Oysters In New York Harbor
1800 CE • Ellis Island
“The Dutch called Ellis Island and Liberty Island Little Oyster Island and Great Oyster Island because of the sprawling natural oyster beds that surrounded them. According to the estimates of some biologists, New York Harbor contained fully half of the world's oysters.”
Sourced from: Kurlansky, Mark. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. New York: Ballantine, 2006. 35.
“Unloading oysters from boat into floats. Sayville, Long Island” 1856, Courtesy of the New York State Archives, NYSA_A3045-78_10374.
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