Abraham Browning of Camden [is credited] with coining the name at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia on New Jersey Day, August 24, 1876...."Mr. Browning compared New Jersey to an immense barrel, filled with good things to eat and open at both ends, with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and the New Yorkers from the other. He called New Jersey the Garden State, and the name has clung to it ever since."
--nj.us