J. C. Lore Oyster House - History and Significance

History and Significance

The J.C. Lore Company was a principal supplier of oysters to the Acme Markets and Kroger companies under the "Patuxent" brand in the midwestern United States. The J.C. Lore Oyster House is one of five nationally important properties associated with the oyster-processing industry. The Rudolph Oyster House in West Sayville, New York, Thomas Oyster House in Mystic, Connecticut, the Oyster Barge in New Haven, Connecticut and the Platt & Co. Cannery in Baltimore, Maryland are noted as complementary examples of oyster-related landmarks.

The Lore company was founded by Joseph Conbb Lore (1863–1945), who arrived in Solomons in 1888 from Newport, New Jersey to buy and ship oysters to Philadelphia. Lore established his own oyster packing house in Solomons in 1922, but it was destroyed by the powerful 1933 hurricane, and was rebuilt in 1934. His sons, J.C. Lore, Jr. and G.I. Rupert Lore managed the business together until 1961, when Rupert started his own operation in St. Mary's County. The Lore Company also packed crabmeat from 1925 to 1945, as well as fish. Other ventures included boat rental, charter fishing, a bait store, a company store and a school boat, which was considered more useful than a school bus in the locale.

The Lore Company maintained a fleet of three boats for oyster buying and planting. Two boats, the William B. Tennison and the Sidney B. Riggin, were converted bugeyes, former sailing oyster dredges. The Tennison is now itself a national Historic Landmark and is preserved at the museum. A third vessel, the Pengui, was a Hooper Island draketail workboat.

The Lore company ceased business in 1978, a victim of declining harvests and shortages of cheap labor.