CRISFIELD The Seafood Capital of the World

Once part of how Maryland and Virginia dominated North American production of oysters, the harvesting of 'white gold' was so great that John Crisfield built a rail line to meet up with the Pennsylvania Railroad to ship oysters to market across America. Today, the colonial port still hosts packing houses for fish, crabs, and oysters but on a much smaller scale. Condos, tourists taking cruises to Tangier and Smith Islands, and luxury sport fishing vessels boom in sharp contrast to the decline of what was once Maryland's second-largest city.