Retiring in the Garden State does have it perks.

According to the yearly report from Seniorly, Best of Senior Living Awards for 2025, New Jersey has the second best senior living facilities across the country and 19 award-winning facilities. The Garden State also has the top two best retirement communities in the Northeast.

The online marketplace for senior living communities analyzed data from 500,000 online reviews, across 60,000 facilities across six categories: cleanliness, dining services, staff ratings, value, care services and overall resident satisfaction. Only 336 facilities were chosen, according to the report.

To qualify for the award, communities must be in the top 5% of their consumer sentiment ratings, be free of serious licensing violations for the last 36 months and have no evidence of negative media coverage for the last 24 months.

New Jersey was recognized on three lists. Here are the findings:

Best Senior Living Facility

New Jersey’s Arbor Terrace Mount Laurel in Burlington Country lands in the No. 2 spot on the list. The facility offers Memory Care and cost for this community starts at $5,500.

“Arbor Terrace Mount Laurel offers a harmonious blend of expert care and vibrant community life, designed to enhance the well-being of its residents. With a focus on personalized care, the community provides an environment where residents can thrive, supported by a team that understands the importance of deep connections,” the website reads.

Best Senior Living Facility: Northeast Region

According to the report, New Jersey also has two of the best senior living facilities in the Northeast Region.

1. Arbor Terrace Mount Laurel in Mount Laurel
2. Brandywine Living Monarch at Livingston

Top states with award-winning facilities

These communities are vital to our senior living infrastructure and often provide high-quality care at exceptional value, said Seniorly.

• California
• Texas
• Florida
• Arizona
• Washington
• New Jersey
• Georgia
• New York
• Illinois
• Michigan

Public health programs funded by the federal government were ordered to shut down on Monday after the Trump Administration pulled back their subsidies.

The New Jersey Department of Health issued a stop work notice late yesterday.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a stop work order cancelling about $11 billion in grant agreements across the U.S.    All 21 counties receive funding under these grants, which go to county, municipal and regional health departments across New Jersey.

“The disruptive impacts created by the Trump Administration ripping away $350 million in congressionally-approved federal funding for the New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Department of Human Services endanger critical public health programs in communities across New Jersey,” said Tyler Jones, a spokesman for Gov. Phil Murphy.  “Our office shares our partners’ frustration over the unnecessary confusion and uncertainty for frontline public health work resulting from the Trump Administration’s actions.

No guidance has been sent to recipients, but it could mean a permanent end of some heath services and layoffs.

Linda Brown, the executive director of the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials, said on Friday she was confident that their Enhancing Local Public Health Infrastructure and Sustaining Local Public Health Infrastructure grants would be affected and that costs incurred after March 28 would not be reimbursed.

“Being very frank, we know far less than we do.  I want to identify that the impacts of this stop work order will have profound impacts on NJACCHO programming, operation and staff,” Brown said.  “We have gotten inconsistent communication shared with the organization from some local health agencies from different NJDOH sources.  There is still much we need to determine.”

Jones said the Murphy Administration is “committed to fighting these illegal clawbacks and is working tirelessly to get more information to share with each impacted organization and resident.”

“Our priority remains protecting public health,” Jones stated.

The chair of the Assembly Health Committee, Carol Murphy, said she was “exploring all options to fight back and protect our residents.”

“The reckless and irresponsible stop work order issued by the federal government immediately removes $350 million in federally approved funding for the State of New Jersey, jeopardizing the public health of our residents,” she said.  “The dire consequences will be immediate, as mass layoffs devastate healthcare services and outcomes. The disruptive actions of the Trump Administration are harmful.”

The former Allen AME Church was being restored for a theater company’s use. Contractors found a letter linked to Alexander Herritage Newton, a prominent abolitionist, in its rafters.

CAPE MAY, New Jersey − The former Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church yielded a few finds when contractors began renovating it to become East Lynne Theater Company’s new home: some old bottles, collection envelopes from the 1940s, a little metal globe bank whose dusty, rusty surface obscured most of the world’s countries and oceans.

But one item went a little farther back: a snippet of a receipt that may have been hand-written and signed by a prominent Civil War veteran, abolitionist, Underground Railroad facilitator and pastor. The snippet even bears a date: June 19, 1891.

