Tradition Counts In Essex, Mass.

In Essex, Mass., tradition is served up along with fried clams.

Resident Ellen Attridge invited The Early Show to the quaint seaside town some 25 miles north of Boston.

"I think you'd like my town," she wrote. "We're a little town, about 3,500 people, but with a long and colorful past. Nearly all of the storied Gloucester fishing schooners were built right here in our little town.

"We don't have a real grocery store or a traffic light, but we do have antiques," she continued. "Essex has another claim to fame as well: We are the proud home of the fried clam."

That all sounded so good, co-anchor Rene Syler decided to

She found a tourist town where life revolves mainly around the water.

Syler met Harold Burnham, of Burnham Boat Building, who told her, "The most important part of our New England heritage is the maritime heritage."

Steve Woodman of Woodman's restaurant might disagree. His grandfather created the fried clam in Essex in 1916.

When the summer season ends in Essex and the tourists go home, Syler says, only the locals remain, carrying on traditions their families started there years ago.

"When I was in school," Burnham says, "I remember one teacher telling me that I'd never make a living drawing pictures of boats, which is what I spent most of my formal education doing.

"And the funny thing is, I do."

Boat-building is in Burnham's blood. His family was among the earliest settlers of Essex, and Burnham boats have been built there since the 1600s.

"The boats that I build are often historic replicas," Burnham says. "They represent really what we, as a community, can produce."

He builds them the same way his family has for 11 generations, from wood, and by hand.

"Once the log is on the mill," Burnham says, "I know where that piece is gonna go in the boat. … The fact that we can construct 'em in an area where they've been built, in the same exact spot, using the same techniques and actually trees from the same land, gives us an aura of authenticity that you couldn't get by making a boat out of fiberglass or steel or aluminum."

Just across from the workshop is Burnham's house, the same one his grandmother once lived in.

He says he's never wanted to live anywhere else. "Luckily, there's still a demand for wooden boats because I'm still working.

"We're still here after 400 years so, obviously, there's enough of a demand to keep me going. … It's either that or get a real job, you know."

Burnham is hardly the only one in Essex carrying on the family business.

Woodman's grandfather, "Chubby," was the first person to fry a clam. He did it 90 years ago.

"He decided to set up a little roadside stand," Woodman says, "and he started selling potato chips. So he had a big kettle for frying potato chips. … (Then) my grandfather got a suggestion from a friend, who said, 'Chubby, if you fried some clams in with your potato chips, I think people would like 'em.'

"And so everyone laughed at (Woodman's grandfather), but he tried it, and the next day he sold fried clams. Took in $35 that day. More money than they ever took in. And he's not a stupid man, so he kept 'em on the menu."

Woodman says nothing's changed in that regard. "We use corn flour … and then we fry 'em in the same stuff my grandfather did, which is lard. … It's the old-time traditional recipe, and we stick with it."

And, Syler asks viewers, "Would you believe Steve also lives in the house his grandfather owned, right next to the restaurant?"

Asked if he's ever considered moving away, Woodman answered, "No, the draw of the town and the draw of being here in the family business just was better. … To be carrying on the same business that my grandfather started is a big responsibility. I want to make sure that, whatever we do, my grandfather would be proud of."

It's pretty remarkable, Syler comments, that in today's world, where people just don't stay put anymore, that there's a place like Essex that no one wants to leave. "Maybe," she suggests, "it's the sense of history. Or maybe something in the water."

"A lot of people are born here," Woodman says. "They grow up. They go away to school. They may have a job that takes 'em away. But it's amazing. They all try to get to come back. They all try to come back."