s u m m e r g u i d e 2 0 1 7 1 9 7 11 P sHeLLfisH co 12 Pangea sHeLLfisH co 13 Ken s PLace 14 uLie iu 15 tracKside station 16 snow iLLage inn 17 wawenauK 18 megan dunLaP rigHt Hand Page: uLie iu Anti ue int n a li a ster late n eBa . The history of the Atlantic oyster, or Crassostrea virginica, is a tale of boom and bust. As recently as the early 20th centu- ry, a large number of bays, rivers, and estu- aries along the Atlantic Coast were thickly carpeted with wild oysters. “For centuries, there was a unique and delicate balance of natural oyster populations and native hu- man populations,” says Peter Smith of Ot- ter Cove Farms. “Then we began to indus- trialize rapidly, and cities began to expand. Oysters became a real commodity in these urban areas. They were so plentiful and ac- cessible. You didn’t need to hunt Premium Plates Walnut ster ard hand ar ed aul a ps n ster i er iner . raditi nal ster latter Allis n ans. when Delmonico’s was charging 50 cents a berry for out-of-season strawberries.” But the insatiable hunger of growing populations and effluent waste produced by large cities like Manhattan started to sour the oyster dream. Free-flowing sewage in- fected oyster beds in areas like the once- abundant Long Island Sound in New York, causing outbreaks of diseases like cholera among those who consumed the raw bi- valve. To top it off, the infamous 1938 New England hurricane and a shellfish parasite that decimated swathes of the Atlantic oys- ter beds during the 1950s were the last nails in the coffin for oysters, according to Scien- them or raise and farm them–they were just there.” A bundant and decadent, oysters were an affordable luxury that transcend- ed class divides. Oyster shells littered the sawdust-strewn floors of New York’s tav- erns. “From the time of the Revolution till the last beds were closed in 1927, the price [of oysters in NYC] barely moved,” says The Big Oyster author Mark Kurlansky in an interview on NPR. “There was something called The Canal Street Plan, which was all-you-can-eat [oysters] for six cents, at a time erts aine rill in itter ser es up an arra l al sters.