Steve and Dema Crockett founded Point aux Pins, Alabama’s first off-bottom oyster farm, now run by Hugo McClure
In March 2025, nonprofit Oyster South honored Steve Crockett and his wife, Dema, with its Jules Melancon Award. Founders of Point aux Pins, Alabama’s first off-bottom oyster farm, the couple earned the recognition by hosting fledgling farmers at their Grand Bay farm to share knowledge and offer encouragement. But it began 25 years ago, when the Crocketts responded to a local ad. “To replenish wild oyster reefs, the extension service was giving people baby oysters to ‘oyster garden’ by putting them off their docks to grow, and we wanted to help,” Steve says.
The couple’s devotion to Alabama’s coast runs deep, rooted in Dema’s Gulf-fishing family. “One of my fondest memories is going with her dad to pick oysters,” Steve says, “so I knew this place could produce good ones.” When the oyster gardening program collected data on growth rates, the bivalves the Crocketts babysat outdid other sites, motivating them to dive into farming.
In 2009, area chefs and diners got their first taste and fell hard for Point aux Pins’ oysters. By 2014, Point aux Pins’ popularity led to expansion, which pushed the Crocketts to hire help, and retired military veteran and cop Hugo McClure joined the team. At the time, the Kentucky native who’d been out in California for years had never even eaten an oyster, but his first week, he pocketed valuable advice from a farm gear representative: “Listen to your oysters; they’ll tell you what they need.”
In 2020, the Crocketts retired and turned things over to McClure who, along with his wife continues the Crocketts’ legacy. “Steve is the godfather of oyster farming down here, so I just keep doing what we were doing then,” McClure says. The work itself is the reward for McClure, who once struggled with PTSD. “Being on the water, concentrating on growing a nice oyster, helped me forget all that.” And McClure remains infatuated
with farming. “I get up every day and go to work and love it still,” he says.
“Our oysters are briny but also buttery, and that’s intentional. The more you have an oyster out of the water, the more buttery it gets, so I set my oysters with the tide to get them out of the water some daily. [Author and oyster expert] Rowan Jacobsen once said they taste like creamed corn, and I agree.”
keep reading
Culinary Class
How to Shuck Oysters Like a Pro
In five easy steps you’ll learn how to shuck an oyster like a pro […]
In the Field
Coming Soon: ShellBound | Video
ShellBound is a three-part docuseries that delves into the wild, wonderful, and challenging world […]
In the Field
Marsh to Menu: Carolina Sea Foraging
In the marshlands around Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, Ana Shellem takes chef Dean Neff […]
share
Jennifer Stewart Kornegay
Freelance writer and editor Jennifer Stewart Kornegay lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and writes about food, food culture and variety of other lifestyle topics for national and regional publications including Garden & Gun, Southern Living, The Local Palate, Conde Nast Traveler, Modern Farmer, The Bitter Southerner and AllRecipes.com.
