John G. Lewis interview with Tales of Cape Cod, June 06, 1978 in Osterville, MA.  Born on July 29, 1907 in Osterville, Mr. Lewis recalls that his father was a laborer and his mother was a paper hanger and house cleaner.  His father cut ice on Joshua Pond in the winter and also worked for Mr. Crosby who had oyster plots in the village.  Mr. Lewis recalls the village school burning down his first year.  The fire was fought with sticks and sand.  He remembers Issac Cohen, a local peddler who carried his goods on a wagon.  His mother always prepared a meal for him when he would come by.  He recalled that the Swift Store run by W. I. Fuller always extended credit to his father over the winter months and his father would pay the bill in the Spring.  His father always bought food stuffs by the barrel.  The family had cows, chickens and pigs and had a small farm.  He tells an amusing story of caddying at the nine hole Sepuit Golf Course.  Mr. Parsons owned the course as well as an inn on the course.  Mr. Lewis’s older brother wanted a ten cent raise for nine holes from 25 cents to 35 cents and argued with Mr. Parsons.  He remembers prohibition and the landing of many bottles of liquor in the area.  Most of the liquor was landed at the Oyster Harbor Bridge.  Some left their loads on John Crosby’s oyster beds.   He worked for John Crosby harvesting oysters.  He was paid $4.00 a day in 1928.  During the Depression, his pay went down to $3.00 per day.  He would work on oysters from September to April.  He recalls the local oyster business dying out due the elimination of the middleman.  Rather than seasoning the marketable oysters in Cape waters from April to September, the people from Long Island would ship direct from their beds.  Indoor plumbing came to the area in 1926.  He recalls the Lincoln club a group of old timers who would sit out on the porch waiting to pick up their mail.  He also remembered the Wianno Golf Course being built in 1919. 

Notes: The Tales of Cape Cod Oral History Collection is housed at the William Brewster Nickerson Archives in the Wilkens Library at Cape Cod Community College in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. For more information about the collection, please contact the Nickerson Archives, http://www.nickersonarchives.org/.