What Exit? The New Jersey History Podcast

What Exit? The New Jersey History Podcast
  • 4.8 (20)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

What Exit? is the original New Jersey history podcast that uniquely weaves original, author-written historical fiction directly into rigorous historical research, using narrative storytelling to explore battles, politics, industry, immigration, folklore, foodways, and the state’s many legends and hauntings. The show examines New Jersey’s past through the roads, conflicts, and choices that shaped it. As part of an eight-year partnership with Revolution NJ, the organization overseeing the United States’ 250th birthday in New Jersey, the podcast places special emphasis on New Jersey’s role as the crossroads of the American Revolution. Email us with questions, suggestions, and collaboration ideas: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com

  1. Italian American Roots — Episode 2: Macaroni Made Well: Sartori, Bonaparte & Jefferson

    FEB 12

    Italian American Roots — Episode 2: Macaroni Made Well: Sartori, Bonaparte & Jefferson

    This episode opens with a short fictional vignette set at the edge of order and wilderness, then turns to the historical record. At its center is Giovanni Battista Sartori, an Italian pasta maker operating a commercial works in Trenton in the early 1800s—supplying elite households, including Thomas Jefferson, navigating Atlantic trade during the Embargo Act, and remaining prominent when Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Naples, arrived in New Jersey in exile. Food becomes the through-line: a way to trace power, foreignness, faith, and continuity in a young state already plugged into global networks. The Jersey Devil appears not as a legend to be explained, but as a witness to a world in transition. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com #NewJerseyHistory #ItalianAmericanHistory #Foodways Selected Sources: United States House of Representatives. Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, 10th Cong., 2nd sess.November 25, 1808. Thomas Jefferson. Memorandum of Payments. November 29, 1809.Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.(Records payment to John B. Sartori of Trenton for two boxes of macaroni, 25 lbs each.) ———. Correspondence referencing supply from “Sartori’s works at Trenton.” 1809.Monticello, Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

    39 min
  2. Italian American Roots- Episode One: Before the Neighborhood

    FEB 9

    Italian American Roots- Episode One: Before the Neighborhood

    Before Italian neighborhoods, parishes, and pizza on the boardwalk, there was a quieter beginning. This episode explores the story of Giovanni Battista Sartori, widely regarded as the first Italian immigrant to settle in New Jersey around 1800. Arriving alone in Trenton, Sartori entered a place with no Italian community, no Catholic church, and no established space for what he brought with him. Through history and a brief fictional vignette, this episode examines how arrival shapes perception—how food, faith, and enterprise functioned as early infrastructure long before Italian American life became visible in neighborhoods across the state. It sets the lens for the series that follows. Email: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com #ItalianAmericanHistory #NewJerseyHistory #ImmigrationHistory #Foodways #RootsSeries Diocese of Trenton. History of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Trenton. Trenton, NJ: Diocese of Trenton, n.d. Jefferson, Thomas. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Julian P. Boyd et al. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950–. San Felese Society of New Jersey. “Early Italian Presence in Trenton.”

    24 min
  3. Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 7: Rito di Confine (Boundary Ritual)

    JAN 31

    Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 7: Rito di Confine (Boundary Ritual)

    This episode brings us into the Pines during Prohibition, when the Barrens are again sought to be used as a corridor. A visitor from Chicago works with a widow from North Jersey to contain the presence to stop it from growing and attracting unwanted visitors to the Pines. Eastern State Penitentiary, The Royal Pines Hotel, Lucy the Elephant, and bootleg booze all make an appearance. #folklore #prohibition #newjersey #pinebarrens #jerseydevil njhistorypodcast@gmail.com

    29 min
  4. New Jersey Foodways: Pork Roll vs. Taylor Ham

    JAN 29

    New Jersey Foodways: Pork Roll vs. Taylor Ham

    Is it pork roll or Taylor Ham—and why does anyone care this much? In this episode, we dig into New Jersey’s most stubborn breakfast argument, tracing the history of the product, the law behind its name, and the cultural muscle memory that keeps the fight alive. **The episode art features a "Fat Jovo," from Jovo's Deli in Brick, NJ. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com #PorkRoll #TaylorHam #NewJerseyHistory #FoodHistory #NJFoodCulture

