Eastern Market

This guide to Eastern Market in Washington, D.C. starts at the Southern Maryland Seafood counter, shucking oysters in the South Hall since 1936, then turns to the predawn hours of April 30, 2007, when an electrical fault near a trash compactor started a fire. Investigators suspected arson but the city never proved it either way, and flames tore through a market that had fed Capitol Hill since 1873. Stand at the back corner of the South Hall, by the ice trays of crab meat and salted cod.