Description
The J.C. Lore Oyster House is located on an island in the Patuxent River near the point at which the Patuxent enters Chesapeake Bay. The island is partly artificial, built up from oyster shells produced by the 1918 Woodburn and 1922 Lore oyster houses. The present 1934 structure is a two story building or somewhat irregular plan, clad in novelty-style wood siding, with a metal roof. The portion of the walls below the roof is concrete to minimize storm damage from flooding. A one-story shed-roofed wing extends to the south, while a 1965 concrete block addition covers two thirds of the rear elevation. Windows are irregularly placed, reflecting the functional requirements of the interior spaces. Interior walls are framed with horizontal planks, with beaded tongue and groove ceilings. Floors are concrete slabs, some of which are sloped for drainage, typically with a high point at the center of the room.
The chief interior spaces are arranged for receiving, shucking, processing and packing oysters. A storage area on the upper level is provided for cans and boxes, together with office space. The property is arranged with a bulkhead to the rear of the building where buy-boats and independent oystermen could tie up and unload. Between 1945 and 1965 it was possible to hoist oysters directly out of a boat and into the receiving area through an overhang over the water. Oysters were moved from the receiving room in wheelbarrows, while shells of shucked oysters were moved outside on a conveyor belt. The two shucking rooms are long and narrow, with concrete shucking tables around the perimeter, and could accommodate fifty shuckers. The shuckers stood a three-sided shucking stands, taking whole oysters from the tables, opening them on the stand, and letting the shells fall away to the outside, the stands protecting the shuckers from the sharp-edged shells even when the piles of shells were several feet deep. The shuckers stood on an adjustable platform that kept their feet off the cold, wet floor.
Buckets of shucked oysters were passed through a window into the processing room, where they were rinsed, weighed and tallied. Shuckers were paid by the weight or volume of oyster meat produced. Oyster meats were rinsed on a perforated "skimmer table" to remove grit, shell and worms.. A "blow tank" was used to rinse the oyster meats using aerated water. Oysters were drained on a second skimmer table. The meats were sorted by size and packed in metal cans, which were then steam-sterilized. The J.C. Lore processing room retains its complement of this equipment.
The building remains as it was in 1965 when some system renovation took place and a fire-suppression sprinkler system was installed. The museum has built a theater in one of the cold storage rooms for interpretation, and the southern shucking room is used as a classroom. The company store that stood nearby was demolished in 1995, prior to the museum's acquisition of the property.
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