TOMS RIVER, NJ – If you ask most people from Ocean or Monmouth County which part of New Jersey they live in, while some might say the Jersey Shore, when asked North or South Jersey, they would most likely tell you Central Jersey.
The Northern Jersey Shore is definitely not North Jersey and most who live here would argue against being called South Jersey.
That’s why when New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared Central Jersey as Mercer, Somerset, Hunterdon and Middlesex County as Central Jersey, many at the shore were confused about their omission.
That would be a problem for Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Tourism. Until now, their tourism regions never overlapped. For instance, Hunterdon County could be Central Jersey, but it should also remain in the Skylands tourism zone.
Monmouth and Ocean County can remain in the Jersey Shore zone, but still overlap with Central Jersey.
When Murphy cut those two counties out of Central Jersey, he definitely did his new “Central Jersey” zone a disservice to itself.
Maybe it’s time for Murphy and the Department of Tourism to realize some areas can definitely be in two different tourism zones, no matter how much it goes against ‘the way things are done’.
If Monmouth and Ocean County are not included in Central Jersey, does that officially make both counties part of South Jersey?