“To all whom this may concern, Elwood Rowland, formerly of Media, PA Daniel Galvin, (formerly of) Phila Plastered this church during The month of June for $250 Rev. Dr. Newton, Pastor (unclear),” the snippet reads.

That name − the Rev. Dr. Newton − connects Allen AME to the famed abolitionist, Civil War veteran and author who spent time in Cape May, though little is known about his stay there. It’s also thrilled history buffs in this seaside resort town full of Victorian architecture, old churches and sites linked to some of the most prominent Black Americans of their time.

Who was the Rev. Dr. Newton?

Alexander Herritage Newton (whose middle name is sometimes listed with one “r”) was born in 1837 in North Carolina to a free mother and an enslaved father. He came north to New York during the 1850s, where he married and started a family, and where he also became involved with the Underground Railroad as his mother worked to buy freedom for her husband, Newton’s father. In 1863, Newton joined the Union cause in the Civil War, serving with the 29th Connecticut regiment in the U.S. Colored Troops.

Newton later settled in Camden, New Jersey, just outside Philadelphia, where he wrote a memoir, “Out of the Briars.” He was active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1794 in Philadelphia by Richard Allen. And Newton served as pastor at Allen AME Church, which itself was founded by Stephen Smith, a wealthy Black businessman who lived in Cape May, from 1889-1892.

A fire, a renovation, a revelation in the rafters

After a 2018 fire, Allen AME Church, which is in a section of Cape May that was once a center for Black civic life, was in dire straits. The building, which dated to 1888, landed on Preservation New Jersey’s Most Endangered Sites in 2021.

In Cape May, history is as much of a draw as its beaches, restaurants, shops and nature trails. “So when the church was slated for demolition, the mayor and city council knew we had to save it,” city manager Paul Dietrich said.

“The church did not have funds to do it, so it was incumbent on the city to do so,” Dietrich said. Thanks to a combination of county and state preservation grants, work is nearly complete: The wooden steeple that was destroyed in the fire has been replaced by a steel structure, not only to prevent another fire but also better able to withstand the coastal winds and storms. Drywall has been placed and painted over the wood walls. And the stained glass windows, many donated by families that belonged to the church, have been restored to their former colorful beauty.

“But we also didn’t want it to be an empty shell,” Dietrich added, and so the city partnered with East Lynne Theater Company, which now performs at another nearby church but was looking for a home of its own.

“The contractor is a local, so he knows how important history is here,” Dietrich said. When Kyle Carter of DKC Contractors discovered the letter nailed to a beam in the church rafters, he understood its significance and told city officials what he’d found.

History hidden, revealed and hidden again

Mark David Boberick, East Lynne’s executive artistic director, said he was thrilled to hear about the discovery of the hand-written note.

“We’ve been storytellers for 45 years, and now we’re telling another story − about the culture and history of this community,” he said. East Lynne, a summer equity theater company that stages classic American plays, is hoping to start using what will be called The Clemans Theater later this year for productions and for events such as art exhibitions, film screenings and fundraisers this summer.

Bernadette Matthews, president of the Cape May Chamber of Commerce, East Lynne board member and AME Church member called the discovery “fascinating,” noting the significance of the note’s date, June 19, or Juneteenth, in American history.

She talked about other nearby sites, including Stephen Smith’s house, Franklin Street School, Macedonia Baptist Church and the Harriet Tubman Museum, all within a few blocks and all central to Cape May’s historic Black community.

“This whole quadrant is what’s left of the vibrant African American community that was here,” she said.

Newton mentioned his time in Cape May in his memoir, and even alluded to the work noted on the paper that was found in 2025:  “The church building was not plastered or seated, so we decided to borrow money for this purpose,” Newton wrote. 

The note, though, had to remain in place, Boberick said. Removing it from the wood to which it was attached would likely destroy it.

It remains where it was found, Dietrich said, at the request of former members of Allen AME Church.

Do you want to share a slice of Americana with USA TODAY? Contact Phaedra Trethan by email at ptrethan@usatoday.com, on X (formerly Twitter) @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra