Letters from an American - National Lobster Day

Episode Date: September 26, 2026

September 25, 2026September 25 is Dolly Parton Day and also National Lobster Day, National Lobster Day honors the cultural and economic history of the lobster industry, Lobsters have been vital to Maine’s coastal communities, but were once scorned as poor man’s food, It was fish that were central to the English settlement of North America, Scholars have called the discovery of fish in the Atlantic and the trade it sparked, the “Fish Revolution,” Fishing meant big money and British fishermen fished the Grand Banks and had moved into the Gulf of Maine by 1600, European fishermen brought diseases for which the Indigenous populations had no immunities and tribes were wiped out, The fish trade was so important to New Englanders that access to fishing grounds was written into the third article of the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War.To read this letter, click here:Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyYou can also find Heather at:YouTubeBlueskyInstagramFacebookThreadsTikTok Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 25th, 2026. I learned late this afternoon that in addition to being Dali Parton Day, today is National Lobster Day, honoring the cultural and economic history of the lobster industry. That industry thrives in Maine because of unique conditions in the water offshore, where the cold Labrador current and the warm Gulf Stream mix over the shallow continental shelf, creating one of the richest habitats for marine life on the planet. Lobsters have been vital in the creation of Maine's coastal communities, but the industry's current place of pride is recent. Until the mid-20th century, lobster was considered poor man's food.

Before then, it was not the lobster, but fish that shaped society on the coast of New England. Fish were central to the English settlement of the North American continent. In the 20 years between 1,300 and 1,500 of the current era, fish were a limited resource and brought sky-high prices in Europe. As the fish in the North Sea became scarcer in the late 1400s, fishermen and explorers began to push into the Atlantic. There they found such a bonanza of fish in the nutrient-rich water that scholars have called its discovery and the trade it sparked the fish revolution.

Cod, especially, but also Haddock and Hake, concentrated on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. A member of the crew with Italian John Cabot, who was sailing for the English Crown, noted in 1497 that there were so many cod on the Grand Banks that they can be taken not only with nets, but with fishing baskets. In 1502, the first recorded landing of Atlantic cod in Europe fetched 180 pounds. equivalent to about 1.2 million pounds in 2016, with a buying power at the time of just shy of 76 million pounds, close to $100 million today. Fishing meant big money, and British fishermen were among those who tried their hand in the fog or the grand banks, making an annual trip to toss their hooks overboard. They beheaded and gutted their catch, splitting each fish in half like a book,

salted the fish and then dried them on shore. By 1600 they had moved into the Gulf of Maine, where they landed in places like Manhegan Island and Damaris Cove, where they dried the fish until they were hard before taking their catch back to Europe. As European fishermen landed in North America, they brought with them European diseases, for which the indigenous populations had no immunities. The tribes were wiped out, so that when the pilgrims arrived in 1620, on Cape Cod, they found a land so rich and yet depopulated that they believed God had prepared it for them. The fish trade continued to be so important to New Englanders that almost two centuries later, when their new nation negotiated for its independence, the first thing leaders demanded,

after independence and national boundaries, was continued access to the fisheries. On September 3rd, 1783, negotiators signed the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States. The preamble of the document promised that King George III and the United States of America would forget all past misunderstandings and differences that have unhappily interrupted the good correspondence and friendship which they mutually wish to restore. The first article of the treaty contained the King's acknowledgement that the 13 states that made up the new United States were free, sovereign, and independent. The second article established the boundaries of the new nation.

The third article, which came even before those protecting debts and calling for the return of confiscated property, protected the rights of American fishermen to take fish of every kind on the Grand Bank and on all the other banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.