Screen Shot 2015-06-11 at 3.04.17 PM.png

About 329 years ago, a man named George Keith took a long walk and defined New Jersey's history forever.

It wasn't his intention, but a 70-mile path he carved in 1686 has stood as one of the most significant geographical and, arguably, cultural boundaries in the Garden State's history.

Keith, a Scottish missionary and surveyor, was trying to define the long-disputed boundaries of two British provinces -- East and West Jersey -- which stood as the previous incarnations of the state's land before the Declaration of Independence was signed nearly a century later.

While the argument over what constitutes North, Central or South Jersey has raged in offices, bars and homes for years, the boundaries of East and West Jersey are not only more rooted in history, but experts say provide a more apt comparison of the distinctly different cultures that exist in the Garden State.

But back to Keith. All he had hoped to do was to settle a border squabble.

After being made Surveyor General of East Jersey in 1685, Keith sought to complete the first surveyed boundary between the two provinces, which had been in dispute.

Keith carved a line from what is now Little Egg Harbor in Ocean County to the south branch of the Raritan River in Warren County. He would have gone farther, but by that point, many had started to claim that Keith was woefully off-course.

Keith's endeavor, more or less, had been a failure (the line was replaced by what came to be known as the Lawrence Line in the 1700s). But despite this, the line he cut through the heart of what is now New Jersey still stands today.

"The fact is, (The Keith Line) wasn't surveyed again for another 60 years," said Robert Barnett, a Quaker who researches South Jersey history at his website WestJersey.org. "By then all of the municipal boundaries had been set."

Looking at a municipal boundary map of New Jersey, this is clear. What came to be known as the Keith Line still holds as a pencil straight municipal and county boundary from Southern Ocean and Burlington counties up to Warren.

(Story continues below map)



But many suggest the line he cut holds a larger significance. Few from New Jersey would suggest there is a single cultural identity shared among its residents. Language, sports allegiances, metropolitan area identification and even the proper name for a much beloved deli-meat all change if one travels from one part of the state to the other.

"Everybody seems to agree that there's no common identity," said William Bolger, a National Parks Service employee who walked the line last fall. "Even in Texas, which is a large and varied state, you still have this idea of 'well we're all Texans.' But in New Jersey, this idea doesn't hold true. You ask people and the response you get is 'well no, we're all individuals.'"

The Keith Line did separate two distinct populations that resided on either side of the border in the late 1600s. West Jersey was primarily populated by Quakers while the East was primarily made up of Calvanists or Reformed Christians, Bolger said.

Some of those distinctions still persist today. A stroll through a historic cemetery in Camden County is an entirely different experience than one in Essex County. Quakers believe that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and their burial grounds are simple and uniform as a result, a sharp contrast between the ornate monuments more common in cemeteries in the northeastern part of the state.

"What survives certainly is the historic landscape," said Richard Veit, a professor of anthropology at Monmouth University. "What you see today really speaks to a different religious experience each side had."

Steve Chernoski, a teacher whose film "New Jersey: The Movie" explored the cultural differences between East and West New Jersey, said you can still see hints of the original settlers of the two regions today.

"I think there's definitely an East Jersey vs. West Jersey pace of life," he said. "West Jersey is more blue-collar, simple, taking from Quaker values. You don't need to walk as fast. East Jersey is wealthier, more fast-paced, more geared to that New York City type of lifestyle."

Census data show the two sides the Keith Line divides are still starkly different in many ways. Taxes, income and home values are all markedly higher in the East, while the west has about a third of the population and is more widely characterized by sparsely populated rural or suburban communities.

And the list of colloquial differences separated by the Keith Line is nearly endless.

Research has shown the boundaries of Phillies vs. Mets/Yankees, Eagles vs. Jets/Giants, hoagie vs. sub, water ice vs. Italian ice and pork roll vs. Taylor Ham all fall along or close to the Keith Line.

Explore New Jersey's various language differences.

Need more proof? Area codes originally used the Keith Line. Television markets roughly use the same line. Take a drive down the New Jersey Turnpike with the radio on and listen to what happens when you reach Exit 7a, the approximate location of the Keith Line crossing the thoroughfare.



"Exit 7a, funnily enough, is where Philadelphia radio fades out and New York fades in," Bolger said.

Bolger says the Keith Line's persistence is in part due to the fact that it cuts across such a wide and varied swath of the state.

"While people talk about the line, they don't have a lot to say about what seems to me to be a remarkable achievement in the 1680s ... You're cutting through all of those different parts of New Jersey," Bolger said. "There's a map he drew. The only thing he was really noting on it were cedar swamps, because that was the profitable good of the day, but there's not much other than that ... But it's remarkable how well it still works as a boundary today."