NJ Park Directors Thank Pokemon Go for Visitor Increase

Pokemon Go may be getting on your nerves, but there's one group of people who are happy about it: New Jersey's park directors.

The people who maintain and promote historic parks in New Jersey are reporting a sharp increase in visitors with the popularity of Pokemon Go.

For example, in one weekend alone, East Jersey Old Town Village in Piscataway saw about a hundred more visitors than usual as gamers stopped there to find Pokemon, according to Noreen Bodman, executive director of Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area.

Here are other historic parks in New Jersey that are listed as Pokemon Go destinations, known as "pokestops." All these parks are drawing higher-than-usual crowds thanks to the game:

• The Old Barracks Museum, Trenton
• Washington Crossing State Park, Titusville
• The Jacobus Vanderveer House, Bedminster
• East Jersey Old Town Village, Piscataway
• The Van Riper-Hopper House, Wayne
• Morristown Green, Morristown

And quaint Lambertville has apparently been inundated with gamers, as it's been designated a Pokemon Go gym hot spot, where players can go to battle for special badges.

"People are showing up to capture Pokemon or find Pokestops and end up exploring stories of their Revolutionary neighbors and the beginning of our democracy," said Bodman.

Photo: The historic Johnson Ferry House in Washington Crossing State Park, NJ/Wikimedia Commons