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Not Welcoming NJ
Unfortunately this is a pervasive attitude in my home state. New Jersey has the most provincial outlook of all the states that make up the New York metropolitan area. What you experienced at the border is quite common throughout the state. Many towns and cities here lack basic street signs telling you which street you are on. Another frustration is the lack of signs to major highway entrances. One could drive right past an unsigned junction to a major highway and miss a turn off and be lost for hours. Houses without address numbers also seems to be quite acceptable here. Being a New York native and former resident of California, I used to wonder why New Jerseyans were so uncooperative to outsiders, considering they are at the crossroads of two major cities and in possession of major international airport that serves as a gateway to the New York Metropolitan area. Finally it occurred to me that New Jerseyans don't care if you are a visitor. In other words, they view your status as a visitor as a problem that you alone must deal with. They have no sense of hospitality or responsibility when it comes to people outside of their home towns, let alone outside of the state. The state's xenophobic transportation system is designed only for those who are from here and who in their view have a legitimate reason to be here.
What galls me most, however, is their claim that the Statue of Liberty lies within the borders of their state. First of all, try figuring out how to get to the Statue of Liberty from New Jersey if you're a visitor. Good luck with that. Second, that they claim kinship to a what is perhaps the world's greatest icon of welcome is hypocrisy of the highest order. I'm sure Bartholdi knew what he was doing when he placed Lady Liberty's back towards New Jersey.