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Muskrat season opens the first of January. This trapper, Stanley Bennett of Mardela, works the marsh of the Nanticoke River. Trapping muskrats is dangerous business - it is easy to step in an unseen hole. Despite this hazard, most trappers work…

A study in early summer on the back road from Salisbury to Delmar.

Robert Charles “Biggie” Long, a prominent citizen from Princess Anne in Somerset County, active in Maryland politics, had a cannery at Westover. He processed large acreages of tomatoes every year. Here he examines the latest crop and strikes a deal…

Photograph of female farmer with goat.

Photograph of clam farmers. Chincoteague watermen have a developed maricultural and can harvest clams on order. The smallest specimens are sold for eating on the half-shell, the middle-sized for restaurant chowder. The largest go into manufactured…

Here are Claude Marvel and Skid in the same plywood boat. Claude is holding up a 40-pound rock. This whopper had to be thrown back by law, but Claude sure was tickled to catch it.

These are old-fashioned crab floats on Smith Island. The production of soft crabs has changed very little over the years. Covered tanks on land and often under shelter have replaced traditional floats and made harvesting somewhat easier.

Until the 20th century, only softshell crabs were considered worth eating.

Map of Virginia

Photograph of H. Fillmore Bounds