After the Civil War, oyster harvesting exploded in the Chesapeake Bay, with watermen attempting to meet the demand of restaurants in major East Coast cities such as New York and Philadelphia. Many men from Virginia to New England set their eyes on the Chesapeake, and tried to claim a piece of it as their own. As states put restrictions on harvesting, however, access to oysters became scarce. In the end, these tenacious mollusks created fortunes for some, and were the downfall of others. War Over the Waves will display art and artifacts, and provide historical perspective, on the time of “the oyster wars”—when watermen, oyster pirates, and authorities clashed in an attempt to control the oyster industry and access to the Bay. It will also provide a view into how policies of that time continue to affect the oyster industry today.
