What Exit? The New Jersey History Podcast

Who Was Hattie? A Juneteenth Special

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: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com [njhistorypodcast@gmail.com] 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 Episode 1, Part 2: Jersey Shore, 1776

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: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com [njhistorypodcast@gmail.com] 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.

Bicentennial Summer Episode 1, Part 1: Jersey Shore, 1976

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: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com

The Family Made of Stone- Part One

A young couple inherits a massive Victorian family house in Newark that has remained in the same Italian-American family since around 1900. As they begin settling into the house, they slowly realize certain rooms seem to carry emotional weight connected to generations of family history. Part New Jersey history, part literary storytelling, this episode explores old Newark, the Palisades quarry industry, Italian immigration, Victorian mourning traditions, family continuity, and the strange feeling that some places remember the people who lived there. And Part Two has yet to be written, so feel free to weigh in with some ideas. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com [applewebdata://1E5EF1C9-D4A2-4386-B463-290DA668D771/njhistorypodcast@gmail.com] Perfect for listeners interested in:New Jersey history, Newark history, Italian-American history, Victorian houses, immigrant stories, family memory, the Palisades, gothic Americana, historical storytelling, and narrative podcasts.

When the Weather Changes | Summer 2026 Season Premiere

This episode of The New Jersey History Podcast explores the centuries-old movement of people toward the Jersey Shore, tracing the continuity beneath modern Shore travel through Route 9 road trips, the historic Ocean Highway, Gilded Age train travel, Revolutionary War wagon routes, and Lenape movement toward the coast long before New Jersey existed. At its center is the idea that while the people, roads, and reasons changed, the seasonal pull toward the New Jersey Shore remained. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com [njhistorypodcast@gmail.com]