By state · NJ

National Parks in New Jersey.

New Jersey's NPS network at a glance — units, designations, visit totals, and what shapes the visiting season.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

New Jersey has more than five NPS units, anchored by the Statue of Liberty National Monument (jointly with New York, ferry-only via Battery Park or Liberty State Park) and Morristown National Historical Park (the Continental Army's 1779-1780 winter encampment headquarters). Other units include Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, Gateway National Recreation Area (jointly with NY at Sandy Hook, Jamaica Bay, and Staten Island), the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (jointly with Pennsylvania), and segments of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Newark Liberty (EWR) and Trenton-Mercer (TTN) anchor the central state; Philadelphia (PHL, Pennsylvania) is closer to the southern Delaware Water Gap entries. The Statue of Liberty is the year's busiest unit and requires advance ferry reservations through Statue Cruises — verify on the official NPS Statue of Liberty page for current schedules.

Every NPS unit in New Jersey.

New Jersey's 11 NPS units: 3 National Historical Parks · 2 National Recreation Areas · 1 National Scenic Trail · 1 Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument · 1 Other · 1 National Wild and Scenic River · 1 National Reserve · 1 National Historic Trail. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 19,555,721 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch — see methodology). The most-visited unit is Gateway National Recreation Area at about 8.62M annual visits.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Gateway National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaGATE 8,624,080 July
Appalachian National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailAPPA 6,215,118 July
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area National Recreation AreaDEWA 4,199,028 July
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park National Historical ParkPAGR 248,228 July
Morristown National Historical Park National Historical ParkMORR 241,710 April
Thomas Edison National Historical Park National Historical ParkEDIS 27,557 June
Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument Part of Statue of Liberty National MonumentELIS
Great Egg Harbor River GREG
Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River National Wild and Scenic RiverLODE
New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve National ReservePINE
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail National Historic TrailWARO

Methodology

Unit list and per-unit visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025. The "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state NPS units (Yellowstone, Death Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and others) are listed under every state they touch; the per-unit visit count is the unit's total, not a per-state share. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-05-19