Eel pots

The colonists had their own European methods for harvesting eel, using cylindrical woven rush pots with internal funnels to capture and contain the fish. These pots were used in the eel fishery for centuries.

The European colonists also dined on eels, a familiar and welcome comfort food from home. Jellied eels and eel pie were standards of British cuisine, especially in London, where eels were abundant in the tidal Thames. The river-oriented homesteads and plantations that colonists established along Chesapeake waterways gave them ample access to the teeming population of American eel. Recipes from this period are remarkably creative, with guidance on how best to pickle, smoke, roll, boil and broil, stew, and collar them.

From License to Eel

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