The Crab Claw's Last Season Ends November 1. Here's Where St. Michaels Eats Seafood Next.
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
"I've been here 41 seasons," general manager Wayne Bridges told WBOC when the station covered the Crab Claw's closing. "I always thought that I was going to retire here."
That retirement won't happen at 304 Burns Street. Owner Tracy Jones-Wass told WBOC the restaurant's last day is November 1. The timing matters. Chesapeake Landing's seasonal menu runs local steamed blue crabs from May until October and oysters from October through March, which puts the closing in the same weeks the crab season gives way to oysters. The Crab Claw grew out of a clam and oyster shucking house. It closes in the first weeks of oyster season, and the town's seafood calendar for the next five months runs on oysters.
November 1, 2026 is a Sunday. The Crab Claw's website lists hours of Wednesday through Monday starting at 11 a.m., closed Tuesdays. Counting from today, October 11, that leaves three more weekends of service. The last one runs Friday, October 30 through Sunday, November 1.
The site says the restaurant is "open for our final season" and asks guests to call 410-745-2900 for reservations. Parties of 20 or more should ask for Valerie. The site also says it can't take reservations by email.
One date conflict is going around. A Secret DC article from August 13, 2026 quoted the closing announcement as saying the season runs from April 9 through October. WBOC's interview with the owner gives November 1 as the last day, so that is the date to plan around.
The history behind the closing date is part of why it lands where it does. The restaurant's own site says the business started in the 1950s as the Eastern Shore Clam Company, a clam and oyster shucking house where local watermen brought in their catch, and that Bill and Sylvia Jones turned it into the Crab Claw restaurant in 1965. WBOC's account adds that the owners built a screened restaurant space upstairs to use the surplus oysters and crabs. Bridges described the layout to WBOC as no bar stools and no sit-down bar, just big shared tables.
WBOC reported that the property was sold in 2022 and the sale closed in 2023. After that, the Crab Claw leased the building for three years with an option to extend, and that lease has now ended.
The buyer is the museum next door. On April 27, 2023, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum announced its intent to acquire two adjoining waterfront properties, including the Crab Claw's home, and said it would begin planning for their future use. The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending February 28, 2026 list a subsidiary called 304 Burns Street LLC. The statements say it was "formed in January 2024 to acquire property adjacent to CBMM's campus," including "a water-front restaurant and parking lot which are currently leased to an unrelated operator."
The research for this post found no public plan, permit application, or historic district filing that says what comes next on the site. When Secret DC covered the closing, it noted that CBMM had described the purchase in general terms as a way to expand its waterfront campus and preserve historically significant properties in St. Michaels. No reuse plan for the building has been announced. Bridges told WBOC he hopes to open a restaurant in the Crab Claw's spirit somewhere else on the Eastern Shore. He did not give a location or a date.
Six days after the Crab Claw's last service, the museum hosts OysterFest on Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum's event page lists oysters served several ways, an oyster stew competition, live music on two stages, boat rides, and heritage demonstrations. The day also includes a christening ceremony for the restored buyboat Winnie Estelle. The Talbot Watermen Association and several local oyster farms will supply oysters. Tickets are $2 cheaper online in advance, and food and drinks cost extra.
The oyster events in town start even earlier. The St. Michaels Business Association's Fall Into St. Michaels weekend runs October 16 through 18. Its lineup includes Foxy's second annual Beer & Oyster Garden on Saturday, October 17, and Jack Russell Races on Sunday, October 18.
Foxy's menu lists locally sourced Whitman Wharf oysters, fried or on the half shell.
For anyone who used the Crab Claw as their go-to for out-of-town guests, here is what St. Michaels businesses currently post about off-season service. Several restaurants on Talbot Street serve seafood but don't post dated winter hours, so the table below includes only places where the posted details are clear enough to plan around.
Place | Address | What its own site says about the off-season |
|---|---|---|
101 N Harbor Rd. | Open year-round. Breakfast daily 8 to 11 a.m. Lunch and dinner weekdays 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., weekends to 10 p.m. | |
23713 St. Michaels Road | Open all year. Monday, Tuesday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. | |
209 N Talbot St. | Oyster bar. Posted hours daily 4 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday to 10 p.m. No seasonal closure listed. | |
Foxy's Harbor Grille | 125 Mulberry Street | Steamed seafood and locally sourced oysters. Site says "Open for the 2026 Season" but posts no winter schedule. |
Harrison's is right on the harbor. Its page credits a partnership between the Harrison family and the St. Michaels Harbour Inn, says the restaurant opened in February 2019, and notes that the tavern off the main lobby is open year-round.
Chesapeake Landing sits about two and a half miles west of town on St. Michaels Road, and it is built most squarely around the oyster calendar. Its site says Bay Hundred Seafood runs a local packing house right outside its back door and supplies its oysters and crabs. From October through March it serves a Friday Night Oyster Buffet with oysters raw on the half shell, fried, stuffed, steamed, as fritters, as oysters Rockefeller, and in homemade oyster stew. The restaurant describes itself as one of the few in the St. Michaels, Easton and Oxford area that stays open 12 months a year. Its market and carryout counter lists hot steamed Chesapeake Bay oysters. The home page says steamed crab feasts come back "in the warmer months next year."
The posted calendars point the same way. If you're looking for local steamed crabs after November 1, the next time anyone in town says they'll serve them is May. Oysters fill the gap until then.
Once OysterFest is over, St. Michaels has one more stretch of the year that draws a crowd to the harbor. Here are the confirmed 2026 dates:
The town's annual-events page still lists Midnight Madness with a December date "to be determined," so there's no 2026 date to report yet.
The Lighted Boat Parade on December 12 will be the first big harbor gathering since 1965 without the Crab Claw open. The museum now owns the property, and that evening its campus will be open from 1 to 7 p.m. for Winter on the Chesapeake.
If the Crab Claw's closing has your family thinking about its own place in St. Michaels, whether that's a weekend house or a property you've held for decades, I'm glad to talk it through the same calm way you'd plan your last Friday at the Crab Claw. Eddie Matthews has been working these streets since 2002. Let's Connect.
Whether you’re buying your first home, selling a trust property, or navigating a probate sale, my goal is always the same: to provide honest guidance, strong advocacy, and a smooth experience from beginning to end. Real estate is about people, not just properties. I would be honored to help you take your next step.
