The last stop on the water canoe trail is located in Solomons, Maryland. Pilot your craft down the Patuxent River for about 4.5 miles and go up Back Creek near Solomons. You will pass by several boats launched at different docks. Go to the last boat launch, which will be the Calvert Marine Museum launch. For permission to tie-up at the landing, you can call the Calvert Marine Museum in advance at 410-326-2042. The white building on your left is the back of the J.C. Lore and Son's Oyster House. The Lore Oyster House, part of the Calvert Marine Museum, is opened seven days a week June through August, and weekends only in May and September from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. Visit their website at www.calvertmarinemuseum.com

Founded by Joseph C. Lore Sr. at the height of the Chesapeake oyster industry in 1888, J.C. Lore and Sons was one of the largest and most successful seafood packing companies in Southern, Maryland. The oyster house was found to possess national significance and was designated a National Historic Landmark. The company specialized in packing and shipping Patuxent River fish, crabs and oysters. Three generations of the Lore family and hundreds of local workers made it possible for people as far away as Cincinnati and Chicago to enjoy fresh Patuxent River seafood. The building, which dates back to 1934, closed in 1978, when the company fell victim to the Chesapeake Bay's troubled oyster industry. In 1980, with assistance from the Maritime Heritage Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Calvert Marine Museum purchased the building and the oyster house has been restored, adapting the interior for exhibits.

The museum begins with a videotape presentation shown in a 20-seat theatre, which used to be the oyster house's cold storage room. The program depicts the oyster house in full operation in 1950. Examples of the real tools and gear used are shown on display throughout the exhibit. Sections of the exhibit include fishing, soft-shelling, clamming, eeling, crabbing and oystering. The oystering section is the shucking room where several African Americans worked to shuck oysters throughout the years. The Calvert Marine Museum Library has transcripts from oral histories taken from some of the oyster shuckers. Ruth Mackall Smith would shuck oysters from 6 a.m. until 3 or 4 p.m. She started off with $1 a gallon and later received $3.15. If a person shucked 10 gallons a day it was called "going to see Aunt Nancy." Smith was able to shuck two gallons an hour. She won a contest for shucking oysters the fastest for two years in a row in St. Mary's County in 1982 and 1983. She won a trip to the international championship in Ireland. In 1977, Conroy Butler also won a trip to Ireland for being able to shuck oysters the fastest. He placed fourth in the international championship. Workers at the Oyster House would sing spiritual and gospel songs to make the work go by faster.