Neil Robert Berro is a local historian whose forthcoming book Oyster Haven Lost tells the lost history of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Atlantic oystering. The story is centered in New Haven, but weaves a complicated web of connections between environment, economy, infrastructure, and health that grows to include public health pandemics in Chicago and collapsing industry in the Carolinas. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that agriculture can happen underwater. This is just a rough sample of a longer conversation that will eventually be released.
A little activity: Check out some photos below for a brief visual history! In looking through the photographs be a sociologist. What are the race, gender, and class dynamics are at play in the images?
Neil Robert Berro on New Haven Oyster History