore, and which were invented for this story. Crane's story: https://thelocalgirl.com/jerseyshore/ghost-stories-stephen-crane-jersey-shore-history/ Email me: [email protected] Thumbnail artwork is AI-generated; everything else is my own voice and writing, inspired by Stephen Crane and Captain Dennis.

A woman in white searches the New Jersey surf for her lost lover. In this episode of The New Jersey History Podcast, an original historical fiction vignette opens Stephen Crane’s “The Ghostly Sphinx of Metedeconk.” Hear Crane’s haunting tale, explore the history of Brick Township and Mantoloking, and consider a theory about where his mysterious house stood. Then discover the real story of Captain Henry Goodsell, whose remains washed ashore on New Jersey beaches and were identified through genetic genealogy in 2025—the remarkable case that inspired the opening fiction. You can find Goodsell's story here: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5409062/sea-captain-new-jersey-remains-19th-century-identified And Crane's story here: https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/topic/193014-the-ghostly-sphinx-of-the-metedeconk/ Email me: [email protected]

What makes a place haunted? Inspired by a passage from Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, this episode explores the connection between ghost stories and continuity: the people who remember a place and pass its stories on. We travel through New Jersey’s colonial settlements, Revolutionary battlefields, Cape May and Asbury Park, the Morro Castle and other shipwrecks, and the story of Tillie Smith in Hackettstown. We also consider why Lenape spiritual traditions cannot simply be folded into European ghost lore. This episode sets the stage for October mini-sodes exploring individual apparent hauntings—and asks what people believed they encountered when they thought they saw a ghost. Email me for collaboration and to be a guest on the podcast [email protected]

Forget Salem. New Jersey had its own witchcraft law, accusations, legends—and even a supposed witch trial reported in Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper. In this episode of The New Jersey History Podcast, we enter the unseen world of colonial New Jersey, where an iron horseshoe guarded a barn against witches, demons and the Devil—and a dry udder could be interpreted as evidence of a curse. We examine the biblical and European beliefs behind New Jersey’s 1668 witchcraft law; the story of Abigail Sharp, who sued a neighbor after he accused her of flying at night, appearing as a cat and bewitching his horse; and the 1730 Mount Holly “witch trial,” now generally understood as satire rather than a documented trial. Then we follow witch folklore beyond the colonial courtroom to Mary Moore, the legendary “Witch of Edison,” and Margaret “Peggy” Clevenger, the so-called Witch of the Pine Barrens. This is a story about witchcraft, the Devil, accusations, and the uneasy place where documented New Jersey history becomes folklore. I'm looking for guests to have on the show. If you think you're interesting, email me [email protected] Thumbnail generated by ChatGPT, using an 1816 facsimile of a woodcut from "The Newes of Scotland," 1591.

Knights, horses, jousting, falconry, and royal feasts are usually associated with medieval Europe. But this is a New Jersey story. Step beyond the castle walls and discover the history, animals, training, and unseen work that keep a medieval world alive in the Garden State. Be on the lookout for the follow-up episode on New Jersey around 1100-1400. I'm actively seeking podcast guests, so if you think you're interesting, email me- [email protected] Episode thumbnail generated using ChatGPT

Two summers, two hundred years apart, finally come together. In 1776, a Loyalist merchant’s son and a Lenape boy cross the Delaware into revolutionary Philadelphia, where the words of Thomas Paine and the promise—and contradictions—of American liberty change them both. In 1976, two friends planning to sneak off to Asbury Park in search of Bruce Springsteen discover something even more compelling inside Indian Joe’s bay-front home. Featuring the Lenape, Common Sense, colonial New Jersey, the Battle of Monmouth, the Jersey Shore and a final journey into 2026, this concluding chapter asks how history survives—and who ultimately tells its stories. Sponsored by Journey to Real Foods, a New Jersey-based company offering seasoning mixes for homemade dips and sauces. My promotional link is here: https://journeytorealfood.com/shop/?wpam_id=3 Any of my proceeds will be donated to Rescue Ridge animal shelter in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Interested in appearing on The New Jersey History Podcast? Email [email protected] and tell me why you would make an interesting guest. For more New Jersey history, nostalgia, Italian-American culture, and comedy, follow The New Jersey History Project on Instagram.

The summer of 1976 settles into its rhythm at the Jersey Shore. A morning walk, an old family pizzeria, a grandfather's house frozen in another era, and a conversation between two new friends begin revealing histories neither boy fully understands. As the Kid learns that his friend's family can trace its New Jersey roots through slavery in Newark, he shares the story of his own Campobasso immigrant family, whose story in Newark began in the 1880s before they built a life from the stone of the Palisades. Neither boy realizes just how closely their families' histories have crossed. Meanwhile, Mom is getting ready for a weekend at the Latin Casino and a night with her beloved Engelbert Humperdinck. But down the Shore, another singer is becoming harder and harder to ignore: a Jersey guy named Bruce Springsteen. So who wins the summer of '76: Engelbert or Bruce? Set against pizza parlors, beach days, family stories, Newark memories, Bicentennial America, the Latin Casino, and the music of Bruce Springsteen, Bicentennial Summer continues its journey through a New Jersey where the past is never quite as far away as it seems. The New Jersey History Podcast blends historical fiction, New Jersey history, family memory, and 1970s nostalgia in a story unfolding between the Jersey Shore of 1976 and Revolutionary New Jersey in 1776.

