The Shelton family has deep roots in Virginia and Virginia agriculture. E. R. "Bud" Shelton left the family farm in Amherst County to join Virginia's Department of Forestry in Charlottsville in 1961. As Bud and Mary Shelton approached retirement, they looked for property that would allow them to return to the land. In the fall of 1986, they and their children, Charlotte, Chuck, Bill and Todd, purchased a small farm in southern Albemarle County.