Chapter 4 Columbia.. On the road again! Southern belly

Bacon Seed Beauty #4…On the road again! October 15, 2015. So it’s always hard to choose… which BBQ place to try, and what to do before and after? And it needs to be a day trip... both Linda and my schedules make it hard, so far, to do an overnight.. But soon, very soon! Linda is a good researcher ad looked up exhibits in Columbia museums.  Both of us had been to the Columbia Museum of Art for several of their shows (here we go with those billboards again… That’s how I knew about the Art Museum.), but we hadn’t been to the USC museum. Seems there was a display of the native tribes of SC as well as other southern states.  It just so happens, that part of Linda’s ancestry is Native American. I was ‘jonesin to see something at the relatively new SC State Planetarium…which is in the SC State Museum. So of course we thought we could do it all! Now, we leave about 10-11am on these trips, so lunch is often 1^st on the agenda, but this time, with so many things on the schedule, our well laid plan was to do the museum, lunch, planetarium, then other shopping! Then we look on the Trail map… the actual search for a place to for BBQ. So many listed for Columbia area, but many are chain places, that both of us agreed we could do without.  Then I see Southern Belly BBQ…just the name looks great, but wait! Heritage pigs and Organic food, What??? Kind of an oxymoron for BBQ. Definitely our choice. Southern Belly is on Rosewood drive. Not sure if it’s near any part of USC, but it’s well attended. We knew we were in the right place when we saw the big cooker right on the outside of the place. Thank God for GPS. Nice atmosphere and the weather cooperated, so we sat outside on the porch area. Inside is fine too, but dark, and sunlight was calling. They have an extensive list of sandwiches. No platters, buffet or the like, all sandwiches with fun names, like, The King Kahuna, D’jango and Southern Belly Dipper.  All with assorted mouth-watering toppings, but what we loved and wanted to try were the sauces a list of 7, count them 7, kinds to compliment your pork. So not unlike many folks, we had a sampler of the sauces to accompany our sandwiches. A tidbit to explain a little bit about me…Several years ago, I had made a decision to not eat tortured meat, if I could at all help it. I had done the research about feed lot beef, smelly pig farms, crowded chickens, and the way the factory farms often treat their animals and humans with less than ethical standards. Southern Belly’s philosophy and mine worked well together. Their pork was sublime... flavorful, like meat that has been well taken care of and cooked with care.  We took our time and savored our lunch. Nice atmosphere, nice servers and great food! And we missed the planetarium… just too much for one day.  Why rush…another trip!  But we did make it to Five Points to go to one of my favorite shops, 2 G’s on Saluda Ave. A closeout store for women’s clothing and accessories from cool catalogs, consignment boots, and an assortment of home décor and linens. So, the other trips, I took later in the year with some other friends. To the planetarium and back to the Belly we went … they were impressed as well! And loved the sauces just as much! Next time: Adventures in Myrtle Beach!

Chapter 1 Scott's' bbq in Hemmingway. Coopers Country Store, Salters

Chapter I

Hemminway, SC

Our 1st trip…. was in February 2014 to Hemmingway, SC to Scott’s BBQ. I had heard of Scott’s in an article telling about his family and famous bbq  catering to all the rich folks at a fundraiser in Palmetto Bluff. Seems Like Rodney Scott is quite the networker and entrepreneur…He seems to know all the top chefs in Chucktown and surrounding areas and his bbq has gotten rave reviews. If you are a foodie, no doubt, you’ve heard of him. Lately, even more famous with Anthony Bourdain’s latest episode of “Parts Unknown”. So, Linda’s all about it and right then had some free travel time. So we made sure Scott’s is open on Wednesday, (which sometimes is a slow day for me) and we and our GPS’s get on the road.

Now, this trip was after that wind and rain storm that had closed schools all around Charleston. Northerner’s (and Charlestonians', in this case) laugh about stuff like that, just because it seems so silly to over react…

Well, driving up through Georgetown and then through all the small towns up towards the PeeDee region, we were taken aback.. it looked like a bulldozer had gone up the middle of the road and plowed a path.. that many trees were down everywhere…it was far more devastating than we knew…

Then there were Cotton fields.. Miles and miles of cotton fields.

As you will see these trips started for bbq, but became getting to know our state….

So Hemmingway is small, rural and poor.. Very poor. Lots of land and farms and trailers…

And then at the intersection of Route 261 and Cow Head Road (yes I’m serious) is Scott’s (or Ott’s as the blown off sign now said) Variety Store…like a country general store with folks hanging around outside, to the Vienna sausages and paper towels and Chef Boyardee on the shelves to the ordering window for the bbq. Manned by mostly family, 2 ladies took your order and put your plate together.. They didn’t care that we were tourists or that we traveled 2 hours to eat there, they just wanted to know how and what you wanted to eat.

