Urbanna in Middlesex County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
Oysters
Urbanna, Virginia
The Museum in the Streetsฎ
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), November 25, 2021
1. Oysters Marker
Inscription.
Oysters. Urbanna, Virginia. From 1850s to the 1950s, the town's fall and winter economy was driven by oysters. Urbanna's strategic location to fertile Rappahannock River oyster beds encouraged oyster hand-tongers to come to town from September to March. Oystermen from Gloucester and Mathews counties and from Tangier Island sailed and latr motored their log canoes and deadrise boats to stay for the eason. Near this location, J.W. Hurley and Son Seafood had one of the largest oyster shucking and packing houses in the region. Right next door, Boys Hurley built and operated one of the most popular seafood restaurants in the area. The oyster industry waned in the 1950s when MSX, a deadly bacteria, killed millions of oysters throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. The oyster business has rebounded osme in recent years with innovations in farming/growing techniques, but the town's infrastructure that supported a large oyster industry is no longer in place. As a tribute to the oyster and what it meant to the town's economy over the centuries, the community in 1957 founded the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival and the Virginia General Assembly named it the state's official oyster festival in 1988. More than 60,000 people attend the annual event.
From 1850s to the 1950s, the town's fall and winter economy was driven by oysters. Urbanna's strategic location to fertile Rappahannock River oyster beds encouraged oyster hand-tongers to come to town from September to March. Oystermen from Gloucester and Mathews counties and from Tangier Island sailed and latr motored their log canoes and deadrise boats to stay for the eason. Near this location, J.W. Hurley & Son Seafood had one of the largest oyster shucking and packing houses in the region. Right next door, Boys Hurley built and operated one of the most popular seafood restaurants in the area. The oyster industry waned in the 1950s when MSX, a deadly bacteria, killed millions of oysters throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. The oyster business has rebounded osme in recent years with innovations in farming/growing techniques, but the town's infrastructure that supported a large oyster industry is no longer in place. As a tribute to the oyster and what it meant to the town's economy over the centuries, the community in 1957 founded the annual Urbanna Oyster Festival and the Virginia General Assembly named it the state's
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official oyster festival in 1988. More than 60,000 people attend the annual event.
Erected by The Museum in the Streetsฎ. (Marker Number 13.)
Location. 37° 38.202′ N, 76° 34.295′ W. Marker is in Urbanna, Virginia, in Middlesex County. It is on Oyster Road east of Virginia Street (Virginia Route 602), on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 26 Oyster Rd, Urbanna VA 23175, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on Virginia’s Middle Peninsula. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in the Tidewater, and in the Chesapeake Bay Region. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), November 25, 2021
2. Oysters Marker
in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 25, 2021. It was originally submitted on November 25, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 322 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on November 25, 2021, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
