This is so great. It's a house that was built by Irish immigrants out of oyster shells in 1850. The house was in Port O'Connor. John Vachon took this photo of the house in 1943, 93 years after it was built. The entire process of constructing houses from oyster shells is fascinating.
Here’s how it worked: people collected heaps of oyster shells, often from old middens (ancient shell piles left behind by Native peoples or settlers). The shells were burned in a kiln to create lime. When oyster shells are heated, the calcium carbonate in them turns into quicklime. That quicklime was then mixed with water, sand, and more whole oyster shells. The result was a kind of primitive concrete—strong, durable, and resistant to moisture. Builders poured this mixture into wooden forms, much like modern concrete, and let it harden.
When the forms were removed, the walls had a distinctive speckled look, with oyster shells showing throughout. Over time, the surface could be plastered or whitewashed, but sometimes the shell-studded texture was left exposed. The material was especially common in coastal areas of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, but it was also used in Texas and Louisiana where oyster shells were plentiful.
So this house isn't literally just stacked oyster shells like bricks—it was oyster shells transformed into a concrete-like substance that could last for centuries. In fact, some oyster shell structures from the 1700s are still standing today. And some of the oyster shell structures in Texas, built in the 1800s, still stand.
Aren't I just a fountain of knowledge at 2:00 a.m.?