Millions of vacationers flock to New Jersey each year but focus their attention to a large degree on a well-defined and fairly small part of the state, its 127-mile beach-lined Atlantic seaboard. The 50-plus resort cities and towns on the stretch include Atlantic City, Cape May and Ocean City, and certainly the area is not to be sneezed at. But, beyond that, most potential visitors tend to think of New Jersey as an extension of two major metropolitan areas, New York City and Philadelphia.

But there is more. New Jersey was one of the original 13 colonies and the setting for a surprising amount of Revolutionary War action. The Morristown National Historic Park was the main encampment of the American Continental Army and headquarters of its commander-in-chief, Gen. George Washington. Combine that with visits to a selection of the battlefields, perhaps in time for one or more historical reenactments, and you have an itinerary built around a very American piece of history.

It is a state with much natural beauty and not just at the shore. It is called the Garden State because of its many flower gardens, orchards and truck farms, and the Pinelands National Reserve encompasses nearly a quarter of the state including 56 communities and more than 700,000 permanent residents. The state is home to two old and revered universities, Princeton and Rutgers, and three of the world’s greatest scientists and inventors worked for many years in the state: Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Samuel F.B. Morse. With all that, the most popular place seems to be Atlantic City where gambling meets a busy boardwalk and the seashore. Other areas along the Jersey Shore draw positives for their relaxed atmosphere, nice beaches and boardwalks, and good restaurants.

Who goes there? Many visitors are from New York and Pennsylvania. It’s not unusual for couples or families to rent homes for the entire summer season on the Jersey Shore or to own a summer home there. These people may not count their shore time as a vacation trip. When do they go? Summertime is Jersey Shore time. Atlantic City gets a year-round crowd.

Enter the mud bogging competition (in your own 4WD) at the Warren County Farmer’s Fair. Take to the skies, too, in a hot-air balloon.

Swim with sharks and stingrays, train and feed seals or scuba dive with the fish as part of the Aquarium Adventures program at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden.

Go to court to see a reenactment of the trial of Bruno Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh. Famous Trials Theater presents "Lindbergh and Hauptmann: The Trial of The Century" each autumn in the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington, the setting of the real 1935 trial. The theater company is expanding its brief with new productions based on true or fictional court cases.

Bike or hike the 70-mile towpath along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

Go scuba diving to explore one of more than 2,000 shipwrecks off the New Jersey coast.

Ride El Toro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson. It has the steepest vertical drop (76 degrees) of any wooden roller coaster in the world. But, don’t overlook the 456-foot Kingda Ka coaster.

Sample the local goods at more than a dozen brewpubs and microbreweries. See www.njbeer.org. Choose the Gaslight Brewery & Restaurant in South Orange on the night of its annual tribute to poet Robert Burns, and eat haggis.

Attend horse shows, or go to the races at Meadowlands Racetrack or Monmouth Park.

Make a wheel of cheese as part of a cheese making class at the Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley.

Try your skills at blowing a vase out of glass or shaping hot molten glass into a paperweight that is you. Do this at the Glass Studio in Millville.

Go surfing, or maybe sailing, at Ocean City. Also, take a ghost tour, which is a candlelight walking tour in the historic town center.

Solve a murder mystery when you attend a Sherlock Holmes Weekend in Cape May.

See the June reenactment of the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth at Monmouth Battlefield State Park, Manalapan. Hike the battlefield.

Go canoeing and camping, or hiking and fishing, or bird-watching, in the Pinelands National Reserve.

Be cool at the Cape May Jazz Festival or the Jazz & Blues Festival in Red Bank. Or, attend the Bridgeton Folk Festival if that is more your style.

Sail on the A.J. Meerwald, New Jersey’s official tall ship, in Bivalve. Or, take an ecocruise by pontoon on the Hackensack River.

Tour Glenmont in West Orange, home of Thomas Edison, and participate in any of several interpretive programs.

Visit the Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park in Jersey City.

On Christmas Day, see the reenactment of George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware in 1776. Stay on for Trenton’s Patriots’ Week, full of other reenactments and events connected with the Revolution including the two Trenton battles. Alternatively, there are several other Revolutionary War reenactment events in the state through the year.

Go to Atlantic City to gamble if that’s your thing. But walk the famous boardwalk, then shop and dine in the stylish establishments at the Pier at Caesars.

See a reenactment of the famous gunfight at OK Corral, or see one of 21 other Wild West shows at Wild West City, a western heritage theme park in Netcong. Sure, it’s New Jersey, but you also can attend the Cowtown Rodeo near Woodstown on Saturday night.

Be entertained, and even educated, by costumed interpreters at Historic Cold Spring Village, an Early American open-air living history museum in Cape May.

Attend the Sussex Pow Wow in Branchville in July.

Explore the Old Barracks in Trenton which at different times during the American Revolution housed Continental, British and Hessian soldiers.

For more information, consult New Jersey Tourism at www.visitnj.org

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