Aerial.America.S06E03.New.Jersey
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00:00It was one of America's 13 original states, and played a big role in the birth of the
00:09nation.
00:10It's a place where fields give way to vast forests of pine, morning mist lingers on a
00:19seemingly prehistoric land, and where wild sunlit beaches stretch on for miles.
00:27This is the unexpected world of New Jersey.
00:33It may be known for its highways, tunnels, and famous locations on The Sopranos, but
00:39there's much more to the Garden State than this, especially when seen from the air.
00:45It was here where a raging waterfall powered America's first industrial city, where some
00:50of Hollywood's biggest movie studios got their start.
00:56It was a New Jersey truck driver who came up with the big idea to use steel boxes to
01:01move cargo around the world, making him a fortune and transforming global trade.
01:08But people in New Jersey have also experienced their share of hard times.
01:13It's here that the legendary airship the Hindenburg met its fiery fate, where a city of bright
01:18lights has ridden great cycles of boom and bust, and a raging superstorm forced millions
01:25to flee their homes and then turn those homes into tinder.
01:32It may take years for this coastal state to recover, but the people of New Jersey have
01:37always bounced back, including one woman who turned her own personal tragedy into a victory
01:43for all the women who fought in America's Revolutionary War, and a New Jersey musician
01:49known as The Boss, who pitched in to raise millions for those who suffered nature's wrath.
01:57It's been one of the most diverse states in the nation from the day it was founded, and
02:02a driving force of the American economy ever since explorers first set eyes on its shores.
02:09This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:19This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:24This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:29This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:34This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:37This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:40This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:43This is the surprising land of New Jersey.
02:47One of the biggest surprises in New Jersey might be this one, the Statue of Liberty.
02:59She's usually considered a New York landmark, and officially she is, but many think of her
03:05as something of a Jersey girl.
03:08That's because the island she stands on actually lies inside New Jersey's state boundaries,
03:14not New York's.
03:16And that's the case for historic Ellis Island, too.
03:20About 90% of Ellis Island belongs to New Jersey, the rest to New York.
03:25Starting in 1892, this dock was the last stop for ships bringing hopeful immigrants to America
03:31from Europe and around the world.
03:33They entered Ellis Island's famous Immigration Center, eager to learn if they would be admitted
03:38into the United States or be forced to sail more than 3,000 miles back across the Atlantic.
03:46Over 12 million men, women, and children were ultimately processed here.
03:52Many headed to New York City.
03:55But about two-thirds hopped on ferries and headed the other way, to New Jersey.
04:01They set foot on the U.S. mainland for the first time here,
04:06under the clock tower of the Jersey Terminal, home of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey.
04:13The first train rolled out of this station in 1889.
04:18It was later expanded, with 20 tracks covering more than 300,000 square feet,
04:24making it the largest train shed of its kind ever built.
04:29By 1900, up to 300 trains and 50,000 passengers passed through this station every day.
04:37Many of these were immigrants from Ellis Island, heading out to start new lives across the nation.
04:44But in the 1930s, that began to change.
04:48Over the years, with the Great Depression, World War II, and the growing popularity of the automobile,
04:54fewer and fewer passengers used the station.
04:58In 1967, the Central Railroad of New Jersey was forced to go bankrupt.
05:04The huge terminal and train shed stand largely empty,
05:08which is surprising considering that the site, with stunning views of Manhattan,
05:13is one of the most spectacular pieces of real estate in the world.
05:17But the reason that there are cars here today is because this is also the site of the Empty Sky Memorial.
05:25These reflective twin walls represent the twin towers of the World Trade Center,
05:30and point toward Ground Zero, where the towers fell.
05:35On the memorial's walls are etched the names of the 749 New Jersey residents
05:40who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of 9-11.
05:45It was named the Empty Sky after the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name,
05:50which he wrote to honor those who perished on that tragic day, just across the river.
05:56This site once bustled with hopeful immigrants, with their eyes on the future.
06:00Today, it's a quiet place of reflection, and a perfect spot to set eyes on the Freedom Tower,
06:06the shimmering skyscraper of angled glass and steel that now rises at Ground Zero,
06:12and is now the tallest building in the United States.
