About Us

In the 1980s, Ruby Jenkins(Shepard) acquired a 10 acre shellfish lease with the hopes of passing along to her grandchildren and great grandchildren the means, desire and joy of working the bottom of New River to provide for the future generations of her family. With the birth of RNR Shellfish Farms, and the acquisition of two leases, totaling 15 acres of farmable bottom, we are making that dream a reality.

Lease 8803, located between Fulchers Landing and Poverty Point, is our base of operations. Ruby acquired the lease in the 80s, but the history of lease 8803 goes back much further. Originally a land grant totally over 30 acres, the history of the lease can be traced all the way back to the 1850s. The Shepard family acquired the river bottom sometime in the early 1900s. It was passed down the line to Ruby, her sister, Eva Mae and her brother, George Kirby with Ruby eventually becoming the sole owner. In the 1980s, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) began a new leasing program and set about converting the older land grants, like lease 8803, into this state monitored leasing program. This conversion cut the acreage by nearly two thirds, down from over 30 acres to roughly 11 acres. When Ruby passed away in 1996, the lease was granted to her children, Meriam Jenkins, Patricia Jenkins Flynn and Bobby Jenkins. Unfortunately, after the deaths of Pat and Bobby, and clerical errors with the leasing paperwork, lease 8803 was lost. In July of 2019, NCDMF officially terminated lease 8803. However, a new regulation would soon pass that allowed for the acquisition of recently terminated leases, and Ruby's great grandson, Joshua Thompson, applied for and was officially granted the lease on July 8, 2021. Due to new regulations surrounding a small waterway that bisected the lease, the footprint of lease 8803 was further reduced to just over 7 acres. In addition to the original bottom lease, a two acre water column was added to allow for the growing of oysters in floating bags and cages. 

Born in 1916, Ruby Holland Jenkins (Shepard) grew up during the great depression. The struggles that she and her family endured and witnessed would help to shape the giving spirit that she embodied for the rest of her life. Ruby worked as a civil servant aboard Camp Lejeune, where she would eventually retire. Above all else, Ruby was a woman of God. The land on which her home church (Sneads Ferry Pentecostal Holiness Church) stands was donated by Ruby herself. Most Sundays she could be found walking to church (she never held a driver's license) and hosting dinners for the pastor and members of the congregation at her home overlooking lease 8803. Outside of her church, Ruby was most at home in her "garden" (lease 8803), catching clams and passing on her love of the river to her great grandchildren.

Dolphus "TC" Thompson Sr was the patriarch of the Thompson family and raised four sons who would all follow him into commercial fishing. Originally from Duplin County, Dolphus' family would settle in Sneads Ferry where his father began fishing and captaining party boats. Dolphus served in the United States Army during the Korean War and was stationed in Hawaii and Alaska after returning from Korea. He spent time in Florida and Texas learning the shrimping industry immediately following his military service. He would bring back many of the techniques he learned and adapt them to work in his home waters of North Carolina. These adapted techniques helped to make him a bit of a local legend for his ability to find and catch shrimp and earned him the nickname "TC (Top Cat)." He owned a fleet of shrimp boats over the course of his life and could often be found selling his fresh catch right from the deck of his boat at the Sound Pier on Topsail Island. Dolphus loved helping others as much as he loved catching shrimp. He loved teaching others the techniques that had worked so well for him and building, mending or redesigning nets for fellow fishermen. A steward of the ocean, Dolphus taught his children and grandchildren to protect and care for the waters that provided for them. Dolphus made his final trip across the bar in 2010, leaving behind a wonderful legacy of living from and protecting the waters that we call home.