Editing Port Norris, New Jersey (section)

==Bivalve and Shell Pile==
[[File:Large pile of shells in Shell Pile, New Jersey.jpg|thumb|A massive pile of [[oyster]] shells in Shell Pile]]
In the Port Norris area are the communities of '''Bivalve''' and '''Shell Pile'''. They were both centers of the oystering industry, as their names imply. Shell Pile is described in a 1939 excerpt of a WPA Guidebook to New Jersey:

<blockquote>"Shell Pile is named for the great heaps of oyster shells stacked outside the packing sheds. This is a community of about 1,000 Negroes living in wooden barracks erected on stilts over the salt marshes. Negroes here live their own lives in their own way, and present a united and rather hostile front from the rest of the world. Strange whites are not welcomed in Shell Pile."</blockquote>

The oystering industry reached its peak in 1955, declining by 1957 due to oyster pathogen ''[[Haplosporidium nelsoni]]'' (MSX) which killed 90% of the oysters. Bivalve and Shell Pile are now mostly ghost towns, with a combined population of less than 50.

In ''Cruising the Chesapeake; a Gunkholer's Guide,'' William Shellenberger says:<ref>Shellenberger, William. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2AA3z7rFrzUC ''Cruising the Chesapeake; a Gunkholer's Guide''], p. 442. Third Edition, 2001, International Marine</ref>

<blockquote>As the name indicates this is an oystering port, probably the busiest on the Delaware. Don't look for typical pleasure-boat facilities - there aren't any. However, you may be able to find dock space on either shore where you can tie up.</blockquote>