The Lord's Oysters

Eastern Shore, please, with a capital E and a capital S. Gilbert Byron grew up in Chestertown on the banks of the Chester River in Kent County on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the first decades of the 1900s. Now, that century is coming to a close. But, Gilbert Byron's books about this part of the world - insulated, isolated in another time -will live forever. This work is not just for children. Adults will enjoy it, too. My father was a friend of Gilbert's growing up. And I knew Gilbert Byron well as editor of the Kent County News. He kept writing to the end living in a cabin he built himself on San Domingo Creek near St. Michaels on the Eastern Shore. By the way, he also was instrumental in sending Harold Baines to the major leagues, thanks to Bill Veeck. But, that is another whole story. Enough. Read The Lord's Oysters. Read Chesapeake Duke and fall in love with Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Read Mr. Byron's poetry, especially These Chesapeake Men. If you want to know the Chesapeake and The Shore read Gilbert Byron.

This book was given to me for Christmas and I read it before New Years! It has been compared to Huck. Finn, And rightfully so. The story of a young Noah and his adventures on the Eastern Shore of Maryland is very realistic. It is also informative to older folks who may not realize that across the bay from Baltimore & DC there was a little piece of America still holding strong to God, Truth, Innosence, and ofcourse the mighty Blue Crab!---And you know what? there still is!!!

I read this book when I was 12 or so (1967) and really enjoyed it. I am anxious to read it as an adult and see if it is as good as I remember. Back then, I recall that it made me really want to go to the Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Haven't made it yet, but still want to go.

The author's fictionalized autobiography tells of his childhood days growing up along the banks of the Chester River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The book has been in print since 1957 and still offers the reader a flavor of life in rural America before World War I. Byron writes in the vernacular of a 9 or 10 year old and the book has been compared to Huckleberry Finn. It is an easy read,and the language is deceptively simple. Each chapter can stand alone as an independent short story, but collectively they provide and interesting view of an average family struggling to make do: "We were poor and didn't know it."This modest book describes much more accurately the life and times that visitors to the Eastern Shore seek than do more commercially succesful writers such as Michiner and Barth.