Survivalist Cue — Bunn's Barbecue, Windsor, NC

Bunn's Barbecue cornbread sandwich, Windsor, NC. ( Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Hurricane Ginger struck in 1971. After two-and-a-half decades of calm, Dennis, Floyd, and Irene made 1999 a hurricane-heavy year. Rain-soaker Tropical Storm Nicole fell in 2010. Hurricane Irene landed in August of the year following. All six storms caused the Cashie River in tiny downtown Windsor to overflow its banks, in effect, inundating historic, since 1938, Bunn’s Barbecue each time. As Bunn’s co-owner Randy Russell tells it, “We know all about flooding.”

John Henry Williams — Legend of the Lodge

John Henry Williams at Red Bridges Barbecue in Shelby, North Carolina. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

Listen to Rien's interview with Mr. John Henry Williams on the play button below.


John Henry Williams is living North Carolina barbecue history. His sixty-six-plus years working for the same establishment just might set the record for longevity. When Red and Lyttle Bridges began serving sandwiches from a Shelby-town cattle feedlot in 1946, sixteen year old John Henry cooked the pork shoulders. In the 1950s, when Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge opened in a modernized location, he served cars as a curb boy. And now, on Sundays, this legend of the Lodge can be found behind the counter making sure everything is done the exact same way, a seven-decade-old formula that resides only in his memory. John Henry still delights in his devotion to Bridges Barbecue: “It’s a real good place and I love it, bound to, to be here sixty-six years.”

- Rien Fertel/ The Barbecue Bus

Brother, Sister, Barbecue - Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge

Natalie Ramsey, center, and the rest of the Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge crew chat between shifts, at the restaurant in Shelby, NC. (Photo by Denny Culbert)

Natalie Ramsey and Chase Webb, sister and brother, have inherited their mother’s smile, finish and start each other’s sentences, and together operate Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge, one of North Carolina’s oldest barbecue houses. Guided by mom, Lodge owner
Debbie Bridges-Webb, Natalie oversees the front of the house, with its plush blue-vinyl booths; Chase sits up all night watching the pork shoulders roast-tender over hickory coals.

Sonny Conrad — Barbecue Center: When You Dip I Dip We Dip.

Sonny Conrad at his restaurant the Barbecue Center in Lexington, NC. (Photo by Denny Culbert/ The Barbecue Bus)

In Lexington, North Carolina barbecue eaters don’t squirt on sauce, they dip in dip.