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

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 havo...