Contributed by Penobscot Marine Museum
Description
The Burnham and Morrill Company clam factory in Medomak was part of a chain of clam factories operated by Burnham and Morrill, which included another one in Friendship.
Immediately after the factory was built around 1900, forty or fifty Bremen men took up clam digging and kept the new factory supplied with the shellfish. Their wives and sisters were also employed, working inside the factory where clams were steamed in a retort and then placed on a table where the women picked the meat out of the shells by hand. Clams were then washed, weighed, sealed in cans, cooked under pressure, cooled and labeled. The clam juice was collected and canned as a separate product.
In 1940 the factory closed, and Grandville Brow of Friendship used the building for a time as a station for buying and shipping clams. Later Clifford Shuman of Medomak purchased the factory and bought and sold lobsters there until the late 1950s.
In 2020 the old clam factory is a marina and lobster wholesale/retail outlet operated by Blair Pyne.
About This Item
- Title: Clam factory at Medomak, Bremen, ca. 1915
- Creator: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
- Creation Date: circa 1915
- Subject Date: circa 1915
- Location: Medomak, Breman, Lincoln County, ME
- Media: Glass Plate Negative
- Dimensions: 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm
- Local Code: LB2007.1.101381
- Collection: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
People
Other Keywords
For more information about this item, contact:
Penobscot Marine MuseumPO Box 498, 5 Church Street, Searsport, ME 04974
(207) 548-2529
Website
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
Please post your comment below to share with others. If you'd like to privately share a comment or correction with MMN staff, please send us a message with this link.
