The story of Abner Butterfield goes back 40+ years to monthly pilgrimages to Grandma's.  She and Grandad lived some distance away so our family couldn't go all the time.  It was a bit of a trip and as it happened, about halfway there was a small soft-serve ice cream shop.  For some reason riding in the back seat put my brother and me to sleep but we would always wake up just in time to stop off for ice cream...and it didn't matter that it was 10 am either.  That's how it started... 

In 2011, my son and I began experimenting with hard scoop ice cream to satisfy a sweet tooth for creative home-style ice creams, one that even the premium ones, just couldn't satisfy.  While we started with more traditional flavors...Vanilla, Chocolate, Peach, Strawberry, Banana, Butter Pecan and Cookies and Cream... our horizons quickly expanded to trying new flavors and combinations of flavors.  Never having a shortage of taste testers has also meant a steady supply of well-wishing (and hoping) that we'd have a regular going concern at some point to help satisfy their sweet tooth as well. We built our first small plant in Stafford VA to produce ice cream for local retailers and our own retail operations at area farmers’ markets, schools, organizational and business venues.

In 2012, Sr. made the first trip to Penn State University to attend their world-famous Ice Cream Short Course, the course that covers everything from cow to cone, and graduated 2nd in the class.  

Within months, we launched the Purple Cow, a 27ft ice cream shop on wheels and started scooping and haven’t slowed down! In ten years of operations the Purple Cow hosted over a thousand events and made many thousands happier!

In 2014, we began switching gears. Sr. was tapped to host an ongoing entrepreneurial session at the Short Course, now 10 years on. We moved and began building a second, larger production facility and upgrading our equipment. We went “green” with the Purple Cow by adding a solar power system. By this time, we had created over 100 flavors and were a regular fixture in Stafford, Fredericksburg, and Spotsylvania.

In 2019, we opened Abner B’s - Fredericksburg, our first brick and mortar shop. Originally built in 1882, it was quite the project requiring a full renovation of the first floor including framing, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC resulting in a certified VDACS manufacturing facility. We opened and had a spectacular summer thanks to all our friends and visitors to the downtown area. Our creativity was sparked pretty good too—we added over a hundred new flavors in the first year!

In 2022, we opened Abner B’s - Stafford to serve those that supported us from the very early days, opening in August at the Embrey Mill Town Center just a few doors down from the new Publix. We make the same great flavors in the new shop, plus a huge variety of desserts made to order.

We appreciate every one of you and look forward to your visit!