The 2007 desk atlas made by the staff of The Onion takes a hilarious shot at New Jersey, I mean how can a satirical news outlet pass up the opportunity? Read more
New Jersey Rest Stops
Credit: thejerseyshoremom.blopspot.com
On this day back in 1995, the state of New Jersey officially opened the Howard Stern Rest Area along I-295. It didn’t last long. Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey shut it down in 2003 citing money issues.
However, most people believed that it was the sextracurricular activities going on at the rest stop that inspired its closing. What do you expect from a shock radio host whose fans do anything on camera for him? Like the one Stern fan who called into CBS during their live coverage of the Christopher Dorner cabin hold-up and said Ronnie The Limo Driver (a Howard Stern staff member) shot and killed the rogue officer.
It would make sense to reason then that the Howard Stern Rest Area would be treated with the utmost respect, except not at all. Thieves routinely looted the rest area and it was revealed to be a hotbed for public sexual activity. The state set up portable toilets outside the rest area (which made a rest stop pointless), but it did not deter the lewd activities.
This little anecdote is interesting because New Jersey is unique in that it names its rest stops after famous residents. All along the New Jersey Turnpike you can stop and rejuvenate at official rest areas named for popular New Jerseyians.
There is the:
- Clara Barton Area
- John Fenwick Area
- Walt Whitman Area
- J. Fenimore Cooper Area
- Richard Stockton Area
- Woodrow Wilson Area
- Molly Pitcher Area
- Joyce Kilmer Area
- Thomas Edison Area
- Grover Cleveland Area
- Alexander Hamilton Area
- Vince Lombardi Area
There is nothing more New Jersey than honoring our own with a place motorists go to release their bladders and grab a slice from Sbarro.
March 21, 2013 - 1:34 pm
I have to dig up my college application essay because I wrote it on the Richard Stockton Rest Stop..it should be interesting to read now.