Meghan E. Wren

Meghan E. Wren is the founder and Executive Director of the Bayshore Discovery Project (BDP). A student of literature at the University of Pennsylvania and later environmental studies at Stockton University, she interrupted her studies at the age of 23 to create the Bayshore Discovery Project.

With a commitment to community involvement, volunteerism, and consensus building, Ms. Wren built the organization and amassed the financial, technical, and human resources necessary to restore the 1928 schooner A.J. Meerwald.

Throughout an eight-year, million-dollar restoration, the organization grew into a well-respected, educational institution within the Delaware Valley, serving nearly 50,000 people annually. In addition to its shipboard programming, BDP delivers shore-based field trips from the 1904 Oyster Shipping Sheds and Wharves (currently undergoing a $4 million restoration), operates the Delaware Bay Museum, and hosts Delaware Bay Days, a free festival attracting 12,000-15,000 attendees.

In 1998, the A J Meerwald was designated New Jersey’s official Tall Ship. Bayshore Discovery Project has received numerous awards, including: excellence in historic preservation from the New Jersey Trust for Historic Preservation; Watershed Awareness Education by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; Governor’s Heritage Tourism Award; and Tall Ships America’s 2005 Sea Education Program of the Year Award.

In addition to her work with BDP, Ms. Wren served for eight years as Co-Chair of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Delaware Estuary Program and was a founding board member of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, South Jersey Land Trust, and South Jersey Bayshore Coalition. She serves on the Cumberland Empowerment Zone Advisory Board, American Littoral Society board and is currently president of the Port Norris Rotary Club. In 2003, Ms. Wren married Captain Jesse Briggs of Lane Briggs/Norfolk Rebel legacy and in 2005 they welcomed Delbay Wren Briggs to the family.