Oysterville’s Oyster Shell Telegraph!

Oysterville Sea Farms, 2015 — A Bob Duke Photo

The Oyster Shell Telegraph has been working overtime here in the village.  Rumors have been flying — all about Oysterville Sea Farms!  Perhaps you have heard some of them, yourselves:

Dan is selling the business.
Oysterville Sea Farms has been leased.
Dan and Linda are moving!

So on Saturday… I messaged the source — our shouldabeen County Commissioner, Dan Driscoll —  and asked him flat out.

Northern Oyster Company 1940s

“Yes to all the above,” he said.  “Things are still developing.  Since OSF is no longer my story—I am leaving the telling of this story to new management. Linda and I are in Portland right now. The new management is running OSF tomorrow.  If you want, I can message you and the new manager and you can ask her any questions you have about OSF.”

I didn’t take him up on his offer.  I figured it would be better to come to grips with the news first.  “The Cannery” as we old-timers have called the building and the business(es) that it has housed, has been the northernmost anchor to Oysterville since 1939.  I was three that year when Dan’s grandfather, Ted Holway, along with Roy Kemmer and Glen Heckes, bought Eddie Sherwood’s Opening House and began the Northern Oyster Company.  After the Company moved to Nahcotta, Dan and his dad, Les Driscoll, sold fresh oysters there during summer vacations.  And, eventually, Dan started Oysterville Sea Farms, refurbishing the old cannery site and bringing the weathered buildings back to life.

From Dan’s FB Page!

Dan took well deserved pride in the fact that his was the last business in Oysterville that reflected the town’s beginnings.  He carried on the tradition of hiring locals to work out on the beds and in his tiny retail outlet, blending the old traditions with the up-to-date demands of his customers.  Next to Oysterville’s iconic old church, Oysterville Sea Farms was, without a doubt, the most popular place in town.

Yesterday I had an “Oysterville Visit” out on the street with my neighbor, Sue, who happens to be Dan’s aunt. And today I talked with  few more of the neighbors.  The Oyster Shell Telegraph continues to clicklety clack on the subject of Oysterville Sea Farms.  (Is it really going to be called Willapa Wild?)  Stay tuned…

 

 

 

 

One Response to “Oysterville’s Oyster Shell Telegraph!”

  1. Tracy Richards says:

    You know I just love your blog but this sentence reminds me of Trump and the “stop the steal” insurrection rhetoric –

    So on Saturday… I messaged the source — our shouldabeen County Commissioner, Dan Driscoll — and asked him flat out.

Leave a Reply