NJ Pine Barrens Maritime-Culture-Landscape 1 1 2024

Port Norris and Maurice River Ship Building
In addition to the support of the maritime trades, the forests in the NJ Pine Barrens provided good sources of the
principal woods of American ship-building, including oak and cedar.
Shipyards in Port Norris and on the Maurice River, Dorchester, Mauricetown and Leesburg.
availability of water-powered saw mills and the availability of wood, and protected, relatively deep water in the
rivers.
These shipyards produced vessels that were suited to the combination of small river ports and broad reaches of the
Delaware Bay and River including the Pine Barrens Tidewater Rivers and Creeks.
In the 18th century, shallops were built at Port Norris; by the 19th century the handier schooner had replaced the
shallop and continued to be built into the early 20th century. Locally-made schooners had a characteristic "spoon"
bow and relatively shallow draft to meet the conditions of the bay. Many of these wooden fishing vessels, most
originally fore-and-aft (schooner) rigged, but since motorized, survive as Part of the Atlantic fishing fleet.
Clyde A. Phillips, built in 1928 as the A.J. Meerwald in Dorchester, New Jersey restored at Bivalve to its original
appearance as a two-masted schooner. (ref National Historic District Maurice River)
Rancocas Pathways 471