I cant Remember Part One... I lost a computer... Here is Part 2.... I Feel I need to document memories to preserve them... I suggest all of you do that before it is to late! Oyster, As I remember it, Part 2 Oyster, Virginia, in the mid 20th century, is difficult to describe in todays modern society. It was a time where there was no internet, no cellular phones, and fast food restaurants were none existent...It was a place of family and where crime was non- existant. It was place where each season gave way to an annual cycle of life that was many generations old. This was the same for countless small hamlets, villages and towns, along the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which mainly consisted of watermen, farmers, and small merchants. A place that would fit well within any Norman Rockwell painting….A place that describes the very fabric of American Society as it should be described… In the spring, as winter relinquished its freezing grip, the crab potters and fishermen finished the final repairs to their gear and began to place their pots and nets in search of the seass bounty while others, like my uncle Dick would search the marshes gathering Gull Eggs which were in bountiful supply. As spring gave way to early summer the small harbor bustled with activity. The clammers began to leave the small harbor with wading moccasins in hand ready to climb over the side of their boats at low tide and search for the for nicks and cherrystones with their feet. The charter boats began filling their gunnels with paying sport fishermen, usually from up north, ready to catch flounder, spot, croaker and trout. The crabbers worked frantically to maximize their annual catch….McCreadys and Hinmans store bustled with business as the watermen and sport fishermen gathered necessary supplies and fuel… Many townspeople walked the banks of nearby fields collecting asparagus left from last years harvest. In summer the clammers, crabbers, and fishermen worked laboriously to bring in their catch… In late summer, after the potato harvests, townspeople would walk the empty fields in search of the remaining potatoes. In the fall the Oystermen would begin to ready for the upcoming oyster harvest season and everyone was on constant alert for the strong Northeasters. Storms that were dreaded by everyone. In late fall and early we began to fill our freezers with duck, goose and marsh hen to add to our winter food supplies and a few of the fortunate made a little extra money guiding hunters that usually came down from New York or other places along the northeastern seaboard… In winter, the Oystermen, tongs in hand, fought the winds and the cold, to gather the jewel of the sea that was cherished by many… Winter was a time when many of us sat by the coal stoves and gave thanks for the quilts that kept us warm… Winter was a time of reflection… It was a time that, regardless of the hardship, brought all families together. These are times that are now mostly forgotten… These are times that should be remembered, times that are still cherished in those that remember these days...
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 14:59:17 +0000