06:17Over the centuries, people in New Jersey have witnessed great change along their shores,
06:23and one of the biggest changes was brought about by these.
06:27The thousands of cargo containers that are offloaded every day here at the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal.
06:34They are the heart of today's global economy, and something called containerized shipping.
06:41It's a standardized system of ships, containers, trucks, and trains
06:45that allow the products we use every day to be moved with amazing speed
06:49from the factories where they're produced to consumers all over the globe.
06:57And it all started right here on these very docks,
07:01thanks to an innovative New Jersey trucking executive named Malcolm McLean.
07:07One day, McLean was watching cotton bales from his trucks being loaded piecemeal onto ships.
07:13It suddenly struck him that it would be quicker to just load the truck's trailers directly onto the ship's decks
07:19instead of unloading and then reloading the cotton.
07:23Nineteen years later, in 1956, he launched the world's first containerized ship from this New Jersey dock.
07:31Today, our global economy couldn't survive without containerized shipping.
07:37Once these steel boxes arrive here by truck, they're picked up by machines called straddle carriers
07:42that rely on GPS to get each one to where it needs to go.
07:47Dozens of these carriers race around the port,
07:50picking up and dropping off individual containers so they can be loaded on the right ship at the right time.
07:57It's an amazing industrial ballet, and the living legacy of one New Jersey businessman
08:03whose vision for the future transformed global trade.
08:09In order to offload their cargo at Elizabeth Terminal,
08:12container ships first have to sail up a tidal strait known as the Kilvan Cull
08:17and then pass underneath the Bayonne Bridge, which links New York's Staten Island with Bayonne, New Jersey.
08:26This bridge, which provides a vital link between the two states, opened to traffic in 1931.
08:33It's been famous for its elegant 1,675-foot-long steel arch ever since.
08:39But the bridge is now too low for the next generation of the world's new mega-ships.
08:45When it was designed, its roadway was placed 150 feet above the water,
08:50which was plenty of space for the tallest vessels of the day back in the 1930s.
08:56Today's container ships, like this one, the Yang Ming Milestone,
09:00are already having trouble squeezing under its span.
09:04If the milestone collides with the bridge, it could send the traffic plunging into the water below.
09:13Today, the milestone barely makes it under the span.
09:17But if this were one of the new larger post-Panamax ships, it could rip the Bayonne Bridge right in two.
09:24That's why the port plans on raising the bridge's roadway by 64 feet,
09:29and it's hoping to do it while keeping it open to traffic the entire time.
09:36Today, ships are bringing big change to New Jersey.
09:40But actually, that's nothing new.
09:43More than 400 years ago, another much smaller vessel made its way up these waters
09:49and set in motion the transformation of this once wild shoreline
09:53into the New Jersey we know today.
10:03On September 3rd, 1609, a three-masted wooden sailing ship called the Half Moon
10:09sailed up these waters between what's now New York and New Jersey.
10:14Its captain, Henry Hudson, had been sent by the Dutch East India Company
10:19to find a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean.
10:23At the time, the New Jersey waterfront was still wild.
10:27There was nothing but trees, water, and beaches,
10:31likely dotted with the canoes of New Jersey's native tribes.
10:35Smoke rising from their cooking fires may have been the only sight on the horizon.
10:41Hudson would be awed if he returned today,
10:45especially if he set eyes on this,
10:49the George Washington Bridge, which leaps from Fort Lee, New Jersey,
10:53across the river that now bears Hudson's name.
10:57Today, a group of dedicated volunteers sails a replica of the Half Moon
11:02up and down the Hudson, using it as a floating museum,
11:06to keep the spirit of those early days of discovery alive.
11:12Hudson reported that the area held riches in fur.
11:18And in 1621, the Dutch laid claim to all the land
11:23that lay between the 42nd and the 38th parallels,
11:27an area that extends from what's now Cape Cod to Cape Henlopen in northern Delaware.
11:32They called their new colony New Netherland.
11:36But in 1664, just over 40 years later,
11:40the British wrestled New Netherland away from the Dutch,
11:44and soon carved out New Jersey as one of its American colonies.
11:49At the time, much of the land that's now New Jersey was covered by dense forest.
