Shells have been around for more than 500 million years. The biggest ones - from giant clams - can be four feet long and weigh hundreds of pounds. The tiniest ones are no bigger than the head of a pin. Still, I'd rather collect shells than golf balls. They had fallen off a boat, and the tide scattered them all over the sand. Our most unusual outing was the day we brought home not shells but golf balls - dozens of them. On a good day we'd bring home a knobbed whelk that wasn't broken or an Atlantic bay scallop that was still hinged together. We'd almost always get a few clams and mussels and moon shells. We never knew what we were going to find, which is part of the fun of collecting shells. They had a tiny beach house in Cape May, N.J., a few blocks from the bay.Įvery morning my grandmother and I would rise with the sun, grab our plastic pails, and head up the sand-blown street to the ocean.
My grandparents introduced me to shell collecting when I was eight years old. Soon, my pockets are stuffed with shells and I'm cradling a pile in my T-shirt. I can't go to the beach without picking one up.
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