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09/01/2016 12:01 AMJonathan Waters was born during the baby boom of the 1950s, which was also a suburban boom, when many people left their childhood roots in search of a brand new house with a lawn.
But that’s not his story.
He’s lucky enough to live in the quaint little village he grew up in—Stony Creek—his life shaped by a love for the water instilled in him as a young child.
When Waters was four years old, his family began spending summers on Cut-in-Two Island, one of the Thimble Islands, when his father, a physician, became the caretaker of a cottage also owned by a doctor, whose work took him to Japan.
“There was no electricity, no running water, no phone on the island,” Waters recalls. “We had kerosene lanterns and a propane refrigerator, so it was pretty rustic, but really wonderful, and we fished a lot and gathered mussels off the rocks, and clams and oysters.
“My father would commute into New Haven from the island and we’d fish almost every evening when he got back,” he adds. “We had this very natural connection with water and what it produced.”
Not straying too far from the Long Island Sound, during the winters the family lived on Guilford’s Leetes Island in a house built in 1706.
At the time, the Stony Creek Oyster Company was in business and Waters says he spent a lot of time watching the boats go by.
“I loved the boats, I loved the guys who worked on them, and of course, the product,” he says. “My father was from Maryland, so he had a love of oysters as well, and we ate a fair amount of them.”
The seed was planted for a career as an oysterman, but not reaped for another decade or so, as Waters cultivated his other passion: sculpture.
“I got interested in art early on because my grandfather was a sculptor in Washington, DC, but also in East Haddam,” he says.
Waters majored in art at Windham College in Vermont and went on to get his masters degree in sculpture at Yale University. He moved to New York City for about seven years in the late ’70s where he was involved in the downtown art scene.
“I had a reasonable amount of success. But I grew a little disillusioned with it and a series of things conspired to lead me back here,” he says. “My father had been ill and passed away and I had taken over the duties of caretaker on Cut-in-Two.
“I went to work for an oyster company in New Haven and learned the ropes,” he continues. “I had this idea of trying to resurrect the oyster business in Stony Creek as it had been when I was a child.”
So, in 1985, Waters borrowed some money, put his own boat together, made an arrangement with a fellow who owned the beds in Stony Creek, and started his business, Stony Creek Shellfish Company.
He ran three boats and crews and says, “I managed to hit it pretty well with the resurgence of shellfish and this is such a wonderful, productive area. I practiced traditional oystering, establishing beds. I was fortunate to bridge the older era of oystering into the new era.”
Waters didn’t have the energy for artwork during those years, but he put a lot of his creativity into his work.
“I built my own equipment and most of my boats I engineered myself. So, the whole thing, in a way, was like a work of art,” he says.
Meanwhile, Waters married his wife Michele and their daughter Emilie, now 28, was born, and they bought a home in Stony Creek where they live next door to Waters’ 95-year-old mother.
Emilie commuted to school by boat while on the island—Tisko Elementary School in Branford and then The Country School in Madison that her grandparents co-founded and Waters and his older brother both attended.
Waters sold his business, Stony Creek Shellfish Co., about seven years ago, but remains very busy, producing and showing his sculpture again, staying involved in oystering—namely growing disease-resistant oysters for the state—and educating people about the importance of protecting the local waters.
“This has been, in many ways, the story of my life,” he says. “Boats and water and fishing on one hand, and sculpture and art on the other.”
He also feels very strongly about historical preservation and in particular, Bradley’s Dock, which he used while running his oystering operation.
“It’s important to me to try to preserve the character and use of the place. It’s one of the last commercial fishing facilities in the town and has been pretty much in continual use since the early ’50s.”
He stresses that he’s obtained the necessary permits to make sure its use will never “morph into anything else.”
He says Emilie feels just as strongly. Also drawn back to her roots, she recently bought a house on Leetes Island, less than half a mile from where her father grew up.
Waters realizes how extraordinary and unique his life has been, living in such a magical place.
“I see my friends every day in town that I’ve known all these years and that becomes more and more meaningful to me as I get older,” he says. “I love it because there’s the banter down at the dock, it’s special, and I really value it. Once [the old-timers] are gone, they’re gone with their great stories.”
He pauses before saying, “But I guess we’re becoming that generation.”
“Oystering on Long Island Sound: A Conversation with Jonathan Waters” will be held Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. following a brief annual meeting at the Stony Creek Museum, 84 Thimble Island Road. Refreshments will be served on the lawn following the program. All are welcome to attend.
Amy J. Barry is a Baby Boomer, who lives in Stony Creek with her husband and assorted pets. She writes features and reviews for Shore Publishing newspapers and is an expressive arts educator. Read more My Generation columns online at www.zip06.com
Editor's Note: This column was changed on Friday, Sept. 2 to accurately reflect the day of the week that the event takes place.