11:55And, amazingly, more than three centuries later, it still is today.
12:01Here, fields give way to a blanket of trees that stretches on for miles.
12:08It's a place known as the New Jersey Pinelands.
12:12Locals call it the Pine Barrens.
12:16In 1978, this area was designated the nation's first national reserve,
12:21and covers 22% of the entire state.
12:25It's the largest piece of preserved open space on the eastern seaboard
12:29between Richmond, Virginia, and Boston, Massachusetts.
12:34In the 18th century, trees from the Pinelands were used to build whaling ships,
12:40and to make pitch, tar, and turpentine to protect those ships' hulls out on the open sea.
12:46But soon, settlers also discovered riches in the swamps around the trees.
12:52Over time, water flowing under this forest left behind deposits of iron ore.
12:59In 1766, an investor named Charles Reed began extracting that ore from the forest's bogs,
13:07and used the power of local streams to build a new ironworks, which he named Batstow.
13:13Today, some of this region's once-valuable iron ore still lies here in piles for all to see.
13:21Reed's iron furnaces were used to make some of the cannons and cannonballs
13:26that helped America win its Revolutionary War.
13:29As his ironworks prospered, a thriving village with orderly rows of houses grew up around it.
13:36Batstow would eventually have a general store, an ice house, and a church.
13:42Generations of ironmasters ruled over the site from this house
13:46that dwarfs every other structure in town.
13:49But the good times here began to fade away with the discovery of new sources of iron in Pennsylvania.
13:56The ironworks at Batstow finally shut down in the 1860s.
14:04By then, New Jersey was already on its way to being an important center of innovation and industry.
14:11In 1791, just 15 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
14:17Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton set out to search for a site to establish a new industrial city
14:24to help put the new nation's economy firmly on its own two feet.
14:28He found the perfect spot in northern New Jersey.
14:33Today, the rushing waters of Great Falls plunge 77 feet
14:38before continuing on through the Passaic River Gorge above the town of Patterson.
14:44Hamilton knew that these falls could power all kinds of new industries.
14:49So, he commissioned canals and raceways to harness the rushing water.
14:54It was a highly controversial project at the time.
14:58Many others in the government, including George Washington himself,
15:02thought that agriculture, not industry, would be the driving force of America's economy and growth.
15:08But Hamilton had other ideas.
15:11He knew of the Industrial Revolution that was transforming England
15:15and wanted to create the same boom here in the United States.
15:19Soon, Patterson, New Jersey, America's first planned industrial city, was rising below Great Falls.
15:28It was quickly bustling with a wide range of innovative companies,
15:33including New Jersey's first water-powered cotton mill
15:37and the first factory in the world to turn out a continuous roll of paper.
15:42It was here that the maker of the famous Colt revolver set up shop.
15:47Nearby, Rogers Locomotive Company built thousands of steam engines
15:51for the trains that would soon be crisscrossing America.
15:54Later on, Patterson became a center of silk production, which earned it the nickname Silk City.
16:02Today, Patterson's former industrial district, including its famous waterfall,
16:07is preserved as the Patterson Great Falls National Historical Park.
16:13In the 19th century, New Jersey was home to inventors of all kinds,
16:18a legacy that continues today.
16:21There are now more scientists and engineers per square mile in New Jersey
16:25than any other state in the nation.
16:28But the most famous innovator in New Jersey history has been Thomas Edison.
16:33It was here that he and his research team developed the first successful incandescent light bulb
16:39and a working phonograph, the first device ever to record and play back the sound of a human voice.
16:46And then, in 1889, at his laboratory, which still stands here in West Orange,
16:51he and his team created the world's first movie camera, which he called a kinetograph.
16:58He built a small structure in which he could make films, the first movie studio in the world.
17:04It was known as the Black Maria and was basically just one room.
17:09A replica now stands here at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
17:15Inside, Edison had actors perform in front of his kinetograph
17:20and opened the roof to let light in.
17:23Soon, others were experimenting with Edison's movie cameras,
17:27and they turned the New Jersey town of Fort Lee into the birthplace of the American film industry.
17:33Today, Fort Lee is better known for a recent political scandal known as Bridgegate.
