11 x 14
Oil on Canvas
SOLD
Bunn's Barbecue on King St. in Windsor, NC has been a destination for many a soul for its southern style barbecue cooked in the back by co-owner Randy Russell. The building itself has become a North Eastern North Carolina icon over the last several decades as a nostalgic time capsule of the mid-twentieth century when "Mom and Pop" full service filling stations dotted the country side and small towns of rural America. Ironically, this may be the only barbecue joint in the U.S. that originally served as a physician's office.
In the mid-nineteenth century the restaurant portion of this building sat just North of the Bertie County Courthouse near the corner of Granville Street and served as Dr. Henry Dunstan's medical practice. Dr. Dunstan had started his career as Surgeon for the 3rd Georgia Calvary which had been detached to Windsor during the Civil War to help defend against an inevitable amphibious Union attack from the Cashie River.
When the war ended, Dr. Dunstan was assigned to the mounted escort that protected ex-Confederate President Jefferson Davis escape through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Dunstan later returned to Windsor to open his practice in this building.
Sometime in the Twentieth Century, the building was moved to the North end of King St. and the overhead drive through roof was added to accommodate the building's new purpose as Bunn Weatherly's new filling station. Bunn later started pit cooking hogs in the back and serving barbeque to customers. Later in the mid-sixties or early seventies, Wilbur and Grace Russell bought the business and it has remained in the family since as simply Bunn's.
Last year it was covered in Garden and Gun Magazine (http://gardenandgun.com/gallery/gg%E2%80%99s-top-21-bbq-sandwiches) for its famous cornbread and barbecue sandwich. As famous as the sandwich are Grace's two sons, Randy and Russ for their passionate frugality, and when the reporter for the article asked about the sandwich's origin, the two, out of fear of somehow having to pay royalties to my mother, Ms. Nancy Rascoe, opted to not reveal that she actually was the one who invented it.
As a younger lady, she used to swing through between tennis matches in a whirlwind hurry and didn't have time to sit down and eat a plate, so a regular 'ol sandwich and a bottled Tab to go was the usual. One day, Nancy had started a new diet to lose a few pounds and always known to change the menu in any restaurant she patronizes, she said to one of the servers behind the counter, " Honey, surely a sandwich with only one piece of cornbread sliced into two pieces has to be less fattening than the traditional sandwich served between two hamburger buns. Even though, the ends may not have justified the means, a famous sandwich was born.
