Established in 2015, Instagram user Virginia Buechel, aka @buewho wanted to start sharing the beautiful places around her home state of New Jersey. She had followed many other accounts around the country that combined beautiful photography and explorations around different regions. She wanted to create a display of spots around New Jersey that would break through stereotypes and also encourage others to share their own spots. Thus the NJspots Instagram account was born. “I thought about how people outside of New Jersey view our state, as the ‘armpit of America’ or only have the vision of the Jersey Shore to represent our residents. But I wanted to change that and get a collection of photos and places that others can discover, explore, and share in New Jersey.” – Virginia Buechel, Founder of #NJspots Starting A Hashtag Trend – #NJspots Throughout the months of starting the #NJspots hashtag was shared and tagged more and more every day. Now with over 250,000 tags (as of August 2018) on Instagram it is one of the most used hashtags in New Jersey. Wanting to share special spots and places, the tag took off and is used to share various parks, towns, monuments, and destinations throughout the state. More Than A Hashtag As the NJspots Community began to grow larger, our team and ambassadors were also growing. The NJspots movement was becoming much bigger than just a hashtag on Instagram and it turned into a source for inspiration, exploration, and adventure. Our editorial team began to grow larger and more people wanted to share their favorite spots and places to visit in New Jersey. We also established a community of people that met up with our team at meetups across the state to share photos and favorite spots.