17:38But once, this town, perched on the Hudson at the end of the George Washington Bridge,
17:43was America's film town.
17:47A few decades before Hollywood even existed,
17:50Fort Lee's streets bustled with producers, directors, actors, and crew.
17:55This simple single-story white building was once the headquarters of the Champion Film Company,
18:01built in 1909 as one of the first movie production studios in the country.
18:07It was also at Fort Lee that Universal Studios got its start, along with Fox.
18:13The big studios ultimately left Fort Lee for Hollywood,
18:17but New Jersey has continued to play a major role on the big screen.
18:22Susan Sarandon, John Travolta, Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis all hail from the Garden State.
18:32But no New Jersey-born actor has managed to put his home state on the map like James Gandolfini,
18:38a.k.a. mobster Tony Soprano,
18:41who conducted business at a gritty fictional strip club next to Interstate 80 called the Badda Bing.
18:48In real life, the club's name is the Satin Dolls.
18:52Gandolfini died in June 2013.
18:55Fans of the show were so heartbroken, they left notes and candles at this sprawling suburban house in North Caldwell,
19:02where much of The Sopranos was filmed, even though Gandolfini never actually lived there himself.
19:12But it's not just Sopranos fans who are lured to northern New Jersey.
19:17So too are many who work in the urban canyons of Manhattan,
19:20but choose to call this quiet corner of the Garden State home.
19:25The daily commute from New York City, out here to the peaceful town of Oakland, can take just one hour.
19:31New Jersey may be the most densely populated state in the nation,
19:35but it's still possible to carve out an existence here, right on the edge of the wilderness,
19:40where Dutch settlers once did more than three centuries ago.
19:44And beyond these houses, lakes can appear suddenly out of the trees.
19:50And travelers can journey back to a time when this corner of the state was the territory of New Jersey's original Lenape tribe,
19:57which had lived on these lands for centuries.
20:06One of these watery worlds is the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area,
20:11a 70,000-acre natural treasure that straddles the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border.
20:18Over millions of years, water from the Delaware River carved a channel through the Appalachians,
20:24creating the Delaware Water Gap.
20:28It was once considered a wonder of the world,
20:31and thousands flocked here from Philadelphia and New York City to set eyes on a place
20:36where water had proven itself to be more powerful than a mountain.
20:41Today, hidden in the mist, the Delaware River flows quietly south toward the city of Trenton.
20:52But on one cold winter night in 1776, these waters were anything but quiet,
20:58when George Washington made his famous crossing of the Delaware
21:02as he prepared to take the city of Trenton back from the British.
21:10It was Christmas Day, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War.
21:16George Washington and an army of 2,400 were on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.
21:22They needed to reach Trenton on the New Jersey side,
21:26which was then in the grip of German mercenaries working for the British.
21:31Washington's army attempted to cross the river here, but there was no bridge at the time.
21:37Today, crossing the Delaware is a breeze,
21:40even if you decide to skip the bridge and just float from bank to bank.
21:46But on that winter night, this quiet river was clogged with ice.
21:50A freezing gale blew its surface into choppy waves,
21:54and local ferries began slowly crisscrossing the river, carrying men and supplies.
21:59The troops feared they could be knocked overboard or dragged under the ice at any time,
22:04but they all finally made it and stepped out of their boats onto the New Jersey shore.
22:11It's believed that Washington gathered his officers at this nearby house owned by the ferry operator
22:17so they could plan their strike on Trenton.
22:21In the freezing pre-dawn hours of December 26th, after staying up all night,
22:26Washington and his troops marched to Trenton
22:29in order to surprise the German mercenaries who still had control of the city.
22:34Legend has it that they were still in their bunks in these barracks,
22:38recovering from their Christmas revelries the night before, when the Americans came knocking.
22:43By the time the battle ended, the Revolutionary Army had captured 900 of the mercenaries.
22:49All of Washington's men survived.
22:53To celebrate the victory of the now famous Battle of Trenton,
22:56a monument stands on the hill where Washington placed his artillery.
23:01Architect John Duncan designed its granite base and 150-foot-high Doric Column.
23:07Sculptor William O'Donovan created the bronze statue of Washington on its peak.
