Raritan River in the context of "Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey"

Lower New York Bay is a section of New York Bay south of the Narrows (the strait between Staten Island and Brooklyn). The eastern end of the Bay is marked by two spits of land, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Rockaway, Queens. The waterway between the spits connects the Bay to the Atlantic Ocean at the New York Bight. Traversing the floor of the Bay southeasterly from the Narrows to the Bight and beyond is Hudson Canyon.

Roughly the northeastern portion of the Bay from the Narrows to Sandy Hook is known as the Lower Bay (named in relation to the neighboring Upper New York Bay); roughly the western portion of the Bay (including the portion at the mouth of New Jersey's Raritan River) is called Raritan Bay; and roughly the southeastern portion of the Bay (that is, the portion south and the portion southwest from Sandy Hook) is known as Sandy Hook Bay.

The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. The two provinces were amalgamated in 1702. East Jersey's capital was located at Perth Amboy. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often a matter of dispute.

Between 1664 and 1674, most settlement was from other parts of the Americas, especially New England, Long Island, and the West Indies. Elizabethtown and Newark in particular had a strong Puritan character. South of the Raritan River the Monmouth Tract was developed primarily by Quakers from Long Island. In 1675, East Jersey was partitioned into four counties for administrative purposes: Bergen County, Essex County, Middlesex County, and Monmouth County. There were seven established towns: Shrewsbury, Middleton, Piscataway, Woodbridge, Elizabethtown, Newark, and Bergen. In a survey taken in 1684, the population was estimated to be 3,500 individuals in about 700 families (African slaves were not included).

New York Bay is the large tidal body of water in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary where the Hudson River, Raritan River, and Arthur Kill empty into the Atlantic Ocean between Sandy Hook and Rockaway Point.

Middlesex County is a county located in the north-central part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, extending inland from the Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was the state's third-most populous county with a population of 863,162, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 53,304 (+6.6%) from the 2010 census count of 809,858, which in turn reflected an increase of 59,696 (8.0%) from the 750,162 counted in the 2000 census. Middlesex is part of the New York metropolitan area. Many communities within the county serve as commuter towns to and from New York City and other points north. The county is part of the Central Jersey region of the state.

The county is located in the middle of the Northeast megalopolis of the U.S. Its county seat is the city of New Brunswick, a center for the sciences, arts, and cultural activities, and the headquarters of the state's flagship academic institution, Rutgers University. The county's most populous place, with 107,588 residents as of the 2020 census, is Edison, while Monroe Township covers the largest area of any municipality, at 42.19 square miles (109.3 km). Since the 2010 census, the state's center of population is in East Brunswick; the center of population for New Jersey has been in Middlesex County since the 1900 census. Middlesex County hosts an extensive transportation network, including several rail stations along the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor Line of the New Jersey Transit commuter rail system, as well as the intersection of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, the state's two busiest motor vehicle roadways, in Woodbridge Township. Middlesex County calls itself The Greatest County in the Land.

Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan Bayshore communities in the New Jersey counties of Middlesex and Monmouth, and on the east by Sandy Hook Bay. The bay is named after the Raritans, a branch of the Lenape tribe who lived in the vicinity of the bay and its river for thousands of years, prior to the arrival of Dutch and English colonists in the 17th century.

Manalapan Township (/məˈnæləpɪn/, mə-NAL-ə-pin) is a township in western Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley Region and is a part of the New York Metro Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 40,905, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 2,033 (+5.2%) from the 2010 census count of 38,872, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,449 (+16.3%) from the 33,423 counted in the 2000 census.

The name "Manalapan" is derived from a word in the Lenape language that would mean either "land of good bread", "good land to settle upon", "good bread" or "covered swamp with edible roots".

Holmdel is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located near Raritan Bay in the Raritan Valley region, the township is a regional commercial hub of Central Jersey, home to Bell Labs and PNC Bank Arts Center, and a bedroom community of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area.

As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 17,400, an increase of 627 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 16,773, which in turn reflected an increase of 992 (+6.3%) from the 15,781 counted in the 2000 census.

Middletown Township is a township in northern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the Jersey Shore's fourth most populous municipality and the 20th-most-populous statewide and the largest in the county, with a population of 67,106, an increase of 584 (+0.9%) from the 2010 census count of 66,522, which in turn reflected an increase of 195 residents (0.3%) from its population of 66,327 at the 2000 census, when it was the state's 17th-most-populous municipality.

Middletown is a bedroom community of New York City, located alongside of the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region in the New York metropolitan area. Due to its affluence, low crime, access to cultural activities, public school system, location at the Jersey Shore and Raritan Bayshore, and central commuting location, Middletown was ranked in 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2014 in the Top 100 in CNNMoney.com's Best Places to Live. Time magazine listed Middletown on its list of "Best Places to Live 2014".

Piscataway (English pronunciation: /pɪsˈkætəweɪ/ ) is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, the township was the eighth most populous municipality of any kind in Central Jersey with a population of 60,804, an increase of 4,760 (+8.5%) from the 2010 census count of 56,044, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,562 (+11.0%) from 50,482 at the 2000 census.

The name may be derived from the area's earliest European settlers who came from near the Piscataqua River, a landmark defining the coastal border between New Hampshire and Maine, whose name derives from peske (branch) and tegwe (tidal river), or alternatively from pisgeu (meaning "dark night") and awa ("place of") or from a Lenape language word meaning "great deer". The area was appropriated in 1666 by Quakers and Baptists who had left the Puritan colony in New Hampshire.