our company history

 In the early 1940’s J.W.(“Buster”) Ferguson Sr., was purchasing oysters from the public oyster grounds in season on the Rappahannock River from local oystermen on his oyster buyboat the “Nannie”. He soon came to realize he could make more money shucking and packing the bivalve. In the mid 1940’s he opened an oyster shucking business in Remlik, Virginia on Lagrange Creek in Middlesex County, Virginia and began J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. After serving in the Navy, his son J. Waverly Ferguson Jr. began working for his dad. During oyster season the company shucked and packaged oysters and in the off-season late spring, summer and early fall months they fished haul seine nets and marketed the fish that were caught. The business began to grow quickly and in 1952 the company purchased another oyster shucking plant on a manmade oyster shell island further up the Rappahannock River located at Butylo, VA. The shucked oysters from this plant were delivered to the Remlik plant in five gallon buckets and packed in smaller containers and sent to market. Buster began packaging his products as “Rappahannock River Brand” and a little later as “Choice of Chesapeake Bay Brand”. In 1955 Buster incorporated J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co., including his children, Waverly, Margaret and John and his old friend Thomas (“Doc”) Marshall who included his two sons, Tommy and Richard. Around this time J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. began a breading operation and Buster developed a quick freeze method with liquid nitrogen to rapidly freeze breaded and raw oysters. Because of the increase in demand for the company’s products, Buster, Waverly and the company began obtaining private oyster ground leases and began planting and growing their own shell oysters so the company could continue operations when the public oyster season closed and it reopened again in the fall. Waverly managed this department and they grew to be one of the largest holders of private leases in the state of Virginia and one of the largest planters, growers and packers of oysters in the country. In the early 1960’s Waverly began to manage the Butylo plant. Waverly’s five children, Jim, Jack, Joe, Patricia and Jerry all worked at one or the other or both plants in their younger years. In the late 1960’s The company started harvesting and processing soft shell clams for a short period until hurricanes had a devastating impact on their population in the Rappahannock River. In 1969 Waverly’s youngest son Jerry, at nine years old, increased his presence at both locations and his grandaddy Bus and his father, Waverly, both began to teach and prepare him for what would come later. In the early 1970’s Waverly bought the Butylo plant and began operating it on his own while still selling most of the shucked product to J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. plant in Remlik. In 1981 Buster and Waverly put Jerry W. Ferguson in charge managing the J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. processing plant in Remlik and helping with overall operations and sales. Jerry would become a stockholder, eventually a board member and voted by the board to serve as secretary of the board of directors and the third generation J.W. Ferguson owner of J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. In early 1984 Buster’s health started to decline and Jerry was put in charge of purchasing, sales and helping his dad with overall operations. In 1985 Waverly sold the Butylo plant and began spending more time with Jerry at the Remlik location. In 1986 Buster passed and Waverly began experiencing his own health issues. At this time Waverly bought his sister’s and brother’s stock which in return made he and Jerry the only stock owners of the Ferguson shares of the business. In 1987 Waverly semi-retired and began to travel more with his wife (Jerry’s mom) Corola. At this time Jerry assumed the full duties of company operations. During his time of semi-retirement Waverly purchased from his nephew the Miss Rappahannock, a Chesapeake Deadrise boat that was another Lagrange Creek icon. The Miss Rappahannock had been built by company neighbors, Atwell Burch and his twin sons Lewis and Stanley who had worked the boat for most of its life. This beautiful deadrise was in dire need of repair and Waverly had it restored to like new condition. It held a special place in his heart because he had watched this boat go in and out of Lagrange creek all of the boat’s existence. In the late 1980’s Waverly bought the Marshall shares of stock and he and Jerry became sole owners of J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. In 1989 Waverly decided to fully retire and he and Jerry negotiated the sale of the company’s property which included a 5-year lease so that Jerry could continue to operate the company at the same location. At the beginning 1990 Waverly passed down to Jerry, J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co., the VDH Shellfish Sanitation Certificate # VA 17SP, equipment and packaging inventory and all rights to use the listed for services rendered and the value of Jerry’s stock. Jerry W. Ferguson then began operating J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. as a sole proprietor. Waverly dissolved the corporation shortly after but continued to stay in touch with Jerry on a daily basis keeping up with operations and the oyster industry. Jerry and his father were always very close and Jerry continued to help his mom and dad with their personal affairs. In 1995 due to the decline in local oyster population because of disease and the lack of oyster shuckers, Jerry moved J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. to a smaller processing plant and continued operating. In 1996 Waverly passed and those daily phone calls and his dad are forever missed. In 2013, Jerry opened Ferguson Oyster Company LLC and then purchased property in Laneview, VA not far from where the Butylo processing plant was once located. In December of 2014, Ferguson Oyster Company LLC opened a retail seafood market at the Laneview location. A few years later Jerry moved the oyster processing to this location. December 2024 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the retail seafood market which carries a full line of fresh and frozen seafood, fresh and frozen ribeye steaks, prepared seafood and other foods such as pork BBQ which is smoked weekly. J.W. (“Buster”) Ferguson Sr., J. Waverly Ferguson Jr. and Jerry W. Ferguson shared the same passion for the seafood industry for three generations and over 80 years, always doing their best to produce and sell quality seafood products while emphasizing the importance to the cleanliness and sanitation practices of the industry. Jerry still operates with VDHSS Certificate VA 17SP, one of the oldest Certifications in the state of Virginia and continues to own J.W. Ferguson Seafood Co. Inc. along with Ferguson Oyster Company LLC.