Diving into the History of East Tennessee's Ridgewood Barbecue

In the book The Proffitts of Ridgewood, author Fred W. Sauceman tells the story of the Original Ridgewood Barbecue.

This week’s guest article is written by Monk, a native of North Carolina and co-founder of the Barbecue Bros blog. Along with his friends and fellow Barbecue Bros Speedy and Rudy, Monk has traveled around eating, rating, ranking, and reviewing barbecue joints since 2012. If you would like to write a guest article for The Smoke Sheet, please get in touch.

The Original Ridgewood Barbecue is an East Tennessee institution founded 75 years ago by the Proffitt family in the shadows of the famed Bristol Motor Speedway. The Proffitts still own and run the restaurant that was carved into the side of a mountain in Bullock's hollow, with a third generation of family working there now.

In the book The Proffitts of Ridgewood: An Appalachian Family's History of Barbecue, author Fred W. Sauceman (now there's a name for a barbecue writer) tells its history. It includes stories of not only the Proffitts, but also many of the longtime staff, who have worked there for decades.

The book The Proffits of Ridgewood dives into the history of the Original Ridgewood Barbecue in East Tennessee. (Photo by Monk)

Ridgewood's barbecue is different from what you'll find in North Carolina or even a few hours away in Memphis. They smoke just the hams of the hog and then thinly slice them before dressing them with their famous barbecue sauce and a mayo-based slaw. It's like nothing you'll likely have ever tasted but it has its fans, many of whom travel from hours away.

Even North Carolinians like the late NASCAR driver Junior Johnson or author John Shelton Reed (who is originally from Tennessee and is a friend of Sauceman) sing praises of its barbecue; Ridgewood is the only barbecue restaurant outside of NC mentioned in Shelton's seminal book Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue.

Another NC note: in the preface, Sauceman compares Ridgewood to famed Red Bridges Barbeque Lodge in Shelby not because of similar barbecue styles but because they are roughly the same age and have been traditionally run by strong women: Grace Proffitt at Ridgewood and Lyttle Bridges, Debbie Webb, and Natalie Webb Ramsey at Red Bridges.