Backroads, New Jersey: Driving at the Speed of Life - Softcover

Di Ionno, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813531330 ISBN 13: 9780813531335

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Mark Di Ionno is a Jersey guy through and through. He’s lived in fifteen different towns in six different New Jersey counties. He’s been a journalist for the state’s top newspapers, currently the Star-Ledger, where his first job was to go out and write about things that were “interesting.” Who better to take readers on a personal tour of the backroads of New Jersey?

In Backroads, New Jersey, Di Ionno leads readers off the congested interstates with their commonplace scenery to the seldom-explored secondary roads, where the real life of the state can be found. These inter-county or 500 series roads are a 6,788-mile network of mostly one-lane highways. Marked by blue-and-yellow five-sided shields bearing county names, they make up more than 20 percent of New Jersey’s public roads. They are never the fastest or most direct way to get anywhere, but when you break out of the towns and hit the country, they are a pleasure to drive.

Travel with Di Ionno as he takes readers to see the state’s amazing beauty¾from the dizzying cliffs of the Palisades, to the blunted peaks of the Highlands and Kittatinny Ridges, to the rolling hills of Morris, Hunterdon, and Somerset counties, to the topsoil-wealthy agricultural belts of Monmouth and the southern counties, to the flat, sandy beaches of the 127-mile Jersey Shore. Travel with him as he shows us the homes of New Jersey’s culturally diverse population, whose men and women work at everything from farms to pharmacies, from banks to auto assembly lines. And travel with him as he recounts the history made along the back country roads in towns like Rocky Hill, where George Washington wrote his farewell orders. Di Ionno calls New Jersey “a place of infinite natural beauty, a place of intricate human patterns. A place where you can see a lot in a little time. This is, simply put, the overriding theme of this book. New Jersey is a restless state for restless people. A state for wanderers to explore.” Backroads, New Jersey is a rare chance to see it all through the eyes of a well-traveled Jerseyan. Happy wandering!

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Mark Di Ionno is a Jersey guy through and through. He's lived in fifteen different towns in six different New Jersey counties. He has spent over twenty years covering the state as a reporter and editor. Who better to take readers on a very personal tour of the backroads of New Jersey?

In Backroads, New Jersey, Di Ionno leads readers off the congested interstates to the seldom-explored secondary roads, where the real life of the state can be found. These intercounty or 500 series roads are a 6,788-mile network of mostly one-lane highways. They are never the most direct way to get anywhere-but they are a pleasure to drive and a way to see New Jersey life as lived by New Jerseyans.

Travel with Di Ionno as he takes us to see the state's amazing beauty-from the dizzying cliffs of the Palisades, to the blunted peaks of the Highlands and Kittatinny Ridges, to the rolling hills of Morris, Hunterdon, and Somerset counties, to the topsoil-wealthy agricultural belts of Monmouth and the southern counties, to the flat, sandy beaches of the Jersey Shore. Di Ionno calls New Jersey "a place of infinite natural beauty, a place of intricate human patterns. A place where you can see a lot in a little time. New Jersey is a restless state for restless people. A state for wanderers to explore." Backroads, New Jersey is a rare chance to see it all through the eyes and experiences of a well-traveled Jerseyan.

About the Author:

Mark Di Ionno is a senior editor at the state's top newspaper, the Star-Ledger. Two of his books published with Rutgers University Press-New Jersey's Coastal Heritage: A Guide and A Guide to New Jersey's Revolutionary War Trail-won the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Award.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0813531330
• ISBN 13: 9780813531335
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160