Oysterville is the magnificently told tale of four families who settled up and down the East Coast of America three centuries ago and subsequently migrated west, eventually arriving at the tiny settlement of Oysterville on the Pacific coast in the territory of Washington. Drawing on conversations with elderly relations and friends, on historic letters and documents, Willard Espy affectionately reconstructs his own personal past to give us a rich and revealing account of these families that were born, grew up, and died as the United States itself was being shaped and formed, explored and expanded.