Heritage tourism NJ's hidden gem #8212 and one of its least-promoted assets.

Byline: Daniel J. Munoz

Picture this family vacation in New Jersey:

You go on one of the New Jersey Revolutionary War Trail's "sample tours," as spelled out by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forest, and take the Central Jersey route called Ten Crucial Days.Picture this family vacation in New Jersey:

You go on one of the New Jersey Revolutionary War Trail's "sample tours," as spelled out by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forest, and take the Central Jersey route called Ten Crucial Days.

The route is named after a particular episode during the Revolutionary War 10 actual days between December 1776 and January 1777 during which George Washington famously crossed the icy Delaware River with 2,400 troops in tow to take control of Trenton from a garrison of 1,400 Hessian soldiers.

The route snakes through Mercer County to the Washington Crossing State Park in Hopewell, where Washington and his troops landed before making the 9-mile march north to Trenton.

It takes you to the Old Barracks in Trenton, overshadowed by the statehouse and the last of five barracks which housed troops in the mid-18th century. Then it's up north to the Princeton Battlefield State Park, where an American victory at the Battle of Princeton helped take New Jersey from British control.

At Princeton, you might visit the art and history museums, take a stroll at the nearby Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail, walk around the Princeton University campus, window shop and eat out. Or you can grab a snack along the route from Hopewell to Trenton and Princeton.

All this and more make up the heritage tourism industry, and proponents argue it's one of New Jersey's least-promoted assets.

"Historic tourism brings a lot of money," said Maxine Luers, chair of the New Jersey Historical Commission and a professor emeritus at Seton Hall University. "It brings people, they stay longer, they stay obviously in hotels and other places, they go out to eat, they go to gift shops, they go to stores."New Jersey has the potential to bring in a steady stream of tourism dollars from the heritage industry, Luers said. Just look at nearby states as examples. Pennsylvania heavily markets its role in the American Revolution, while Virginia is known for its history sites from the Civil War.

A 2013 study by consultancy Tourism Economics commissioned by the New Jersey Historic Trust reported that in 2012, 11 million tourists visited New Jersey for its historic sites and spent over $2.8 billion...