This year’s clambake brought out about 50 more people than last year; it was more than they planned for, said bakemaster William Reid. 

“But we’re never gonna turn somebody around,” he said. 

Smith Neck Friends Meeting hosted the annual clambake on Aug. 12 at their building on Rock O’Dundee Road. The clambake is a tradition going on over 90 years, and Smith Neck Friends has hosted the clambake since the 1970s, when they took over from the Apponagansett Men.

Cooking everything is a complicated process: a wood fire is lit to heat rocks up, then seaweed is placed on top of those rocks, which generates the steam that actually cooks the food. It’s a labor and resource intensive way to cook, which means help from friends and family is critical.

“Everybody just comes together and you stop what you’re doing [and say] ‘Hey, it’s clambake time,’” William said.

From the wood to the rocks to all the cooking and prep work, “everyone was very generous,” he said.

The bake brought quahog chowder and brown bread, along with stuffing, fish, corn, sausage, clams, potatoes and watermelon.

The day before the bake, William went all the way to Gloucester at 4 a.m. to pick up the clams. 

“You gotta do what you gotta do,” William said. “You make sacrifices for the clambake.”

His cousin Eric lives in upstate New York, and drove out to Dartmouth to help with the bake. 

“Someone said [the clambake] is like Christmas,” Eric said. “I said ‘It’s better than Christmas.’”

William’s family has been involved in the clambake as long as he can remember, and he took over the bakemaster mantle around 8 years ago. 

The clambake raises some money for the Smith Neck Friends Meeting, but that’s not the priority, William said.

“It doesn’t bother us if we make a dollar, it’s to bring everyone here year after year after year,” he said.

Joanne Fournier has been a member of Smith Neck Friends Meeting since she was 6. She’s now 88. She and Priscilla Mosher, also a member of the Meeting, grew up together in Dartmouth taking the same school bus.

“Everybody from the church pitches right in … and it’s a lot of the same people every year,” Fournier said. “And it’s so good because you see people you don’t see all the time.”

Smith Neck Friends Meeting is a Quaker place of worship that’s been in Dartmouth since the early 1800s. 

“The Quaker faith, they really believe in community,” said Betsy Szel, a member of the Smith Neck Friends. “This is how you do it … it takes a village.”

Smith Neck Friends took a two-year break from the clambake during Covid, Szel said, but still sold chowder out the door during that time. 

“This is a very local kind of thing,” Szel said. “I’ve taken pictures of groups of 13 people all in a row and it’s the same family.” 

The Meeting will next host their annual flea market in September.