By Adam Tremper

In the early 1900s, Solomons Island was a busy center of the Chesapeake Bay seafood industry. Among the most important local businesses was the oyster house operated by Joseph C. Lore Sr. and his family.

Lore came to Solomons from New Jersey in 1888 to buy oysters for the Philadelphia market. He soon became more directly involved in the seafood trade. For a time, he bought and sold soft crabs, but the growing oyster industry led him to establish a packing operation of his own.

In 1922, Lore built his first oyster house, a one-story building set on pilings over the water. From this location the company bought, processed, and shipped fish, crabs, and oysters from the rich waters of the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay. J. C. Lore oysters were shipped all over the United States.

Like many waterfront structures of the time, it faced the constant threat of storms. In 1933, the powerful Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane swept through the region and destroyed the original building.

The business did not disappear. In 1934, a new oyster house was built, larger and more durable than the first. From this facility the Lore company continued operations for decades.

The packing house eventually closed in 1978, as changes in the oyster industry and labor shortages made it difficult to continue. Today the building is preserved and operated by the Calvert Marine Museum, where visitors can see one of the best-preserved Chesapeake Bay oyster packing houses.

The Lore business was a family affair. And many descendants of the Lore family still live in Southern Maryland today. For generations, the family helped shape the working waterfront of Solomons and played an important role in the community that grew up around the seafood industry. The descendants of J. C. Lore continue to build on his legacy by strengthening our community.

Tours take place on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays tides and weather permitting. Admission is free and there is an interpreter on site. Detailed info at CalvertMarineMuseum.com or by calling 410-326-2042 ext. 8068.

Plan Your Visit: SpookySolomons.com, VisitSolomonsMD.com, CalvertMarineMuseum.com

About the Author: Adam Tremper is the founder of Spooky Solomons Ghost Tours on Solomons Island, Maryland. A local historian and storyteller, he focuses on sharing the region’s rich history, folklore, and maritime heritage through carefully researched narratives. His work highlights the people, industries, and traditions that shaped the Chesapeake Bay Community, from the oyster trade to local legends passed down through generations. His historical ghost tours tell the stories of the people who once lived and worked on beautiful Solomons Island. And how history, legend, and lore can still inform our connection to the past, present and future.

Fun Facts from the Calvert Marine Museum Library

The Oyster Shuckers: Oyster shuckers at the J.C. Lore & Sons were mainly local African American women and men who were paid a set rate for each gallon of oysters they opened. An experienced shucker can open about ten to twelve gallons of oysters per day. The best can produce about two gallons of shucked oysters an hour.

Pay scale from the J.C. Lore & Sons oyster house:

• 1924 – 25 cents per gallon
• 1941 – 35 cents per gallon
• 1952 – $1 per gallon
• 1974 – $1.50 per gallon

Did you know…

• In 1607, oysters were so numerous in the Chesapeake Bay that it took three to five days for them to filter all of its water. Today it takes the population of oysters over a year to complete the task. Each oyster filters about 50 gallons of water a day.
• Oysters can live in waters with salinity levels between five and thirty-five parts per thousand. The Patuxent River is a perfect location for oysters with average salinity levels from ten to eighteen parts per thousand.
• Oysters may live up to twenty years. They become legal for harvest when they reach three inches in length or are about three years of age.
• Enemies of oysters include oyster drills, cow-nosed rays, crabs, “MSX”, “Dermo”, silt run-off, nutrient pollution, and of course man’s desire for the delicacy.
• No two oysters are the same and the type of benthic location can help determine its shape. If an oyster is partly covered by silt on a soft bottom it becomes elongated in shape. Harder surface bottoms tend to make the shape more rounded.
• Shuckers sort oysters by size. The largest are called “counts,” medium-sized oysters are called “selects,” and the smallest are called “standards.”
• Until the mid-1980s, oysters were the most valuable commercial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay.
• J.C. Lore & Sons oyster house is built on fill made of discarded oyster shells from the oyster shucking houses of Lore and Woodburn.
• J.C. Lore & Sons oyster house was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 2001.