Cory Weyant
Long Island Traditions
Folklorist Nancy Solomon has documented the maritime culture of Long Island through these interviews spanning the years 1987 – 2016. The collection includes baymen, fishermen, boat builders and other maritime tradition bearers.
On May 27, 1987, Nancy Solomon interviewed Cory Weyant as part of the Long Island Traditions Oral History Collection. Cory is a full-time commercial fisher from Freeport, New York, who traps eels, killies, crabs, and other finfish. His family lived in the area for over 60 years, and he remembers family boat trips and time spent sailing with his father. Cory discusses the decreased fish population and ties it to the pollution from speedboats and yachts. He notes changes to his neighborhood as well, particularly the development of the "Nautical Mile." He describes his first jobs related to fishing, like his work on a dragger boat, St. Peter, when he was 17 years old. Eventually, Cory ran a fish market where he learned about smoked fish. While he treated it like a hobby at first, he was soon selling smoked fish at the fish market. He also talks about learning how to build a raft and fix boats and how he made a gunning boat out of plywood and fiberglass in shop class at the age of 12. He left the fish market to work in the bay as a commercial fisherman and shares details about his brine recipe and smoking techniques.
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