The A.J. Meerwald and New Jersey's Oyster Industry - Paperback

by Constance McCart (Author)

New Jersey's Roaring Twenties saw mob rumrunning operations, Nucky Johnson's Boardwalk Empire and a new craze for dining on local oysters. Whether it was fancy Oysters Rockefeller or simply on the half shell, nationwide demand for the state's Delaware Bay oysters made boomtowns out of Port Norris and Bivalve. Built in 1928, the A.J. Meerwald was a new type of schooner specifically built for oystering the famed Delaware Bay oysters while under sail. As the Depression arrived and wreaked havoc on the industry, the Meerwald stayed afloat, serving with the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II and then taking up clamming until eventually being discarded on a mud bank. Found and restored to glory, the ship now tours the state's coasts as New Jersey's official tall ship. Authors Rachel Dolhanczyk and Constance McCart chart the history of New Jersey oysters and the historic ship that carries on the industry's traditions today.

Author Biography

Constance L. McCart, EdD, is a retired school administrator and teacher and a graduate of Rowan and Temple Universities. Dr. McCart has been a longtime member of the Washington Township Historic Preservation Commission and the Friends of the Heggan Library. A highlight of the eleven years spent as an onboard educator with the A.J. Meerwald was sailing in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. Volunteering on the A.J. was the motivation for this book. Rachel Rodgers Dolhanczyk, MA, has been the museum curator at the Bayshore Center at Bivalve's Delaware Bay Museum since 2010. A native of the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, she found her way to the water and has worked in the history field for more than twenty years along New Jersey's waterfronts and the Chesapeake Bay.