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Maritime Heritage Program
America's maritime heritage...
red diamond is about the people and communities that built ships, shipped goods, sailed ships, kept lights, rescued wrecks, fished waters, and kept the sea lanes open
red diamond is about the use of waterways for commerce, transportation, defense, and recreation
is about the traditions and skills, arts and crafts, artifacts and documents, and buildings, structures, and vessels that reflect our past maritime endeavors
...is what we help to interpret and preserve. (more)
MARITIME HERITAGE HIGHLIGHTS
[photo]
Photo from NHL Collection, Courtesy of Long Island Maritime Museum
Oystering in Winter
Folklore has it that people should avoid fresh oysters in months that do not contain an “r” in their names (as in July), but few think about what that meant for the people who harvested and processed the delectable bivalves for a living.

Oystermen had to go out on the water during the coldest months of the year and dredge, scrape, or rake up the oysters despite ice, snow, and wind. Women and girls had to stand for hours in unheated sheds prying open the shells and freeing the meat for canning and shipping. The small wooden sailing vessels that gathered the bounty had to be equally rugged. The United States is fortunate to have a few surviving examples of the boats and places that once provided oysters and other seafood to the nation.

The oyster sloop Priscilla is a reminder of those days when oystering was done under sail from Long Island Sound to Apalachicola Bay , Florida . Built in 1888, the sloop remains afloat at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville, New York, which also preserves the 1908 Rudolph Oyster House and oystering artifacts. On February 17, 2006, Priscilla joined the ranks of a handful of preserved historic oystering boats and properties that have been declared National Historic Landmarks by the United States Secretary of the Interior.

To learn more about the history of the Long Island oyster industry and the famous “Blue Point” oysters harvested there, visit the Long Island Maritime Museum website. You can also learn more about the oyster sloop Priscilla at that website, or download the National Historic Landmark nominatio in PDF (53KB).

(Link to past highlights)

Last Modified: Mon, Apr 1, 2007 10:00 am EDT
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