you might find this clip from Google books interesting Industries and wealth of the principal points in Vermont By American Publishing and Engraving Co 1891 "FRANK M CORRY Oysters Fresh and Salt Fish of all Kinds One of the first indications of a city's prosperity is the condition of her markets In this respect Montpelier ranks with the foremost towns of Vermont the class of her supplies being of an order so high that the mind of the public is at once attracted It is in this line of business that Mr Frank M Corry is engaged his attention being given to dealing in oysters fresh and salt fish of all kinds every sort of vegetable in season all varieties of fruits nuts and delicacies while he makes a specialty of handling the best brands of canned goods and also takes pride in presenting before his customers the best confections from the standard manufacturers in the country Mr Corry established his business in 1877" On Mar 7, 2011, at 12:17 PM, Neysa wrote: > I know Mom made a great oyster stew. When she and Dad moved to RI > they had it quite often. I never thought to ask her how she learned > to make it. We did have it, but rarely, in Brattleboro as I grew > up. You are probably right; the events thing made me more aware of > it. > Neysa > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Darrell A. Martin > To: [email protected] > Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 11:36 AM > Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Oysters > > > On 3/6/2011 9:09 PM, Neysa wrote: >> I am amazed at all the references to oysters in these old papers. >> I am kind of surprised at this. Were oysters easy to obtain? >> Inexpensive? Any ideas on this? >> Neysa > > Neysa: > > Oysters do seem to have been plentiful, once the railroads made it > possible to ship them away from the ocean. However, there is another > factor to consider. It appears that, for whatever length of time it > was > true, it was "in vogue" to feature oysters at social events. These > are > exactly the kind of events that are most likely to be reported by > local > newspapers. So what you get is an extremely imbalanced view of how > often > oysters were actually consumed. > > Growing up in Springfield, our family had oyster stew exactly once a > year, every Christmas Eve. Other than tradition, and the "oyster > crackers" that we seldom got at other times, I don't know what the > attraction was. The "stew" was just a warm milk broth, salty with a > light seafood-ish taste to it. We all seemed to like the stuff > (although > nobody but Dad wanted anything to do with the actual cooked oysters). > Maybe it was the excitement of knowing tomorrow was The Big Day, or > maybe it was because we were allowed to dump so many crackers in that > they just barely got wet -- we *did* like those crackers. > Regardless, it > is a fond memory. > > Darrell > > > *************************************** > List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm > Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > *************************************** > List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm > Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message

Thanks, Sylvia. I do find that interesting. I am kinda hung up on oysters in Vermont now, thanks to Ruth's newspaper articles. Neysa ----- Original Message ----- From: Sylvia Tucker To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 12:19 PM Subject: Re: [VERMONT] Oysters you might find this clip from Google books interesting Industries and wealth of the principal points in Vermont By American Publishing and Engraving Co 1891 "FRANK M CORRY Oysters Fresh and Salt Fish of all Kinds One of the first indications of a city's prosperity is the condition of her markets In this respect Montpelier ranks with the foremost towns of Vermont the class of her supplies being of an order so high that the mind of the public is at once attracted It is in this line of business that Mr Frank M Corry is engaged his attention being given to dealing in oysters fresh and salt fish of all kinds every sort of vegetable in season all varieties of fruits nuts and delicacies while he makes a specialty of handling the best brands of canned goods and also takes pride in presenting before his customers the best confections from the standard manufacturers in the country Mr Corry established his business in 1877"