Tina Toomer
Take Me to the River
June 2026 Issue
By Edwina Hoyle
Photography by Cassidy Dunn Photography
Tina Toomer of Bluffton rises every morning at dawn, connects with the Lord through the Bible and prayer and lets God take the oars. Tina knows only too well that by placing her family, her marriage, and their family business in God’s hands, she must go with the flow.
To go with the flow is a metaphor that applies to navigating a river—to follow the current of the river rather than push against it. However, it doesn’t mean that one tosses the oars into the water to kick back in the boat, hoping for the best.
“I have to have time with the Lord. God has been so good to our family. I put all things in His hands, and He has provided for us. We’ve been very poor, and we’ve had our struggles. Everything we have, we’ve worked hard for. Through trying times, He’s taken care of us,” Tina said.
She and her husband, Larry Toomer, have owned and managed the Bluffton Oyster Factory since the 1990s, and their restaurant, Bluffton Family Seafood House, opened 17 years ago. “Our business isn’t just Monday to Saturday. It’s run on weather and tides, rain, wind, temperature,” Tina explained. “It’s a family business, and everyone jumps in. We’re hands on.” Their home is within a one-mile radius of both the factory and the restaurant, so she can walk to either location.
The factory opens each day around 5:30 a.m. for shucking oysters. The women who do this work are like family and have been with the Toomers for years. If someone calls in sick, Tina goes in to help. “I have to work if anyone at the factory or restaurant calls out. If the grandkids call to ask for a ride to school, I help out,” she said. Otherwise, her morning tasks are her focus.
Her responsibilities include catering scheduling, inventory, paying bills, licensing, working with water quality regulatory agencies, the Department of Agriculture, and the SC Department of Environmental Services.
“Oh, the paperwork that’s involved! Our logbooks are strictly regulated,” Tina said. “For example, we have 30 acres of oyster beds and harvest more than 4,000 bushels of oysters every year. If anyone gets sick from the oysters, the statistics and records would show who picked them, when, and where. We can trace back to exactly where that oyster came from. Inspectors are our best friends.”
The oyster shells must be returned to the water to renew the beds by January. That responsibility goes to Larry. Folks used to come to the boat landing at the oyster factory to collect oyster shells, but now, the economy and reseeding the beds has changed things. “Now we have to sell the used shells people use for oyster shell decorations or paving driveways,” Tina said.
The Bluffton Oyster Factory on May River is the last remaining hand-shucking oyster house on the South Carolina coast. It has operated continuously for nearly a century. Larry’s grandfather moved to Bluffton in 1913 and eventually started the oyster factory. It now operates on land purchased by the Beaufort County Open Land Trust and the Bluffton government for preservation.
The May River is the lifeblood of the Toomer’s business, but also for the Town of Bluffton. The river’s clean water quality allows the seafood industry and recreation and tourism to flourish. “The quality of the May River is what makes Bluffton so special. The Town of Bluffton does a great job keeping the river clean. It involves a lot of education.” The development around the river is regulated and septic tanks are tested every year.
“Sometimes I forget how beautiful the river is. I am so blessed to be here,” Tina said. “I started in the resort industry when I was 15. I fell in love with being on the water, so I quit the corporate world and became a shrimper with Larry. We’d go to Pizza Paradise to play pool and then go back to Hilton Head.
“I told him I didn’t want to live in Bluffton. There was nothing there. We see how that worked out.” Town growth has provided opportunity and support for small businesses, and now Tina would never live anywhere else; she and Larry are committed to Bluffton. Tina has served on the Planning Commission, and Larry is now Bluffton’s Mayor.
“Bluffton is a State of Mind” is the town slogan, and it definitely rings true with the Toomer family.
Up Close:
• Tina has four daughters, two stepsons, and 18 grandchildren, aged 1-21, with two more on the way!
• Tina’s daughters: Jessica manages the restaurant, and her husband, Ackeem, works there, too. Jamie is a trauma nurse and her husband, Michael, also works at the restaurant. Jackie works in accounting at Colleton River. Her husband is self-employed. And Jenna is a home-birthing doula in Maryland, and her husband, David, works in the electricians union.
• Thanksgiving is Tina’s favorite holiday with a big family gathering of nearly 40 people. She serves a traditional dinner with the only seafood being oyster dressing.
• Tina loves to go on afternoon cruises to beloved May River sandbar.
• Every year, the entire family vacations together on Florida’s Gulf Coast in Destin. Larry and Tina also take an anniversary vacation each year.