Elijah W. Reed (November 27, 1827 – January 27, 1888) was a ship captain from Brooklin, Maine, who is credited with establishment of the menhaden fishing industry in Virginia's Northern Neck region.
Brooklin is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 824 at the 2010 census. It is home to WoodenBoat Magazine, Brooklin Boat Yard, and numerous boatbuilders, artists, writers, musicians, and potters.
Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker, are forage fish of the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium, two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. Menhaden is a blend of poghaden and an Algonquian word akin to Narragansett munnawhatteaûg, derived from munnohquohteau ‘he fertilizes’, referring to their use of the fish as fertilizer. It is generally thought that Pilgrims were advised by Tisquantum to plant menhaden with their crops.
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first English colonial possession established in mainland North America and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U.S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2018 is over 8.5 million.
In 1874, Captain Reed moved his business to Northumberland County, Virginia, along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, an area where local watermen had been long established. He introduced a method of extracting large quantities of oil from the fish, by rendering millions of fish. Their oil was used as a lubricant and in lighting, as whale oil was; and the leftover bones and carcasses were valuable as fertilizer. Reed opened the first processing plant in the area. By 1885, Reedville was heavily engaged in the menhaden fishing industry. Menhaden factories on Cockrell Creek produced fish oil, meal, and fertilizer from menhaden. The menhaden fishing industry brought tremendous wealth to Reedville and to Northumberland County.
Northumberland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 12,330. Its county seat is Heathsville. The county is located on the Northern Neck and is part of the Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace AVA winemaking appellation.
The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary in the U.S. states of Maryland and Virginia. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula with its mouth located between Cape Henry and Cape Charles. With its northern portion in Maryland and the southern part in Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of those two states, as well as others. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile (166,534 km2) drainage basin, which covers parts of six states and all of Washington, D.C.
A fish factory, also called a fish plant, fish processing facility, is a facility where fish processing is performed. Fish factories range in the size and range of species of fish they process. Some species of fish, such as mackerel and herring, and can be caught at sea by large pelagic trawlers and offloaded to the factory within a few days of being caught. Or the fish can be caught by freezer trawlers that freeze the fish before providing it to factories, or by factory ships which can do the processing themselves on board. Some fish factories have fishing vessels catching fish for them at a given times of the year. This is to do with quotas and seasons conflicting how much and when the fish can be landed.
The unincorporated town of Reedville, Virginia, was named in his honor.
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This peninsula is bounded by the Potomac River on the north and the Rappahannock River on the south. It encompasses the following Virginia counties: Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland.
The Middle Peninsula is the second of three large peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, in the United States. It lies between the Northern Neck and the Virginia Peninsula. This peninsula is bounded by the Rappahannock River on the north and the York River on the south, with the Chesapeake Bay to the east. It encompasses six Virginia counties: Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, King William, Mathews, and Middlesex. Developed for tobacco plantations in the colonial era, in the 21st century the Middle Peninsula is known for its quiet rural life, vegetable truck-farming, and fishing industry.
The Atlantic menhaden is a North American species of fish in the herring family, Clupeidae.
Heathsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Northumberland County, Virginia, United States. Heathsville is the eastern-most county of the Northern Neck of Virginia, which was the birthplace of three of the first five Presidents of the United States - George Washington, James Madison, and James Monroe. The town itself is the county seat of Northumberland County, and has housed four county courthouses since the first was built in 1663.
Coordinates: 38°11′29″N 76°54′16″W
Neguac is a Canadian village in Northumberland County, New Brunswick.
Fish meal, or fishmeal, is a commercial product mostly made from fish that are not generally used for human consumption; a small portion is made from the bones and offal left over from processing fish used for human consumption, while the larger percentage is manufactured from wild-caught, small marine fish; either unmanaged by-catch or sometimes sustainable fish stocks. It is powder or cake obtained by drying the fish or fish trimmings, often after cooking, and then grinding it. If the fish used is a fatty fish it is first pressed to extract most of the fish oil.
Reedville is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States, located between Hillsboro and Aloha. Oregon Route 8 runs through the area. Cornelius Pass Road is another main arterial. The community is served by the Hillsboro School District, with some portions of the area within the city limits of Hillsboro.
Reedville is an unincorporated town in Northumberland County in the Northern Neck region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It is located at the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 360 east of Heathsville, at the head of Cockrell's Creek on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
Reedville Fishermen's Museum is located in the unincorporated town of Reedville along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Northumberland County, Virginia.
Claud W. Somers is a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, built in 1911 in Young's Creek, Virginia, by W. Thomas Young of Parksley, who also built Bernice J.. She is ported at the Reedville Fisherman's Museum in Reedville, Virginia. In 1977 Claude W. Somers was struck by a squall near Hooper Strait Light, leaving six drowned, including her owner-captain.
USS James (SP-429) — also known as USS W. T. James (SP-429) — was a steam trawler acquired by the United States Navy during World War I. She was converted into an armed minesweeper and assigned to the European Theater, where she performed varied tasks, including minesweeping, patrolling, and escorting of larger ships in convoy. In 1919, while returning to the United States, she was severely damaged in a storm off the French coast, and sank. Her crew were rescued.
The first USS Courtney (SP-375) was a patrol boat and minesweeper in commission in the United States Navy from 1917-1919.
USS G. H. McNeal (SP-312), also called George H. McNeal, was a United States Navy minesweeper in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Omega Protein Corporation was a publicly traded US company, founded in 1913 as a fishing operation. As of 2015 it still operated a fishing fleet, and produced food ingredients, dietary supplements and animal feed. Their products included fish oil, fish meal, and proteins. In the 2000s it expanded via acquisitions into ingredients produced from milk and plants. On December 19, 2017 Cooke Inc. completed its acquisition of Omega Protein for $22.00 per share.
USS Luce Bros. (SP-846) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Reedville Historic District is a national historic district located at Reedville, Northumberland County, Virginia. The district includes 64 contributing buildings in the village of Reedville. It is an assemblage of primarily residential buildings dating to the late-19th and early-20th century during the village's predominance in the menhaden fishing industry. Notable buildings include the Reedville Masonic Hall, Bethany Methodist Church (1899), five modified Queen Anne style houses known as "Millionaires Row," Reedville Market, Reed and Rice Store (1913), and the former People's Bank of Reedville (1910).
The south bank of the Humber Estuary in England is a relatively unpopulated area containing large scale industrial development built from the 1950s onward, including national scale petroleum and chemical plants as well as gigawatt scale gas fired power stations.
