Oyster Tonging Historical

Oyster Tonging Historical (HM1TZ1)

Location: Deltaville, VA 23043 Middlesex County
Buy Virginia State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 37° 33.109', W 76° 19.358'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 361 views
Inscription
Oysters were originally harvested by the Powhatan or colonist by wading into the water and picking them up off the oyster bar, but as the number of people eating the oysters increased, boats were needed to collect them from bars farther out into the rivers and the Bay. Hand tongs were developed to pick up the oysters from a boat. Hand tongs are a long scissor-like tool with metal rakes on the ends. The waterman stands on the side of his boat, opens the tongs, and reaches to the bottom of the river. He closes the tongs, scooping oysters between the rakes. He then lifts the tongs into the boat and dumps the oysters onto the culling board. The river might be fifteen or more feet deep. The tongs are very long, heavy, and hard to manage.

The contents of the culling board are sorted. The oysters sometimes grow on each other, large and small. The waterman uses a culling hammer to separate the individual oysters. The hammer handle also has a measuring gauge. Any oyster smaller than three inches must be returned to the oyster bed. Empty shells are also returned, since the baby oysters attach to larger shell as they grow. Anything else brought up is thrown back into the water.

Hand tonging is hard, slow work. Sometimes each "lick" of the tongs brings up only a few oysters. Even so, most of the oyster harvest
from the Chesapeake is taken with hand tongs.
Details
HM NumberHM1TZ1
Tags
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, August 26th, 2016 at 9:01am PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 383170 N 4156911
Decimal Degrees37.55181667, -76.32263333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 33.109', W 76° 19.358'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 33' 6.54" N, 76° 19' 21.48" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)804
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling North
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 81-299 Orchard Ln, Deltaville VA 23043, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. Who or what organization placed the marker?
  10. This marker needs at least one picture.
  11. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  12. Is the marker in the median?