So, having been on the road, I have to pee. Where’s the restroom, I ask. “Around the side and up the stairs” I’m told. So I go on the search for the bathroom. I see the stairs, and at the top a torn up plywood door with a lock on it...That can’t be it, I said fairly loudly to myself…so I continue on to the back of the building.. I see the pit house and someone tending the fire..Lots of good smell and I’m hungry…but I have to pee.

I go back inside and ask again, “ I can’t find it…where’s the bathroom? With a bit of an exasperated tone, and the lady at the counter answered in kind, “Around the corner and up the stairs!”

So around the corner and up the rickety stairs I climb. I get to the top, the lock is indeed open, and there is a short hallway to a single stall bathroom.. When telling this story, before, I’ve called this place a piece of Americana …actually a frightening bit of falling down construction that, fixed up, would look completely out of place..

The BBQ was good. A little dry, but okay. The Collards and Mac and cheese  were as home cooked as they could get. But the best thing ever? The Cracklin’s. Not the skin’s, I’m told, but the pig rind…crunchy on the outside and soft and melt in your mouth delightful pieces of fat heaven! I bought 3 bags to bring home.

An experience and worth the drive? You bet.

But there’s more!

We finish lunch, with Linda getting a take home platter for her husband Jimmy, take pictures of the inside and outside of Scott’s, then get into the car…It’s still early, so I had another adventure in mind. Another foodie client of mine had told me about a place in Salters, SC. Country hams, she said…best ever. She didn’t know the name of the place, but like I said, we have GPS. So I put in Salters… it looks to be about 30 minutes away…

I can’t quite remember the roads we took to get there, but at some point we were on SC Hwy 521. We had driven through lots of country farm land  and found a little town. Not much there, but some “over the river and through the woods” kind of houses. Don’t quite know where folks out there buy groceries, but wherever, it’s a drive.

So we see a gas station with, get this, an ESSO sign… wow, my Western Pennsylvania childhood flashes in my mind! So we decide to stop there and ask where the place with the hams would be. As we pull up closer, don’t you know, I see hams! Lots of hams, hanging in the window…This is it! Then we see the sign, Cooper’s Country store. It’s been there since 1937.

Excellent.

It’s pretty much a gas station and general store, lots of hunting and fishing gear, lots of seemingly necessary odds and ends. And in the back, the meat counter. Seems they have BBQ as well, which, of course, we’ll need to go back for..

I got some center cut ham slices and a lb of bacon. Oh my…the bacon…I  don’t know what they do to it and am glad I’m not a complete purist, (I’m normally a grass fed, antibiotic fee, humanely raised kind of person) cause in this case, I don’t care…it’s the best bacon I’ve EVER eaten, bar none. It’s kind of kind the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie…I’ve had Benton’s bacon, Craig Diehl’s bacon, Smoked, twisted and turned bacon…this stuff is the bacon of the God’s.

As I’m writing this, I’m planning a trip back there with a friend who loves country ham. Whatever. I’m getting some more of that bacon. Luckily, they do ship! And I’ll try the BBQ!

And we head home…a fun adventurous day, lots of miles and discoveries, full of previously unseen sites and tastes and BBQ! Thelma and Louise, only better!

Next episode,

Woffords BBQ in Bishopville SC (and Pearl Fryer’s Gardens!)

Chapter 3 Okatie Highway, Hardeeville ( pronounced Oh-ka-tee ,accent on the OH) and the Oyotunji (you’ll figure it out) African Village

