Captain Ray Twiford was born and raised in North Carolina but has made the Eastern Shore of Virginia his home since the 1970's. He was raised and has spent most of his life working on the water. He was the first person on the shore to sell Fresh Shrimp out of North Carolina at his roadside stands back in 1981 where his catch phrase was " Get Fresh With Me, You'll Love It!!" This venture all began with a meager $1200. with which we purchased an old pickup truck, plywood to build a truck body with, paint for me to paint the truck body and we still had enough money left over for our first "load" of shrimp! The truck had holes in the floorboards and we were pelted with debris from the road and by the time we got back home from N.C. with the shrimp, the retreads were shot from it being so out of alignment! Aah, those were the days!
We bought an old bar/restaurant in 1985 called the Act III lounge and with the help of our then 2 year old daughter and lots of friends and family, we renovated it and reopened as Ray's Shanty on May 23, 1986. We quickly became known for the best shrimp and seafood around.
The restaurant has seen many changes, most notably the devastating fire in November 2003 forcing us to tear down and rebuild. This time around our daughter was older , we had a son to join in and again it was the help and support of family and friends that got us through and enabled us to rebuild and reopen April 15, 2004.
We are fortunate to be in a business where we get to share in the lives of so many people. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, proms, retirements, going away's, family get togethers and so many of life's most important moments and we are honored to be a part of them all. This new restaurant is already accumulating memories of it's own, most recently we celebrated our daughter's wedding here!
These days Ray can still be found cooking at the restaurant or greeting old friends and newcomers alike along wth his wife and 2 children who also work in the restaurant. When he's not here he's offshore fishing for fresh tuna and other fish to serve at the restaurant or running charters aboard his boat The October Moon.
The restaurant is family friendly and unpretentious, much like Ray himself, with nautical and Eastern Shore artifacts decorating the interior. The new restaurant also has a waiting area and gift shop to browse. We also still have the seafood market for fresh seafood to take home. It is definitely worth the visit to have lunch or dinner here or to take some fresh seafood home with you. If you choose not to , " You're Missing a Shore Thing!"
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