This is part of our ongoing foodways series. Pizza is a New Jersey tradition, but how did it first reach the Jersey Shore? Most people know the story of boardwalk pizza. But what if pizza arrived at the Shore farther inland first, years before it became a seaside staple? Join The New Jersey History Podcast as we explore the surprising origins of pizza in Ocean County, Italian-American settlement, and the forgotten history that may rewrite how we think about one of New Jersey's favorite foods. And it's very personal for me. Does anyone remember the places we talked about? Email me, or drop a comment: [email protected]

Join me as I tell you the story of an old railroad worker who pointed new immigrants away from the tenements of NYC and North Jersey, and toward the sandy soil of South Jersey. In this episode of The New Jersey History Podcast, we uncover the remarkable story of Hammonton, New Jersey, where Sicilian immigrants established the oldest continuously running Italian-American feast in the United States, decades before the famous Feast of San Gennaro, and whose labor propelled the blueberry to its status as the state fruit. Email me: [email protected]

Two boys — one English, one Lenape — set out on a merchant's errand through the New Jersey Pine Barrens, carrying a satchel whose contents neither of them understands. Along the way, they stop at Indian Stage, a quiet landing on the Metedeconk River, and at Brotherton, the first Native American reservation in the colonies (and US). Neither boy has any idea how far this errand is about to take them, or what they'll find waiting at the end of the road. A story about the places that connect people — and the history that happens around them, before anyone knows it's happening. Email me: [email protected]

Before Trenton. Before Princeton. Before Washington's retreat across New Jersey. Before the Declaration of Independence. On June 29, 1776, the American Revolution may have fought its first engagement in New Jersey at Turtle Gut Inlet, a forgotten waterway near present-day Wildwood Crest. In this special 250th anniversary episode of The New Jersey History Podcast, we begin with a fictional vignette inspired by the location before exploring the true story of the American brig Nancy, British warships, John Barry, the desperate effort to save precious gunpowder, and the dramatic explosion that marked one of the earliest Revolutionary War actions connected to New Jersey. Was Turtle Gut Inlet the first Revolutionary War battle in New Jersey? Historians debate the terminology, but its place in New Jersey's Revolutionary story is undeniable. Join me as I uncover one of the Garden State's most overlooked Revolutionary War stories. Also, I am now accepting listener submissions. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.,com

The summer of 1976 rolls on as another day at the Jersey Shore begins with a trip to B&B, a family crabbing expedition on the bay, and the unmistakable sights, sounds, and smells of a Shore town during America's Bicentennial. Along the way, the Kid meets someone new, and an ordinary summer day quietly becomes the beginning of an unforgettable friendship. From Ocean Pacific shorts and Sun-In to crab lines, creosote, canasta, and evenings with family, this episode recreates the little moments that defined a generation. Sometimes the biggest stories begin on the most ordinary days. Before we go, I want to put out a call for listener submissions. We've grown to thousands of subscribers across the podcast platforms and nearly 30,000 followers on social media, and I'd love to feature more stories from you. If you have a New Jersey history story, a ghost story, a family story, a local legend, or anything else connected to New Jersey, email it to [email protected]. If it's a good fit for the podcast, I'll turn it into an episode.

While researching family history, an unexpected discovery appeared in an 1860 Newark census record: a 75-year-old Black woman named Hattie living in the household of a prosperous New Jersey family. Who was Hattie? A servant? A family friend? A former slave? The historical record offers few answers, but her presence opens a window into a forgotten chapter of New Jersey history. In this special Juneteenth episode, we begin with a fictional vignette inspired by Hattie's life before exploring the realities of slavery in New Jersey, the state's gradual emancipation laws, the little-known "apprentices for life" system, and New Jersey's surprising refusal to initially ratify the 13th Amendment. This episode examines how one name in a census record can reveal a much larger story about slavery, freedom, family history, and the people history nearly forgot. Email me: [email protected] Topics include:• Juneteenth• Slavery in New Jersey• Newark history• Bergen County history• The 1860 Census• Gradual Emancipation• The 13th Amendment• African American history in New Jersey• Family history and genealogy #NewJerseyHistory #Juneteenth #BlackHistory #Genealogy #NewarkNJ #NJHistory #AmericanHistory #SlaveryInNewJersey

Bicentennial Summer is a storytelling series that alternates between two Jersey Shore summers separated by 200 years: 1976 and 1776. Each numbered episode unfolds across both timelines, exploring the people, places, and traditions that connect generations across centuries. In Episode 1, Part 2: Jersey Shore, 1776, we leave behind the Bicentennial summer and step into a very different New Jersey Shore. There are no boardwalks, no beach houses, and no Garden State Parkway. Instead, Squan Beach is a working coastline of merchants, fishermen, sailors, and travelers living through one of the most consequential summers in American history. As debates over independence spread from taverns to docks and dinner tables, a young merchant's son begins to question the world around him. A summer morning, a crowded tavern, and an unexpected encounter will send him inland toward a destination neither he nor his new companion expected to be searching for. I write these as I go along, so feel free to email me with suggestions: [email protected] Topics include: New Jersey History, American Revolution, Revolutionary War, Colonial New Jersey, Jersey Shore History, Lenape History, Thomas Paine, Common Sense, Loyalists, Patriots, and 1776.

Welcome to Bicentennial Summer: Jersey Shore, 1976, the new narrative-history series from the New Jersey History Podcast. Like last year's The Gilded Age: Jersey Shore, 1892, each episode begins with a work of historical fiction grounded in real places, real events, and real history. After the story concludes, we'll step out of the narrative and explore the historical details behind what you just heard, separating documented fact from creative interpretation. Memorial Day Weekend, 1976. An eighteen-year-old wakes up in his family's Jersey Shore bungalow as another summer begins. As he spends the morning wandering through town, a breakfast sangwich, a Bicentennial quarter, a disco-versus-rock showdown at the basketball courts, and eventually a pair of six-packs of Schaefer beer become part of a day that seems ordinary at first. If you have a bicentennial summer memory that you'd like me to include in a future episode, email me: [email protected]