Crisfield: The City Built on Oysters

Crisfield: The City Built on Oysters. . , The harvest of oysters transformed the city of Crisfield. In 1866, the first train pulled into a small fishing village on the Little Annemessex River known as Somers Cove. This connected a steamboat wharf with major towns on the Eastern Shore by rail. The railroad initiative was spearheaded by John Crisfield, who turned the small village into a transportation hub, allowing the seafood caught by local watermen to be shipped across the East Coast. In celebration of the railroad's success, the residents of Somers Cove renamed their town after John Crisfield. With the steamboats, a new railroad, and improvements in packing, such as canning and refrigeration, the city of Crisfield soon became one of the largest producers of oysters in the United States. In 1872, there were 600 registered oyster boats in Crisfield harbor, and by 1885, an average of 400,000 bushels of oysters were harvested annually. Oysters brought people, commerce, and prosperity to this once sleepy fishing village., In addition to oysters boosting the local economy, they brought another significant benefit to Crisfield. Oyster shells were utilized to provide a building foundation for Crisfield to expand. Much of the land around Crisfield was marshland and routinely flooded. It seemed to be unsuitable for building. With an abundance of oyster shells, residents began buying seemingly unsuitable land and utilizing the shells from the oyster shucking houses as fill. This proved successful in creating dry land, allowing for buildings and roads to be constructed. Most of Crisfield's downtown and waterront area were constructed this way.