Celebrate the J.C. Lore and Sons Oyster House and be Waterman for a Day on Saturday July 21 and August 11 from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Located south of the Calvert Marine Museum on Solomons Island Road, the J.C. Lore and Sons Oyster House was one of the largest and most successful seafood packing companies in Southern Maryland. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the Lore Oyster House has been restored to show all aspects of oyster processing – from receiving oysters at the dock to storing, shucking, washing, packing, and shipping the product to markets across the region.
One Saturday a month through the summer visitors may experience life and work in an oyster packing house, practice with oyster tongs off of the seawall, and try to lift a fully loaded bushel basket like the oyster floor men did. In the shucking room, stand in a shucking box wearing the requisite rubber apron and gloves, learn a work song, and learn how much the workers earned shucking oysters.
Museum educators will have Rocky, the oversized fabric oyster on display to help explain the fascinating biology of this bivalve. And the Southern Maryland Oyster Cultivation Society (SMOCS) will be on site to demonstrate how to help restore the Crassostrea Virginica oyster to the bay by becoming a local grower. They will also have tanks of oysters to show how these filter feeders help clean the water.
One of the most exciting features of the day is the opportunity to go out on an actual Chesapeake workboat with Captain Rachel Dean. Captain Dean is offering one-hour excursions aboard her workboat, the Roughwater. Participants will experience what it’s like to be a working waterman on the Chesapeake Bay. Each excursion is limited to six passengers; the fee is $20 per person and pre-registration is required. Excursions leave from the Lore Oyster House at 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Call 410-326-2042 ext. 41 to reserve your space for the June excursions.