It wasn’t on the menu. In fact, mashed potatoes and pot roast or meatballs and ziti, the choices at Thursday’s luncheon meeting of the Warwick Rotary Club, are a stretch from clamcakes and chowder.

But it was the clam that commanded the attention of the service organization at Chelo’s restaurant. David Norton Stone saw to that.

Stone, who is a lawyer in the reinsurance industry, didn’t get any argument with his conclusion that no matter what happens at Rocky Point, the clam is going to have a place in the park’s future.

Stone, a graduate of Hendricken, Yale and the University of Connecticut School of Law, has a long relationship with Rocky Point dating back to the days when it was renowned for its amusement rides and the world’s largest shore dinner hall. As a boy, he spent summers in Highland Beach, “a sniff” away from the Shore Dinner Hall. He, like so many young Rhode Islanders at the time, worked summers at the park. And, not surprisingly, according to his account, he had clamcakes and chowder for lunch every day.

Not that this makes Stone an expert on the culinary attributes of the clam. His credentials are far greater, and that was the reason he was speaking to the Rotary Club. He is the author of the three titles in the Rhode Island Quahog Trilogy: “Clamcake Summer,” “Stuffie Summer” and “Chowder Summer.”

And to set the stage, Stone started his comments quoting an anonymous poem popular in the 19th century:

You cannot choose your earthly lot

You cannot right all wrongs

The clam likes not

The chowder hot

But that’s where he belongs.

From his research, Stone provided a trip back to 1878 when the Continental Steamboat Company bought Rocky Point for $1.3 million.

“Owning the steamships and the park was a clever idea, akin to entertainment companies today who own both the companies that produce content and distribute it. The steamer wars were on, and the company’s ship What-Cheer used to nose the other boats out of the way at the pier to land its passengers first,” he read from one of his books. He described how the steamship company published a handbook in July 1882 that “captures in amber the glory days of the Rhode Island shore dinner, and is written in an utterly charming fashion.”

Stone read from the guide how visitors arriving at Rocky Point by steamboat are first greeted by a massive brass lion on a rock; the 160-foot observation tower; the pure fresh water that poured from 10 faucets; the immense cage of monkeys; a skating rink; a tent of Indians making baskets; refreshment stands and the views of the Bay, including the islands of Patience, Prudence, Hope and Despair.

And then Stone got to the clams.

He read the guide’s description of the Ocean House and how it could seat 2,000 at one time, and how on the occasion of President Hayes’ visit to the Rocky Point hotel, 250 bushels of clams were consumed. Quoting the guide, Stone read, “A hot fire, made of hickory sticks, is snapping and cracking as its flames rush up the chimney erected over the platform of stones upon which the fire is built. Smooth, round stones placed between the pieces of wood become red-hot with the heat. When all is burned, the ashes are swept away, and clams, corn and other vegetables are piled upon the stones and covered with seaweed. A bucket of water and a sailcloth to keep in the steam is added, and the clams are let to cook.”

Bringing his audience back to today, Stone talked about the Rocky Point Clam Shack on Post Road and how he is amazed by how its patrons seem to be watching the traffic from their tables.

“It hit me,” he said. “They were facing the Bay, orienting themselves to true Rocky Point, even as they enjoyed its spirit somewhere else.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be eating a meal like that again at Rocky Point itself? Imagine arriving at Rocky Point, like one did in 1882, by boat and attending a clambake along the water.  Eating a Rocky Point clam feast was once an event to boast about for the rest of your life. It could be that way again. And it would not take more than a few dedicated people to make it happen,” he said.

Stone got nods from Rotarians, who by then had finished their pot roast and meatballs. Undoubtedly many were thinking of clamcakes and the park’s famous “orange” chowder.