Cherrystone (1872, 1873)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Merriam-Webster and DARE have 1880 for "cherrystone" clams.  OED, if I read it correctly, doesn't have any entry at all for "cherrystone" clam.
   DARE's first citation is Mark Twain's TRAMP ABROAD (1880), where he talks about the "cherrystone clam."  DARE defines the cherrystone as "a small quahog."
   In all the early cites I found, it's a "cherrystone _oyster_."  They are from Cherrystone, in the Chesapeake Bay.  I tried to weed out all citations involving the "stones" of "cherries."



   July 1890, CURRENT LITERATURE ("Dining with a Gourmet--From the New York Sun," on the American Periodical Series online), pg. 47:
   First he ordered oysters, and was pleased at finding that the larder contained Cherrystones.


   31 August 1873, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 5:
   _Opening of the Oyster Trade._
(...) The fancy oysters, which command much better prices, such as Cherrystone, York River, and others, do not begin to come to market before the middle of September.

   March 1872, SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY (I used the American Periodical Series online, but it cuts off the page numbers; it's also on Making of America-Cornell), "The Chesapeake Peninsula," start page 513:
   The pike, perch, and shell-fish are fine and plentiful, and we get the first view of the _mamano_ (DARE "maninose" or "mananosay" from 1677--ed.), or long-necked clam, which lies deep in the sand at low tide and pokes forth its succulent head when the waters cover it.
(...)
   The oysters of the Chesapeake, poorly attended to compared with their rivals in New York waters, are of better flavor and larger size.  The best are the Cherrystones, small native growths of an inlet near Cape Charles.  Next, Lynnham Bays, within the jaws of the opposite cape, Henry--large, lusty oysters, one of which will flavor a soup.  Next in note come Elizabeth Rivers and York Rivers, in the very palate of the Chesapeake.  Finally, the oysters of Tangiers, illimitable in quantity, in quality indescribable, the off-string half-way of the bay and the brine, the civilized and the savage waters.

(The also article contains "Fildelfy" for Philadelphia and "Baltmer" for Baltimore--ed.)