Public Art

(The Fountain)

Bubbly Fountain photo by John Kaneklides

I was walking the dog as I always do in the mornings when I turned to behold this wondrous sight.  It made me laugh for the rest of the day... that's what I call successful art!

Little Log Cabin BBQ and Heritage Day.

(Barbeque, It's a Noun)

by Mary Courtney Blake

Last month, I had the great pleasure of attending the Barbeque and Heritage Day held by the Lower Providence Community House Log Cabin... or the Little Log Cabin to friends of the family.  It was an event filled with history, crafts and above all, Barbeque (BBQ).

In the South, Barbeque is a noun.  It is also a great equalizer and a great divider.  It is an equalizer because, 'round these parts, everyone loves good BBQ.  It's a great divider because, though we all love it, each region has their own particular style.  Here is a brief, not unbiased, cursory introduction:

The things we agree on: smoked pork.  Yummy.

Traditionally "low and slow," usually over some sort of wood chip.  I would say the most popular in these parts being Hickory chips.  If you wander far enough out of the Carolina region you may find some people who use charcoal... but that's not how we do it here.

The biggest thing we disagree on: sauce.  Also yummy.

Depending on where your loyalties lie in North Carolina, you may prefer a variant of 2 different types of sauce.  There's the vinegar and pepper sauce of the east and the slightly sweeter tomato based sauce of the west.  The sweeter tomato based sauce (sweeter because of the tomatoes and/or ketchup) is said to originate from Lexington, North Carolina, providing the Piedmont (the hilly part in the middle of the state) and the Mountains with our particular identity.  Thank you Lexington!

Now that's just North Carolina.  If you head south a little bit into South Carolina you will find a wonderful mustard based sauce to accompany your BBQ.  Kansas City also has a variant coming out of the Lexington tradition that is tomato based but much sweeter and thicker having usually included molasses or brown sugar (this is what most people around the country think of as BBQ sauce... the KC Masterpiece sauces of the world).  Memphis also claims to have their own sauce identity that is a variant of the Lexington style.

The other thing we might disagree on: pulled, chopped or sliced.  Still yummy.

This part is usually not quite as contentious as the sauce debate, and you can sometimes find more than one style of serving in one area.  Chopped or pulled would be the most popular in my hometown and usually what you get from a truck or local dive around here would be chopped.

All that being said though, my honest opinion and advice is simply, "eat BBQ."  So, with that, I leave you with a small pictorial tour of my Barbeque and Heritage Day Adventure.