On Saturday we attended the 140th annual Oyster Picnic at the Old Goshenhoppen Reformed Church in Woxall, near Harleysville, in northern Montgomery County.
On the menu were raw oysters, fried oysters, oyster stew and oyster sandwiches, along with bratwurst, burgers, smoked salmon sandwiches, side dishes like potato salad and pickled cabbage, funnel cakes, ice cream and pie. We overheard some of the organizers saying that even though they had ordered 5,000 Delaware Bay oysters, they were concerned that they might run out.
After enjoying plenty of the bivalves in the picnic grove (nice old oaks and hickories), we walked across the street to explore the graveyard and visit the church and the old log schoolhouse behind it.
A bluegrass gospel group and the Red Hill Jazz Band played in the picnic grove, and in the church there were performances by several organists and a dulcimer group that opened their set with the song "Acres of Clams," fittingly altered for the day to "Acres of Oysters."
According to an account of an early picnic, excursion trains would bring Philadelphia residents to Salford station, where farm wagons would be waiting to transport the "rusticators" to the picnic. "At the end of the day the steam train would return to the station and sound long blasts of its whistle to signal that it was time to return to the station or risk being stranded in the country."
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