Dutch traders came to the site of present-day Bayonne around 1650. The British gained possession in 1664. In 1875, the first oil refineries were opened. The city has huge oil and chemical industries, as well as textile and machinery manufacturing. In 1942, the large Military Ocean Terminal was opened on Bayonne's waterfront. It operated until 1999, when it was closed. Bayonne is connected to Staten Island in New York by the noted steel-arch Bayonne Bridge. It is 511 m (1,675 feet) long and was opened in 1931.

Accommodation and restaurants are available in town. Bayonne sits on a 4.8 km (3 miles) long peninsula in the northeast of New Jersey. It is 80 km northeast from Trenton and 320 km northeast from Washington D.C.