Oysters and Oxford – The Oxford Museum

Oysters had always been bountiful in the waters off of Oxford, and their reputation was widespread. But oystering was primarily for local consumption until the development of improved methods of canning and packing during the Civil War, and the completion of the railroad afterward, opened undreamed markets in Philadelphia, New York, even the Rocky Mountain states and Great Britain.

Oyster harvesting in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay stood at 4.8 million bushels a year in 1865. By 1874 it had zoomed to 10 million bushels, and in 1884, the all-time peak year, 15 million bushels were gathered from the seemingly inexhaustible beds by an army of 25,000 tongers and dredgers. Another 15,000 or so were engaged in oyster canning and packing. Only agriculture among Maryland occupations provided more employment.

In Oxford, the bonanza produced the nearest thing the town has ever seen to boom times. Scores of oyster boats lined the wharves, and oyster packing houses sprang up like mushrooms on Town Point, along Town Creek, and near the railroad terminal. Around 1890, at least nine packing houses were in operation in Oxford at the same time, and hundreds of persons were employed in oyster processing during the season, which ran from September 1 to April 15.

Oystermen were divided into two types – tongers, who worked from small boats in shallow waters near to home, and dredgers who used larger boats sailed by larger crews, and sometimes stayed out weeks at a time.

Processing took two forms. So called “cove oysters” were steamed in large iron cages which ran on tramways, then shucked by gangs of workers into quart tin cans. After the cans were hermetically sealed, they were dipped once more into a steam bath, labeled, and were ready for shipping almost anywhere in the world. In the 1884-5 season, almost three million bushels of Maryland oysters were processed this way.

A far greater quantity, however, were packed raw and shipped in bulk, in barrels, tubs, or square cans. They were tastier, but without refrigeration – and there was none in the 1880s – spoiled quickly unless the weather was cold. This is the principal reason why the custom of eating oysters only in the months with an “r” in them began.

A skilled worker could shuck an oyster in less than five seconds, and process fifteen to twenty gallons a day, earning brass checks worth from $2.80 to $3.60 for twelve hours of work.

This Oyster Clock is a rare example of early 20th Century folk art. Note the large shells which comprise the main body of the timepiece. Oysters of this size are no longer found in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay as pollution and over-harvesting decimated the population in the latter part of the 19th century.

Oyster Shucking Station, Oyster Knife, and Oyster pail

Source: Preston, Dickson J. Oxford: The First Three Centuries. (Easton, MD: The Historical Society of Talbot County, 1984), 167-170.