America’s Oyster King Farms Next to the Real Plymouth Rock

Skip Bennett's business is built atop the bones of dead, disease-ridden Pilgrims. The prominent aquaculturist operates Island Creek Oysters—one of the nation's best oyster farms and hatcheries—directly adjacent to Massachusetts' storied Clark's Island.

For those of you who, like myself, have never heard of it, Clark's Island is arguably one of the most important locations in American colonial history—in fact, it's where it all began. In 1620, after finally seeing land, an exploration party left the Mayflower and set off in a small sailboat to find a suitable place to set up their first settlement. Historians say that Clark's Island, located in Plymouth Bay, was where the Pilgrims celebrated their first Sabbath. Clark's Island is also home to Pulpit Rock, which some believe to be the real Plymouth Rock.

The Pilgrims only stayed on Clark's Island for short time, however, before moving on to Plymouth, the town that has stolen all of its origin-story thunder. And tainting the history of Clark's Island is the fact that the Pilgrims left a whole bunch of smallpox-infected co-religionists and crewmates to die on the island alone.

But Clark's Island's possibly haunted environs have been good to Bennett. He both lives and works nearby, having started his oyster company in 1992. His company's distribution arm sells 100,000 oysters per week to the likes of The French Laundry and the White House.

Given the weight that Bennett's name commands in the American oyster game, you'd best believe I said yes when I was asked to attend Island Creek's annual festival, Oyster Fest. There, I had a chance to tour his farm and ask him how a kid who studied finance and had little to no oyster farming experience became one of the premiere oyster farmers in the US.

MUNCHIES: Hi, Skip. You've said Island Creek Oysters started as "a crazy idea." So how did you become one of the region's top aquaculturists? Skip Bennett: Starting this business seemed like a really crazy idea because oyster farming was totally new here at the time. There were some guys in Wellfleet who grew clams, but it all seemed like a very risky venture. I had no idea whether or not it would even work, and I think back then my hope was just to make a living doing something that was independent and fun. I loved the independence of it, I loved the physical work, I loved the bay, and I loved being outside. It all really resonated with me.

How has your oyster farming process changed over the years? The baby oysters, which we refer to as seed, come out of our hatchery. At the very beginning of their life, they're about the size of a flake of pepper. The process is very similar to what it was when I started, but over the years we've come up with some new systems to grow the seed more efficiently. In some ways, it's actually become more difficult. Sometimes seed will die and we have no real explanation for why. It used to be that all the seed lived if you just took care of it properly. It's sort of a constantly evolving process for us.

I've heard that Thomas Keller asked you to send him only oysters that were both old in age and small in size. Being able to grow oysters for someone at that caliber is just an honor. It's a challenge that we're constantly trying to improve upon. Thomas Keller wants small, deep-cupped oysters. He uses the belly part and trims off the rest, so he wants the belly to be plump, but not too big. We also grow for chef Paul Kahan in Chicago, who came out and worked on the farm with us. We set up a system of growing oysters for him that end up bigger and tend to have a slightly deeper cup. We love challenging ourselves with specific, "special orders" like these. It's fun for us.

I understand the algae that grow in this area are a key factor in your oysters' quality and distinct taste. Why are algae so important? Growing algae is the heart of what we do in the hatchery. If the algae grow well, everything else is pretty straightforward. But algae are really tricky. They're alive, mobile cells. Some people have a green thumb and can grow algae really well, and other people can't. Growing the algae is something that I would describe as intuitive, but we're also counting the cells all the time, so there's an element of it that is very technical. It's an art, and some people have it and some people don't. If you really want to get crazy, we actually leave music on in the algae room because we've noticed that music makes algae grow more successfully. When I walk into the algae room, I can tell within a second whether or not it's working based on the room's smell.

What are the main differences between farming and harvesting oysters on the East and West Coasts? The difference between the East Coast and West Coast oysters is that they're actually two different species, and they have a completely different flavor profile. East Coast oysters are called Crassostrea virginica, and West Coasts are Crassostrea gigas. The difference in farming is less about West versus East Coast, and more about learning how to grow oysters in a specific ecosystem. For example, some oysters grow throughout their lives in floating cages. Others, like in Duxbury, are planted right on the bottom of the bay.

Are there any misconceptions surrounding oysters that you find annoying or unfounded? Sometimes oyster farming gets lumped in with other kinds of farming that aren't necessarily beneficial to the environment. But what people should know is that oyster farming is actually a net positive to the environment. Shellfish farming is incredibly sustainable. Nitrogen is one of the biggest threats to an ecosystem like Duxbury Bay. The nitrogen causes excessive algae blooms, and shellfish are very efficient at removing both the nitrogen and excessive algae blooms, which is hugely beneficial to the environment. Another one I get asked about a lot is the facts behind "oyster season," and the idea that you should only eat oysters in months that end in the letter R. A lot of that idea came from the years before refrigeration. Obviously during that period if you lived in the Midwest, you wouldn't want to eat oysters in July, but oysters can be enjoyed year-round now.

So Clark's Island has quite the history. It's a little sordid, isn't it? Clark's Island has a really incredible history. I've heard stories that there was a house on the island that literally served as a place for the early settlers to die so they could separate the sick people from the rest of the community. I also know that Daniel Webster, an early Massachusetts politician, spent a lot of time there. Thoreau did a lot of writing there too, and more recently, rumor has it that Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's there.

If you had to pick, what is your favorite way to eat oysters? I like to have them shucked by somebody who really knows how to shuck oysters so that the meat is fully intact, and served cold on ice, with maybe just a little bit of lemon. That's how you can really taste the flavor of the oyster. And make sure you chew the oyster well.

Thanks for speaking with me, Skip.