Vinegar, pepper, a whole hog and heat. Seldom have such basic ingredients defined the history of a state, region, city, or locality as these have in North Carolina. The history of North Carolina and barbecue (BBQ) has become so intertwined with personal identity that the dish, and one’s preference of preparation, rivals on religious. It’s not farfetched to say the experience of tasting good BBQ can be awakening to the soul and the manner of preparation gospel.

When it comes to appreciating the history and influence of the dish in North Carolina, a good starting point is to note that there are generally two primary styles of preparation in the state: Lexington style and Eastern style.

As anyone in eastern North Carolina will tell you, the latter style is the superior. The story of eastern North Carolina style BBQ can be traced back over a century to Rocky Mount, and the style continues to flourish in the city to this day in local BBQ joints and an annual city celebration.

Historically, cooking whole hogs over coals has been a practice in North Carolina for over three centuries. Throughout the 1800’s the practice was primarily relegated to social gatherings and yet to be established as a commercial exercise. However, in the early 1900’s that all changed with the establishment of North Carolina’s first sit-down BBQ restaurant in Rocky Mount.

In 1922 Bob Melton, a Rocky Mount native, built a barbecue shed on the banks of the Tar River. Shortly after, he developed the site into a restaurant that remained there until 2002.

According to author and BBQ historian Bob Gardner in his book, “Bob Gardner’s Book of Barbecue”, Melton is “widely considered the man who firmly established the style of preparing barbecue that much of eastern North Carolina later adopted.” Gardner goes on to write that,“Bob Melton…probably did more than any other man to popularize eastern-style barbecue.”

Melton cooked whole hogs over beds of oak and hickory coals. Servers, adorned in white aprons, spooned BBQ, slaw, boiled potatoes and Brunswick stew out of aluminum tubs, complemented with cornsticks or hushpuppies. The restaurant quickly grew in popularity with patrons flocking to Rocky Mount from all over the country. Notably, when the Tar River overran its banks, customers would get to Melton’s by boat.

Bob Melton’s Barbecue put Rocky Mount on the nation’s culinary map. Melton brought the style of preparing BBQ that we now know as eastern North Carolina style to the masses and rightfully gained national and global notoriety.

In 1958, Life Magazine dubbed Melton as the “King of Southern Barbecue”. Rocky Mount was deemed the “Barbecue Center of the South” and “Barbecue capital of the World” during this time.

Melton passed in 1958 but his business was carried on for another 44 years before closing its doors. The City of Rocky Mount paid homage to Melton and the BBQ legacy he helped define with the dedication of “Barbecue Park” just off Falls Road on the former site of the restaurant.

A few years before Melton’s passing, in the early 1950s, another local entrepreneur was establishing a pit-cooked BBQ restaurant in Rocky Mount that not only added to the city’s BBQ history but played a role in defining Rocky Mount’s social and cultural history as well.

The Lincoln Park Restaurant and Motel in Rocky Mount was established in 1953. Clarence E. Pittman was the original manager and gained sole ownership in 1958. Every morning Pittman and his wife woke at 4:30am to begin preparing and cooking pigs in an outbuilding behind the restaurant. Pittman took great pride in his famous pit-cooked BBQ which he chopped by hand. In true eastern North Carolina style, Pittman prepared it using his grandfather’s recipe, which included only salt, pepper and vinegar.

The restaurant developed massive notoriety with a following that included not only Rocky Mount residents, but much like Bob Melton’s, travelers up and down the East Coast. The famous BBQ restaurant and motel was also listed in the “Green Book” for the better part of a decade.

The following decades saw the method of eastern North Carolina style preparation carried on throughout Rocky Mount and the Twin Counties as a whole. In 1972 Rocky Mount native and former Lieutenant Governor Jim Gardner founded Gardner’s Barbecue, which remains in operation today. Similarly, Doug Sal’s BBQ and Seafood in Nashville was founded over three decades ago and is still family owned and operated. 

In the Town of Dortches in 1954, S.B. Sherwood opened a grocery, feed and fertilizer store that would become Smith’s Red & White, which has been an East Coast staple for BBQ and pork products ever since.

Given Rocky Mount and the Twin Counties' close ties to the birth of eastern North Carolina style BBQ, the natural progression for the city was to celebrate this long-standing tradition. This in turn led to the creation of the Down East Festival in 1983. Hosted on Main Street in downtown Rocky Mount, the festival was a celebration of local arts, culture and of course the local culinary staple, BBQ.

After over two decades the Down East Festival came to an end but led to an even more BBQ centric celebration, the “Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down”. Established in 2008 and held every October in Downtown Rocky Mount, the BBQ Throw Down brings together dozens of pitmasters from around the country all vying for BBQ glory in the city that proliferated eastern North Carolina style BBQ.

The event is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) which is one of the world’s largest such organizations. The Throw Down in Rocky Mount is one of the KCBS’s largest endorsed events and the Society sends representatives each year to attend.

Since its inception, the BBQ Throw Down has been embraced by the community and represents a culmination of Rocky Mount’s persistent historic and cultural themes: food, music and fellowship.

Rocky Mount City Councilman TJ Walker told the TRA+C the BBQ Throw Down, “embodies the culture of eastern North Carolina BBQ and unity through food”, and describes the event as “one of the most highly anticipated times of the year for our city”. Walker continued, the “environment is family friendly and exemplifies the true essence of Rocky Mount”.

The 2024 Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down took place on October 11 and 12. On Saturday, October 12, the Throw Down saw dozens of BBQ pitmasters competing for $20,000 in cash prizes. Event attendees had the opportunity to vote to determine who would win the coveted “People’s Choice” award. The event closed with the award ceremony and a band party on Saturday.

As Councilman Walker aptly noted, The BBQ Throw Down “represents a culmination of culture, community, and connections”. A theme that is also representative more generally of the role food can play in defining local history and also bringing the community together.

Unity through food and fellowship is important in any city or community. Especially in Rocky Mount, when it’s coupled with an appreciation of the history of the area and a pride in the city that brought eastern North Carolina BBQ to the masses.

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