[Tanniker Smith]

why is the New Jersey coast called “the Jersey shore”

I believe it has to do with people from New York (or elsewhere) looking for an affordable vacation in them olden days, and they would pack up and go "down the shore". In New York, across the river is "Jersey", not "New Jersey".

[Ditter]

I just find it odd because no other state with ocean frontage, and they are lots, refer to their coastline as “the shore”. At least as far as I know, they don't. But as one freeper said, it is in reference to the entire southern part of the state.