23:13He is shown directing the troops to fire in a battle that is now considered an early turning point in the war.
23:20But while Washington was the most celebrated hero of America's Revolutionary War,
23:25there were many others, and one of the most legendary was a woman
23:29who earned her fame just 25 miles northeast of Trenton,
23:33on these fields in the New Jersey county of Monmouth in 1778.
23:39At the time, British General Henry Clinton and 10,000 regulars in the British Army
23:44were staging a retreat from Philadelphia to New York.
23:47So, 5,000 American Revolutionary soldiers arrived here to try and cut them off.
23:53On June 28th, a bloody battle followed, with hundreds of casualties on both sides.
23:59That night, Clinton and his forces snuck away in the cover of darkness,
24:03leading both sides to claim victory.
24:06But the day will always be best remembered for the legendary actions of an ordinary farm wife.
24:12She's said to have braved the battle's front lines to bring pitchers of water to the thirsty rebel fighters,
24:18which earned her the nickname, Molly Pitcher.
24:22And when her own husband perished on the battlefield, she joined in and helped fire the cannons.
24:29Her story is highlighted in a new visitor's center on the site.
24:34No one actually knows Molly Pitcher's real name, or whether she was even a real person,
24:39but she remains an American hero to this day,
24:42embodying the daring contributions that women made to America's Revolutionary War.
24:47By 1783, the war was over.
24:50And just four years later, on December 18th, 1787,
24:54New Jersey became the third of the former 13 colonies to ratify America's new Constitution.
25:02And soon, a new Capitol building was rising here in Trenton, on the banks of the Delaware,
25:07and opened its doors in 1792.
25:10It gives New Jersey bragging rights to what is today the second-oldest seat of government in the U.S.
25:16Much of the building was actually rebuilt after an 1885 fire.
25:20Architect Lewis Broome oversaw the reconstruction.
25:24He also designed the gilded dome that's been the Capitol's shining centerpiece since it was completed in 1912.
25:31When its shine began to fade in the 1990s, kids in New Jersey joined in.
25:36When its shine began to fade in the 1990s, kids in New Jersey chipped in with a Dimes for the Dome campaign
25:42that helped raise funds for the 48,000 squares of gold leaf needed to bring it back.
25:50Today, New Jersey Statehouse shimmers again.
25:54But its glow here in Trenton is nothing compared to this nightly spectacle.
26:00In a colorful city with an even more colorful past.
26:13When the sun goes down over Atlantic City, its casinos come alive.
26:21As another night of gambling and glitz gets underway.
26:25The epicenter of the action is here, along the city's famous boardwalk.
26:30Caesars and Bally's were the first to arrive here in 1979.
26:35The Tropicana showed up in 1981, followed by Trump Plaza, starting in 1984.
26:43A new casino resort called Revel opened in 2012.
26:47Every night, the rival towers pull out all the stops to grab the attention and the cash of the tourists down below.
27:01But recently, despite the bright lights, things here aren't as rosy as they might seem.
27:07Casino owners pulled in nearly $3 billion in revenue in 2013, but that was the lowest number in 25 years.
27:14Revel, which cost almost $2.5 billion to build, went bankrupt within a year after it opened.
27:22Trump Plaza, which was built for about $210 million in 1984, almost sold for just $20 million.
27:31But for some, that's not really much of a surprise.
27:35Making a go of it in Atlantic City has been tough from the very start.
27:40In the 1850s, a doctor named Jonathan Pitney and a civil engineer named Richard Osborne dreamed of building a resort here,
27:49on what was then a wild strip of sand called Absecon Island.
27:53But its remote location made their vision a hard sell.
27:57So, they convinced New Jersey authorities to approve a charter to build a railroad from the mainland.
28:02When the first train arrived in 1854, Atlantic City's first boom began.
28:08New streets were laid out for the town.
28:11Those that ran parallel to the shore were given the names of seas around the world,
28:16including the Baltic, Mediterranean, and Adriatic.
28:20They soon became well-known far beyond Atlantic City,
28:24and were called the Great Lakes.
28:27Darrow named the most valuable property in his game after Atlantic City's trademark feature, the boardwalk.
28:34This boardwalk was the first of its kind in the United States.
28:38It was originally built in 1870 to keep sand from blowing into the new hotels.
28:44But in the early 1900s, the boardwalk became a popular tourist attraction.
28:48It was the first of its kind in the United States.
28:51It was originally built in 1870 to keep sand from blowing into the new hotels.
28:57In the beginning, the wooden planks were packed up and stored away every winter.
29:02But then the boardwalk itself became a destination.
29:06And by the early 20th century, it was the heart of Atlantic City's Golden Age.
29:11Families came from up and down the eastern seaboard to enjoy the boardwalk's thrills and attractions.
29:16Eat hot dogs and cotton candy.
29:19Or relax on the beaches it lined.
29:25The city's leaders insisted it was all perfectly wholesome.
29:29But there was much more to Atlantic City than its family-friendly facade.
29:34It was also a major hub of organized crime.
29:40For over 30 years, starting in the 1910s,
29:43this city was ruled from the ninth floor of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel
29:47by an all-powerful politician and mob boss named Nucky Johnson.
29:52From his luxurious full-floor suite,
29:55Johnson kept a close watch on everything that happened in Atlantic City.
29:59And is said to have taken a cut on nearly every deal that went down.
30:03Just like actor Steve Buscemi does in his role as Nucky Thompson on HBO's series Boardwalk Empire,
30:09which was inspired by Nucky Johnson.
30:12But in the years before World War II, Nucky's empire was for real.
30:17As one of his contemporaries later recalled,
30:20he ran everything there was to run.
30:24Even in prohibition days, Nucky's bootleggers had the run of the harbor.
30:29Brazen rum runners delivered their illegal booze
30:33directly into boat garages like the ones under these homes in Gardner's Basin Marina.
30:37Legend has it that Nucky's men clambered up inside Atlantic City's larger-than-life-size Lucy the Elephant
30:45and signaled to contraband-laden ships offshore with lights hidden in Lucy's eyes.
30:51Today, Lucy still looks out over the Atlantic, but the bootleggers are gone.
30:57Nucky's days as the city's big shot came to an end when the feds nabbed him for tax evasion in 1941.
31:05In the years after World War II, Atlantic City slipped into a long decline.
31:12Then, in 1976, a new law legalizing casinos aimed to bring the city's good times back.
31:19For a while, it seemed to work.
31:22Developers vied to build casinos here.
31:24Revenue in the resorts climbed year after year.
31:27But in the 1990s, things started to change.
31:30More states legalized gambling, and the recent economic recession has hit the city hard.
31:36Many casinos have threatened to close.
31:39But for many in New Jersey, the booms and busts of Atlantic City seem like they belong to another world.
31:46Especially for those on New Jersey's farms, where the riches of the annual harvest seem to never end.
31:59Every morning, about 400,000 New Jersey residents step out of their homes in neighborhoods like this one in Hoboken,
32:07and begin their morning commute to Manhattan.
32:11Many head for the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels, hoping to survive the morning crush under the Hudson River.
32:18But commuters who use the Holland Tunnel today owe their very survival to some pretty important engineering
32:25that rises up out of the water above them.
32:27On both the New York and New Jersey sides of the river.
32:31When it was commissioned, the Holland Tunnel was set to be the longest and widest underwater tunnel for cars in the world.
32:40But in order for it to actually work, Chief Engineer Clifford Milburn Holland, for whom the tunnel is named, first had to solve a major problem.
32:49He needed to find a way for drivers to get through the tunnels without becoming asphyxiated by exhaust.
32:56A member of his team, a Norwegian engineer named Ole Singstad, designed four giant ventilation shafts,
33:03armed with powerful fans, to suck the toxic air out of the tunnel.
33:09In order to do it, two of the towers had to be built right in the middle of the Hudson River.
33:15Today, they are architectural landmarks, and are capable of replacing all the air inside the Holland Tunnel every 90 seconds.
33:25Many drivers don't even get a chance to see these beautifully designed industrial shafts.
33:30But those who commute to New York City and back on New Jersey's ferries can't miss them.
33:37Every morning and evening, these vessels whisk workers across the river.
33:42And when the sky is clear, offer their passengers a stunning view of the island of Manhattan.
