Kings of Pig: Nahunta Pork Center

Workers burn the hair from pig carcasses for processing at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Pig carcasses hang in the coller for 24 hours before butchering at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Cured hams ready for the holiday season hang in a temperature controlled house at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Bacon, sausages, and country cured hams. Souse, chitterlings, and hogs' heads. Buckets and buckets of lard. Nahunta Pork Center, located outside rural Pikeville, uses "everything but the hair" and claims the title of "America's largest pork display." Mack Pierce opened the retail business in 1975, after decades of buying and slaughtering pigs for local farmers and grocers. The Pork Center still custom slaughters for both pig-growers and their own all-pork market, which features forty different fresh cuts of meat. Mr. Pierce's son and grandson, Larry and Brandon, now oversee the processing of up to 150 hogs a day. Nahunta also provides whole hogs to pit-cooked barbecue landmarks Wilber's in Goldsboro and Chapel Hill's Allen & Son. By staying the course while negotiating constantly evolving consumer tastes, federal regulations, and global markets, the Pierces of Nahunta's pork emporium remain North Carolina's Pork Kings.


-Rien Fertel/ The Barbecue Bus

Not a single part of the pig goes to waste in the process used by Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Larry Pierce, owner and manager of Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Every cut of meat imaginable is available at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

"America's Largest Pork Display" is open to the public at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Cured hams for sale at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Up to five days worth of hogs to process are kept on the premises at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Hogs from North Carolina farmers at Nahunta Pork Center in Nahunta, N.C. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus) 

Nahunta Pork Center
200 Bertie Pierce Rd NW
Pikeville, NC 27863


(919) 242-4735


Hours of Operation:
Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 3pm
Closed Sunday