February 24, 2021 An important era in the modern history of the Northern Neck came to a close last month with the death in Venice, Fla., of Elmer Lewis “Pete” Green. Pete was the last surviving Virginia waterman who was involved in the Oyster Wars of the 1950s. He was a native of Colonial Beach, where he was born in 1929, and lived there until retiring and moving to Florida in 1994. For much of his career, he was employed in King George County at the Naval Surface Weapons Laboratory in Dahlgren. As a young man in his 20s, he crabbed and oystered on the Potomac River, along with many of the other young men of his generation. The state line between Maryland and Virginia being the low tide mark along the Virginia shore meant that Northern Neck oystermen were making their living off of Maryland waters.