    12 min
  5. Ya Sista's Ass: A Study in Emergency Language

    JAN 26

    Ya Sista's Ass: A Study in Emergency Language

    This episode explores how “ya sista’s ass” functions as a multipurpose interjection whose meaning depends entirely on tone, timing, and shared cultural understanding. We look at pronunciation, regional accent, in-group language, and why phrases like this rarely appear in dictionaries or archives—despite being used daily for generations. Drawing on family oral history, the episode traces the phrase’s likely mid-20th-century roots and examines how language is passed down not through books, but through kitchens, cars, and everyday life. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com #NewJerseyHistory #RegionalLanguage #OralHistory #NortheastCulture #LanguageAndMemory

    10 min
  6. New Jersey Foodways: The Diner

    JAN 25

    New Jersey Foodways: The Diner

    This is part of our ongoing "New Jersey Foodways" series, where we explore New Jersey's rich food culture. Many of the diners we think of as “local” were never built on site. In this episode, we explore New Jersey’s role as the center of prefabricated diner manufacturing, the companies that built them, and the Greek immigrant families who gave them permanence. From O’Mahony, Silk City, and Kullman diners to real, still-operating examples across New Jersey, this episode looks at diners not just as restaurants, but as manufactured buildings designed to move.

    38 min
  7. Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 6: The Devil Takes Flight

    JAN 18

    Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 6: The Devil Takes Flight

    For nearly a century, the American Republic quietly honored an obligation it never named. The office of the presidency changed hands repeatedly, from the generation that fought the Revolution through the age of internal fracture, yet the payments continued. Each envelope carried the same phrase: for services rendered. This episode follows the final years of a man in the New Jersey Pine Barrens who walked where the nation could not. As the country turned its attention to mass armies and open battlefields, the obligation ended not with debate, but with neglect. By the opening decades of the twentieth century, the presence in the Pines no longer frightened in the old way. It functioned. It kept outsiders hesitant and questions unanswered. When the nation began outlawing what it could no longer manage openly, there were already places where authority arrived late, if at all. The story had prepared the ground. The Jersey Devil was not created by panic. It endured because it was useful. ChatGPT was used to generate the show artwork- the research, writing, and recording are all original work. Email me: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com #JerseyDevil #NewJerseyHistory #PineBarrens #AmericanFolklore #ProhibitionEra #HauntedHistory Bibliography John McPhee, The Pine Barrens (1967) U.S. Presidential Papers, 1789–1865 (National Archives; Library of Congress) William Livingston Papers (New Jersey State Archives) Burlington Gazette (1870s) Atlantic County Pilot (1880s) Camden Post (1890s) Charles B. Skinner, Myths and Legends of Our Own Land (1896–1900) New Jersey and Pennsylvania Newspaper Archives (1909) Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society (early 20th century) New Jersey State Police Annual Reports (1910s–1920s) U.S. Treasury Department Reports (1919–1925) Nelson Johnson, Boardwalk Empire (2002)

    28 min
  8. Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 5: Van Mater

    JAN 15

    Before the Devil Had Wings Episode 5: Van Mater

    In 1779 New Jersey, a wounded young dragoon named William Van Mater is drawn into a hidden war in the Pine Barrens. As Loyalist raiders, Hessian deserters, and George Washington’s secret operatives converge, Van Mater becomes the unlikely handler of an unfinished supernatural force that history will one day call the Jersey Devil. Artwork: ChatGPT. Research, writing, and narration are my own. #JerseyDevil #NewJerseyHistory #PineBarrens #RevolutionaryWar #AmericanFolklore #HiddenHistory njhistorypodcast@gmail.com Bibliography Franklin, Benjamin. Poor Richard Improved. Philadelphia, 1733–1758.Livingston, William. The Papers of William Livingston, 1742–1790. Trenton: New Jersey Historical Commission.McPhee, John. The Pine Barrens. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967.Sabine, Lorenzo. Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution. Boston, 1864.Washington, George. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.

    52 min
See All (65)

Trailer

4.8
out of 5
20 Ratings

About

What Exit? is the original New Jersey history podcast that uniquely weaves original, author-written historical fiction directly into rigorous historical research, using narrative storytelling to explore battles, politics, industry, immigration, folklore, foodways, and the state’s many legends and hauntings. The show examines New Jersey’s past through the roads, conflicts, and choices that shaped it. As part of an eight-year partnership with Revolution NJ, the organization overseeing the United States’ 250th birthday in New Jersey, the podcast places special emphasis on New Jersey’s role as the crossroads of the American Revolution. Email us with questions, suggestions, and collaboration ideas: njhistorypodcast@gmail.com

Information

You Might Also Like