Crab Houses in Maryland's Eastern Shore

This September try some crabs in Oxford, Maryland. September is one of the best months to eat Maryland blue crabs in Oxford.

The Crab Houses of Maryland’s Eastern Shore

"The Chesapeake Bay, or simply the Bay, as it’s known to Marylanders, is the nation’s largest estuary, a vast, rich incubator for sea life born from the brackish combination of fresh and saltwater. The saltwater comes in steadily from the Atlantic while the freshwater runs down from a watershed that stretches as far north as central New York.

Maryland’s state-regulated season for crabs runs from the beginning of April until the last of November. Around springtime, watermen have emptied out their bushels of oysters and have already begun building their boxy wire traps, somewhat misleadingly called pots.

And just as hibernating mammals emerge from winter, so do last summer’s surviving crabs — their meat having been soaked in what might be the culinary world’s longest marinade. These are the crustaceans, plump with meat and measuring from six to six and a half inches across, that are announced on giant chalkboard menus at crab houses and seafood wholesalers all over Maryland as “jumbos.”

Smaller “mediums” and “larges” even out the catch all season, but it’s commonly stated in Maryland that the best time to fetch jumbos is late summer and early fall, when the crabs that have been lucky enough to survive the season begin to bulk up for hibernation. My mother swears that these crabs are the sweetest."
The New York Times

Click above to read the full article that mentions Schooners in Oxford, Maryland.

Crab Houses in Oxford, Maryland -

Masthead at Pier Street Marina

104 W Pier Street, Oxford, MD 21654 • (410) 226-5171


Schooner's Landing

Foot of Tilghman Street, Oxford, Maryland • 410-226-016