New Jersey is a northeastern U.S. state with some 130 miles of Atlantic coast. Jersey City, across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan, is the site of Liberty State Park, where ferries embark for nearby Ellis Island, with its historic Immigration Museum, and the iconic Statue of Liberty. The Jersey Shore includes notable resort towns like historic Asbury Park and Cape May, with its preserved Victorian buildings. Abbreviation: NJ Capital: Trenton Temperature: 87 degrees, mostly sunny Time: 2:00 PM Nickname:  Abraham Browning of Camden is given credit for giving New Jersey the nickname  the Garden State . According to Alfred Heston's 1926 two-volume book Jersey Waggon Jaunts, Browning called New Jersey the Garden State while speaking at the Philadelphia Centennial exhibition on New Jersey Day (August 24, 1876). Motto: Liberty and Prosperity The state motto of New Jersey is “ Liberty and Prosperity .” Like a number of other states, New Jersey's state motto was not offici...