Between 1674 and 1702 the border between west and east New Jersey ran diagonally across the middle part of the state. The boarders remained important until 1754 to determine ownership and political boundries. Its position between New York and Philadelpia led Benjamin Franklin to call the state "A barrel tapped at both ends".
One of my favorite directors comes from Red Bank located in central Jersey. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in his first feature film "Clerks" there and remained (stubbornly) a resident of Jersey after hitting the big time for many years until it became too much of a burdon to travel intercoastally to work on his film projects.
Many of my extended family live and work in Trenton New Jersey. My parents met each other in Princeton NJ at a grocery store. She was the check out clerk and he was the bag boy!