12. Enormous Oysters

The above is one of the large oyster shells collected on the site. The size of a hand, it was of typical size for a pre-20th century oyster, according to Chrysalis. Oysters were consumed at a rapacious pace by both the city’s rich and the poor. By the early 1900s, over 1 billion oysters were harvested per year from New York harbor. Read more about the tragic history of New York City’s oysters and the multi-pronged efforts for their revival.