33:49And the shimmering new towers on the New Jersey side that are helping this state compete with its often more celebrated neighbor.
33:59Most of these ferries take less than 20 minutes to make the crossing.
34:03But there is a place in New Jersey, far to the south, where thousands travel by ferry, but they're not in a mad dash to get to work.
34:12They do it just to enjoy the cool breezes and get away.
34:18Down off the state's southern border, time slows way down.
34:23For those aboard the Cape May-Lewis Ferry.
34:29It carries passengers and vehicles 17 miles from Lewis, Delaware to Cape May on New Jersey's southernmost tip.
34:38Cape May is actually an island separated from the rest of the state by a broad shipping canal.
34:44Once, whalers used this spot to launch their ships during colonial days.
34:49Later, it became a popular spot for vacationers and is now considered the oldest seaside resort in the United States.
35:01Just 3,600 people call this coastal town home during the winter months.
35:06But come summer, more than 40,000 people can flock to its beaches on the weekends to share the sun and sand with other flocks of migrating birds.
35:20To the west of Cape May, the New Jersey shoreline continues, right up into the mouth of the Delaware River.
35:28It's a land of marshes, fields, and farms.
35:31This is one of the most productive areas of farmland in the state and home of its most famous crop, the New Jersey tomato.
35:44Every year, more than 50 million pounds of this fruit is pulled off the vine.
35:51In some fields, machines do most of the heavy work and can harvest an entire field in just a few hours.
35:57Harvesters only work with special varieties of tomatoes that have tough skin.
36:03This bright red fruit is ripe and ready for processing.
36:08Their boosters claim that New Jersey tomatoes have a perfect combination of sweetness and acidity.
36:15It's a taste that launched one of America's most iconic brands, just to the north in Camden.
36:22In 1869, a fruit merchant named Joseph Campbell joined forces with an icebox maker named Abram Anderson to make preserves with tomatoes and other local fruits.
36:33Campbell later bought out his partner.
36:36And in 1897, a chemist working for the company found a way to make soup without having to ship water in its cans.
36:44His new condensed soup was a revolutionary product for consumers across the nation.
36:48Campbell's tomato soup was born.
36:52The company has gone on to be one of the largest food makers in the world, with an annual revenue today of more than $8 billion.
37:00Its signature red and white label has been on its cans for over 100 years and was also turned into pricey art
37:07when pop artist Andy Warhol made his famous screen paintings of Campbell's soup cans, which now sell for millions.
37:13Campbell's helped put the Jersey tomato on the map.
37:17And so did one tragic event in 1937, when the world learned of the fiery fate of a legendary airship called the Hindenburg.
37:31On May 6, 1937, the largest aircraft in the world flew over Manhattan.
37:37On May 6, 1937, the largest aircraft in the world flew over Manhattan and paused to give its passengers a glimpse of the city from the air.
37:49They were traveling in what was then the Titanic of its day, a giant hydrogen-filled airship called the Hindenburg.
37:58Their two-day flight from Germany was just about over and was scheduled to land nearby, here at Lakers, New Jersey.
38:07At 7 p.m., the airship's pilot, Captain Max Pruss, finally approached the landing site.
38:14He edged the airship toward Hangar No. 1, where the Hindenburg was stored between its flights to and from Europe and Brazil.
38:22But as it got closer, the crew noticed the airship's tail was dragging.
38:28They tried to correct it, but were unsuccessful.
38:31Then, at about 7.25 p.m., flames started shooting from the tail of the Hindenburg.
38:38The nose of the airship pointed skyward. Within 30 seconds, it had plummeted to the ground, engulfed by a raging inferno.
38:46One minute later, there was almost nothing left of the German aircraft but a rigid skeleton of steel.
38:53Of the 97 passengers on board, 62 miraculously survived, many by jumping out of windows as the airship fell.
39:08A simple monument at Lakehurst marks the site of the Hindenburg disaster.
39:14What caused the fire that brought it down remains a mystery.
39:18These days, when many think of New Jersey, they're reminded of a much more recent tragedy that happened here, on the Jersey Shore in 2012,
39:28when Superstorm Sandy raged up the eastern seaboard and turned entire towns into tinder.
