This was our “lobster boat” in the 60s. We would row out and check the traps in front of our grandparents’ house on Cape Cod Bay. There were clambakes afterwards, although I don’t remember clamming there, just lots of horseshoe crabs. Saw horses were set up with plywood for tabletops and covered with newspaper. We sat on long benches and we all wore lobster bibs and melted butter was everywhere. There were lobster races and large granite ware pots for steaming.
Greens were plucked from my grandfather’s garden and there was strawberry shortcake for desert.
Our grandmother would dress us up for these occasions in smocked dresses from Buttners’, a local department store. Tussy Mussy corsages pinned on , completed our ensembles:)
When I look at these photos, decades later, I can’t imagine dressing my girls up to eat lobster. We always encouraged wearing bathing suits, so everyone could be rinsed off in the outside shower afterwards. Likewise, we had a shed full life jackets, so everyone always had one when out on the water. In this shot, my swim cap was a doozy, so perhaps it was considered a flotation device at the time 🙂