Rodney Stringer, 95, original owner of Blue Ridge Seafood, never planned on running a restaurant - let alone one that would remain in his family for almost five decades.
In the mid-1970s he was working as an air traffic controller in Leesburg and felt the itch to pursue small side businesses.
“I was looking for something to do during the last seven to eight years in air trafficking,” Rodney said. “[I always did] something on the side.” He drove a taxicab, sold firewood and Christmas trees, but selling crabs proved most successful.
Around 1977, a coworker suggested he buy a popular hamburger restaurant on Route 29 in Gainesville and turn it into a crab house.
At first look, Rodney was unimpressed by the building, but his wife, Cora, now 91, had worked as a hostess at a seafood restaurant. She realized Gainesville was due for a restaurant of its own, plus this one had an apartment on-site.
“She was always looking for three bedrooms,” Rodney said. “She decided we would live upstairs.”
The Stringers moved with their daughters, Donna and Gail, who were in their late teens and early 20s, and they got to work updating the restaurant.
In 1979, they opened the restaurant under its original name: Blue Ridge Family Restaurant.
The Stringers added crabs to the menu but continued selling hamburgers and french fries. Business was booming.
“It was just a new place to go, so when it opened, [the customers] just rushed in,” Rodney said. “When we had crabs, everyone wanted crabs and they couldn’t get them out there [fast enough].”
“I just can’t keep up with this,” Rodney remembered thinking. “All these people coming in from Vint Hill for hamburgers and we don’t have enough of a grill.”
They got inventive. They added shrimp. They phased out hamburgers. They boiled crabs in bulk in large metal cans outside. By 1982, Rodney dedicated himself full-time to the restaurant. “It was a rough road, but I enjoyed it.”
The restaurant slowly expanded the menu, and finally, the family renamed it Blue Ridge Seafood.
Over the years, the Stringers kept the atmosphere casual. With picnic tables covered in paper, Blue Ridge Seafood remains a place where customers don’t have to worry about getting messy. And when the family expanded the space, they attached a large carport to the building.
It was 100% a family business. “I came to work here in my 20s to help with the business,” said daughter Donna Donovan, now 66. “I’ve just been here ever since.”
The Stringers’ other daughter, Gail Constant, now 69, worked at Blue Ridge in her 20s. Her son, Kevin Ellis, and his wife, Angie, met working at the restaurant. Gail’s other son, Stephen Ellis, is a member of the catering team. His wife, Sarah, is the present manager, and their teenage son, Tucker, cleans tables.
When their parents moved to Florida in 2006, Donna and Gail took over the business with help from Donna’s husband, Mark. His sister, Jeanie Lingo, is the longtime bar manager. “At some point in time, almost all the family worked here in one way or another,” Donna said.
The Donovans’ sons, Daniel, 38, and Kyle, 35, practically grew up with the restaurant, and Kyle returned to be the general manager after teaching in Loudoun County.
“It’s perfect for him; he’s a people person,” his mom said. “It’s in very good hands.”
Kyle said he loves the job. “It’s kind of cool to keep your grandfather’s legacy going.”
Kyle believes the restaurant’s success comes from its quality seafood, including shrimp sourced from the Gulf of Mexico, lobsters from Maine and snow crabs from Alaska. Blue crabs, oysters and scallops usually come from the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
“We do our best to get domestic seafood the best you can and support our communities,” Kyle said.
Blue Ridge has a remodeled deck and tiki bar. Live bands play on Friday and Sunday nights when it’s warm.
Sherry Knicely of Fauquier County has worked at Blue Ridge for 26 years. “I love the family,” she said. “It’s a fun job. The staff get along well, and we have loyal customers.”
She said customers come from as far away as Winchester, Charlottesville and Maryland, and regulars introduce her to their children and grandchildren.
“It’s just a real family around here,” she said. “The older ones of us, we’ve lived here, and our kids have played together. Everybody’s kids worked here – both of my boys worked here.”
Mark Jenkins has been eating at Blue Ridge since it opened.
“When it came to seafood it was always Blue Ridge for my mom and my dad, my aunt and my cousins,” he said. “The seafood is second to none. It is the best. The blue crabs have been incredible the past few years, large meaty good crabs.”
Jenkins values family businesses. “The reason they are here and continue to thrive is they care. That’s the vibe here. It is still mom and pop, while every single business I’ve known in this area is a conglomerate."
After moving, Rodney and Cora Stringer opened a seafood restaurant near St. Augustine. They are now fully retired, but Rodney still misses working. “I’d flip burgers if I could,” he said, “but I won’t do it for $15 an hour.”
When he bought the business 47 years ago, he never imagined it would still be going strong.
Even if his family sold the restaurant, he hopes Blue Ridge Seafood would live on. “I hope some others continue in the business. I don’t want to see it go.”
Stacy Shaw is an award-winning journalist. She is the editor of Haymarket/Gainesville Lifestyle Magazine and publisher/owner of the local news site Bristow Beat.com.
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