July 16^th 2015 Here we go~ Linda had heard of this African Village right here in South Carolina.  Really? Yes, Really. She wants to visit, and of course we need to couple this with a BBQ trip, So, we look on the trusty BBQ Trail Map. The Village is technically located in Sheldon, SC. Looks like there are several BBQ masters in this area, the coastal region of the map in the southeast corner of our state, from Bluffton to past Hilton Head down to Georgia Line.  We picked The Pink Pig in Hardeeville. Now we normally leave somewhere between 9:30 and 11:00 am. We got an earlier start this day since it was a couple of hours drive. And, of course, in anticipation of bbq, we are always hungry, so off to lunch 1^st.The Pink Pig is along Okatie Hwy, in a pink (of course) bldg. on the left. They also advertise a seafood buffet on their outside sign. Totally cute on the outside and in! Pink pigs flying everywhere, pink tablecloths, and a pink ATM machine, since no cc cards accepted….We ordered at the table, no buffet here. BBQ platters for both of us came with excellent Brunswick stew. Tomato based rich broth full of veggies and pork. This was one of the outstanding parts of this restaurant. And this I’ll eat.  No hash for me, thank you very much. A little too much of the innards for my taste…BBQ was smoked well, nice pieces, not too chunky or minced, though both can be great.. just good flavor. Very nice folks, and as most places, were excited to hear of our Trail Map adventures… It rates high on my list, and I want to go back for the seafood! Don’t tell the pigs. Full as usual, and Linda ordered a plate to take home to Jimmy, of course. So back up the road to the African Village. An unassuming sign on the south side of Rt 17 showed its location. We drive down the dirt road and come to a gate house as it were. Linda got out and found someone, who said it’s a private village, but they would find someone to take us around. At any given time, there are about 35 residents there, men women and children. The Oyotunji has quite a long history, starting in the 1970’s to honor and preserve the way of life for West African people in America. It’s technically a Kingdom with the appropriate hierarchy. They have quite an informative website, www.oyotunji.org.The man who showed us around was quite proud of his affiliation with the village and took great pride in showing us all the areas where they live, work, celebrate, pray and have ritual celebrations and festivals. It needs a lot of work and he said they do most of the maintenance in preparation for their bigger festivals…I checked the website and one is coming up in middle May. We met some women who were sewing some clothes and teaching some children this craft. Our Guide said they all wear white, pure cotton fabric as their daily dress. I’m sure it’s easy and helpful in the July heat.  Did I say hot? Oh Yea. so at some point while Linda continued on the tour, I found a place in the shade to rest and do a little meditation. They had quite a fountain that he turned on for me, which was very kind, as it added a little breeze to a sticky day. So once completed, we said our Thank yous, made a donation, and got back into our car. Thank God for Air conditioning. So another adventure completed… Who knew?

Chapter 2 ...Bishopville, Pearl Fryer and Wotfords BBQ

Chapter II

Well, our 1^st trip was so fun, we decided to continue.

In one of our conversations, I had asked Linda if she had heard of or seen Pearl Fryer and his gardens. It rang a bell, but she had not seen the PBS video or taken the trip…

When she told her husband, Jimmy, his interest was piqued and he wanted to come along. So “Thelma and Louise” decided to open the club…but only this time… Now a couple of years before, I had gone to see the topiary gardens with another friend. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look on Netflix or PBS.org for “A Man Named Pearl”.  I figured I could be a bit of a tour guide.. The 1^st time we visited, the Martha Stewart folks had just finished filming a segment on the gardens, so Pearl, himself, was right there! he’s such a nice ordinary person, just doing amazing things with his backyard and willing to tell his story to visitors from all over….so Kathy and I had our own personal guide for the gardens.

When Pearl is not traveling or lecturing somewhere, he’s home working on his bushes. I was so hoping he would be there, so Linda and Jimmy could meet him. We pulled up and parked, and there he was, driving around on his tractor. He showed us all over the gardens and pointed out new additions since I had been there. It was just as amazing as the 1^st time…

Now, of course, before we left Charleston, we looked up bbq near Bishopville. And Wotford’s on main street came up. of course we told pearl what we were doing. without any prompting, he recommended them as well, so that was good enough for us. We invited him to lunch, but he opted to continue with his creations.

Wotfords is family owned, open Wednesday through Saturday. A regular simple restaurant with red and white tablecloths, a sweet tea station and counter where you order your pick of BBQ selections. BBQ was tender and good, sides were succulent. Just what bbq should be… now, because Wednesday is their 1^st service day of the week, there were menu items that weren’t cooked yet, so a trip back on a Friday might be worth the experience…

A lot of local family owned places are just like this, since some of the folks cooking and running the places have other jobs. Or, just need an extra day to smoke the pig before service!

Now, downtown Bishopville also has the South Carolina Cotton Museum. We had seen a brochure and after lunch, drove around the town, found the museum and decided to visit. Fascinating. So much history on Cotton in our state… I didn’t know it was such a cash crop then or now…but remember from our 1^st trip, when we passed all those cotton fields on the way to Hemingway?

From the earliest cotton gin to much later with all the cotton stripping, tread making and weaving machines, it was a tool and dye heaven… so many moving parts on those machines. I marvel at the engineering.

Also on this brochure was an ad for the Button King Museum.  Well, why not? Over the river and through the woods we went. A long drive following the signs to the country part of Bishopville. 55 Joe Dority Road, to be exact. Finally, on the left we find the entrance.. acres of land with a house in the short distance and a hanger shaped bunker with the neon Button Museum sign lit up. “Come on in” it said. Seems this is the project of a man who suffered from insomnia, and would spend his night times gluing buttons on to, well, everything. From a Hearse to a statue of Elvis to a coffin and much more. Yep, a little weird. More buttons than we had ever seen. Truly worth a visit to the smack dab middle of the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.(www.roadsideamerica.com)

  

What a day! A 2 (or so) hour drive with so much to see.. Put a trip to Bishopville on your calendar!