The LRWP and South River Green Team are co-hosting this hour-long public discussion, sponsored by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, to capture stories about the different ways water matters to New Jerseyans.

Participants will have the opportunity to contribute their water story to a statewide public archive documenting personal connections to water and waterways in New Jersey. No prior preparation is needed to attend, and all are welcome to share or listen.

Workshop Overview

This workshop creates the space to talk about meaningful water sites and sources for individuals and communities in New Jersey. Stories from consenting participants captured from this event, and others throughout the state, will be part of a public archive and digital exhibition that creatively visualizes, interprets, and maps New Jersey water stories and the waterways that inspired them. After capturing water stories in each county over the next year, project coordinators will curate a digital exhibition (website) to interpret, display, and share water stories.

This workshop will be led by Meghan Wren

Bio: At 23, Ms. Wren founded what has become the Bayshore Center at Bivalve and served for 29 years as its Executive Director. She spearheaded and oversaw the restoration, program development and operation of the 1928 oyster schooner AJ MEERWALD; lobbied and achieved the native NJ workboat’s status as New Jersey’s Official Tall Ship; restored the 1904 oyster Shipping Sheds & Wharves in Bivalve as the homeport to the MEERWALD and historic destination; launched the Delaware Bay Museum and created a community and volunteer supported institution for the stewardship of NJ’s Delaware Bayshore. After Super Storm Sandy devastated many of the NJ’s Delaware Bayshore communities, she chaired the Cumberland County Long Term Recovery Group and the NJ Bayshore Recovery Planning Committee where she raised money and coordinated individual recovery efforts with local, state and federal partners and lead the creation of a plan for resiliency in the region. In 2013 Ms. Wren became the first person to swim the 13.1 miles across the Delaware Bay from Delaware to New Jersey to raise awareness and funds for the Bayshore community’s Sandy recovery.