A photo of the Sharp family in front of the W. E. Sharp store In Pittston, Pennsylvania
People in photo include: Teresa (Mcandrew) Sharp and William Edward Sharp
Date & Place:
in Pittston, Pennsylvania United States
Interesting that the three items painted on the window are "Fruits, Vegetables, Oysters", and then "Oysters and Clams" again, to the immediate left of "Vegetables". Seafood must have been really popular, especially considering that Pittston is about 100 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
Actually , Oysters were considered cheap and no one really ate them but the poor. It was not till a few years later( 1890's? ) that Rockefeller , Made them popular and then they became a "high end" dish.
If you were lucky enough to have lived in a town with a wonderful old store like this.. the aroma as you passed by was intoxicatingly delicious! #feelingnostalgic Thanks AncientFaces!
Loved the photo. Our "kin" had a store just like it in Berryville,Arkansas back about the same time..and their name was Harp. Brings back memories of family stories told me.
Yes, Pennsylvania was a huge spot for new Immigrants into the U.S. back then and before. If you were not a farmer, you looked for locations that had job opportunities in coal mining, steel production, and manufacturing which Pennsylvania had in the day. I would think that the sales of seafood had more to do with where someone immigrated from, and the fact that it was cheaper than other foods back then.
I live in Indiana, but we had a grocery much like this, and my mother would sell her eggs there every Saturday, and would go with her just to see all the wonderful food that was there. Circa 1950.
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