Woodman’s of Essex
n an unusually hot day in April, I dragged my family from Boxford to Essex. Woodman’s of Essex, which opened on July 3, 1916, is a New England icon, made famous for its accidental invention of the fried clam. According to legend—and to the business itself—Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman invented fried clams in jest, frying up fat-bellied local bivalves at the suggestion of a friend. His roadside stand, co-owned with his wife, Bessie, had been open two
