Efforts to rebuild populations of eastern oysters ( Crassostrea virginica ) are evolving from single-species approaches focused on maximizing fishery exploitation to efforts centered on sustaining ecological processes. Long a productive and economically valuable commercial fishery, oyster harvest reached historic lows in the mid-1990s. Restoration efforts have been spurred by the recognition of long-underestimated benefits related to water quality and biodiversity, which arise from the direct and indirect ecosystem services that oyster reefs provide as they filter-feed and accumulate three-dimensional structure. The interconnectedness at the center of process-based restoration efforts must encompass geographical, ecological, and physical factors while also addressing the cultural and social contexts of ecological systems. I explored how cultural and social considerations can influence our understanding of restoring oysters to North Carolina's estuarine systems.