Crisfield became the center of the Chesapeake Bay seafood industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was known as the “Seafood Capital of the World.” Waterman settled the Somers Cove area in the 1660s, and the community prospered after the discovery of Tangier Sound oyster beds in 1854. The town was named in honor of John W. Crisfield, who promoted the 1866 railroad link that carried local products to urban markets. This busy port expanded on landfill of oyster shells and was Maryland’s second most populous city at the turn of the 20th century.