39:49New Jersey may have played key roles in America's Revolutionary War and its Industrial Revolution,
39:56but in more recent times, the state has been better known for this.
40:01130 miles of stunning Atlantic coastline, it stretches from Sandy Hook in the north to Cape May at New Jersey's southern tip.
40:12It was here in Seaside Heights that the Jersey Shore became a household name around the world,
40:18thanks to MTV's highest-rated reality series about eight housemates living in this seaside town.
40:27But while many of those stars earned millions and then traveled the world,
40:32the real members of this community and others up and down the coast had their own lives upended and their homes destroyed.
40:38On October 29th, 2012, when Megastorm Sandy came ashore in New Jersey and raced up the coast.
40:48One of the hardest-hit towns was this one, Manteloking, which lies on a barrier island north of Seaside Heights.
40:58By October 27th, the eye of Hurricane Sandy was off the Florida coast.
41:02At the time, Sandy was actually slowing down and turning into a much less powerful tropical storm.
41:11State officials in New Jersey offered residents of Manteloking the option to evacuate their homes.
41:17But then, the storm suddenly turned north and began picking up speed, quickly becoming a Category 1 hurricane.
41:25As it raced toward New Jersey, Governor Chris Christie declared a state of emergency
41:30and ordered a mandatory evacuation of Manteloking and other communities on this fragile coast.
41:36Everyone had to be out of town by 4 p.m.
41:40And those who left were soon happy they had.
41:43The next day, the devastation began.
41:46Close to 8 p.m. on October 29th, Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey.
41:51Close to 8 p.m. on October 29th, Superstorm Sandy made landfall just north of Atlantic City at Brigantine
41:59and then started battering towns like Seaside Heights and Manteloking as it raged north.
42:06The storm's 80-mile-per-hour winds destroyed or damaged every single one of Manteloking's 521 houses.
42:14A once-thriving small New Jersey community was literally torn to shreds.
42:2034 people in the state died from the storm, and millions were left without power.
42:26Sandy would be the worst storm system to hit the northeastern United States in 100 years.
42:35But today, almost one year later, Manteloking and many other coastal New Jersey towns are rebounding.
42:42Residents are finally rebuilding their homes.
42:45And the rule now is that those who do have to build higher or pay more.
42:52Insurance companies aren't taking any chances,
42:55which is why homeowners who put their houses on stilts above future floodwaters
43:00will pay less insurance than those who want to step right out onto the beach.
43:04Down in Seaside Heights, New Jersey's most famous pier is being rebuilt,
43:09and some rides are open again.
43:12And its iconic boardwalk is getting new boards.
43:18But some people here haven't been able to rebuild at all.
43:22Their houses have been condemned and lie in ruins,
43:26just as they did after Sandy's terrifying winds finally died down.
43:30They offer reminders of just how vulnerable these communities are to rising sea levels,
43:35and our planet's new, more powerful megastorms.
43:40Meanwhile, men, women, and machines are hard at work all along the Jersey Shore.
43:46They're pumping sand onto the state's beaches
43:49in an effort to help protect the communities that live here
43:52as ocean levels rise and the threats of new storms persist into the future.
44:01To help these communities bounce back from Hurricane Sandy,
44:04New Jersey's local hero, Bruce Springsteen, helped raise more than $23 million.
44:10A perfect role for a star who's known as The Boss.
44:16Springsteen grew up not far from the coast, here in this small White House in Freehold.
44:22There's a good reason he wanted to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
44:27Many of his earliest fans lived right here on the Jersey Shore.
44:30That's because since 1974, Springsteen has regularly performed in the coastal town of Asbury Park
44:37at this famous corner club called The Stone Pony.
44:42He's played here more than a hundred times,
44:45and almost never advertises when he's going to show up,
44:48which only endears him more to the locals.
44:52New Jersey, it's a state that prides itself on its local heroes
44:56and knows how to celebrate its hidden treasures,
45:00like its quiet, misty valleys, fields of plenty,
45:04and miles of sunlit shore that manage to dazzle just about everyone
45:09who's ever set eyes on this Atlantic coast state.
45:12It's a place of great natural riches
45:15and an innovative spirit that's managed to transform the nation and the world.
45:56For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org