By Michele Byers
If you were asked to name a maritime state, New Jersey might not come to mind.
But if you’ve cruised on New Jersey’s official state ship — the A. J. Meerwald — you know otherwise!
This summer, you might have spotted the 70-feet-high and 85-feet-longoak-on-oak schooner as it sailed along New Jersey’s coast for the Tall Ships Challenge, an event with several ports of call.
June 25, it left from Bivalve on the Delaware Bay and sailed to Camden’s waterfront before travelling up the coast to be New Jersey’s ambassador for a July 4th event in Greenport, New York.
Schooners — the “workhorses” of tall ships — were a common sight a century ago. Thousands of them once sailed up and down the nation’s east coast. As many as 500 schooners similar to the A. J. Meerwald sailed up New Jersey’s west coast each spring to harvest oysters.
But New Jersey’s oyster industry declined dramatically around the time of the Great Depression, and the age of tall ships passed on.
Only the A.J. Meerwald remains under sail as she was on Delaware Bay and is available for all to experience a sail and learn about its history.
Built in 1928 in Dorchester, New Jersey, at the height of the Delaware Bay oyster industry, the A.J. Meerwald survived the years by adapting to changing times. For four decades, the schooner served several uses, including a stint as a fireboat for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Meghan Wren, founder and executive director of the Bayshore Center at Bivalve, New Jersey, knew the schooner would inspire and educate people about the ecology and history of the Bayshore when it was donated to the center in 1989.
The Bayshore Center was founded the previous year to motivate people to take care of the history, the culture and the environment of New Jersey’s Bayshore region. The ship was the perfect vessel to entice people to the center’s education and preservation mission.
“The A.J. Meerwald is not only a reminder of the days when oysters were king,” says Wren, “but it is also a symbol for the importance of the Delaware Bayshore. The region is an area of open space, historic landscapes, agriculture and natural biodiversity, and the ship helps people celebrate and learn about that.”
While the schooner originally was restored as a sailing classroom, it since has become more significant for all New Jerseyans. In 1995, the A.J. Meerwald was listed on the National Register of Historical Places, and in 1998, Gov. Whitman declared it New Jersey’s Official Tall Ship.
Along the coastline, tributaries, headwaters and forests of New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore, wildlife and beauty abound. Thanks to the Pinelands Protection Act and tens of thousands of acres of preserved lands, the Delaware Bayshore has some of the highest quality wetlands, natural environment and best farmland in the state. The A.J. Meerwald schooner and the Bayshore Center at Bivalve are perfect starting points for all New Jerseyans to learn more about this incredible region.
Take a sail this summer and learn more about our maritime state! The A. J. Meerwald has many ports of call this summer — not only in Bivalve, but also in Jersey City, Alpine, Long Beach Island, Barnegat Light, Atlantic City and Cape May.
Or visit the Bayshore Center at Bivalve in the restored oyster shipping sheds on the Maurice River.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the A. J. Meerwald, visit www.bayshorecenter.org.
Michele Byers is executive director of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. For more information, contact her at [email protected] or visit NJCF’s website at www.njconservation.org.
