Thomas C. Pruitt
Worcester County waterman / petitioner · active 1872
Lead signer of the petition of "Thomas C. Pruitt, and fifty-two other citizens of Worcester county, Maryland, praying for protection of oysters in Synepuxent Bay," presented to the Maryland General Assembly on February 19, 1872 and referred to a select committee. The petition produced Chapter 131 of the Acts of 1872, the first statute regulating the fishery of the bay behind the future Ocean City.
In the record (1)
1872 · 1872-04-01
Fifty-three Worcester County watermen petition Annapolis, and Maryland closes Sinepuxent Bay's oysters to outsiders and to summer tonging.
On February 19, 1872 Mr. Parker presented in the General Assembly "the petition of Thomas C. Pruitt, and fifty-two other citizens of Worcester county, Maryland, praying for protection of oysters in Synepuxent Bay"; it went to a select committee of Messrs. Parker, Franklin and Johnson. The result was Chapter 131 of the Acts of 1872, approved April 1, 1872: "An Act for the better protection of oysters, clams, terrapins and fish in Synepuxent Bay and its tributaries, in Worcester county." Marylanders may take oysters from the natural rocks with rakes or tongs, but not between June 1 and September 15; non-residents may not seine, rake, catch oysters, clams or terrapins, or plant oysters in the bay at all; seines over 100 fathoms must have meshes at least an inch and a half square; no one may stop a creek mouth with a net; and no shells may be removed from the rocks. Penalties run $25–$100 plus seizure and sale of the boat, half of every fine to the informer and half to the Worcester County school fund.
The first body of law written about the water behind Ocean City is a fishing regulation, and it reads like one written by the people who fished it.
Source · checked 2026-08-06