AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - March 2025 - 57

Jim Auchmutey enjoys one of the Aviator's Smokehouse owner Mark Doble's colorful stories at the restaurant near Raleigh;
pig statues are everywhere in Lexington and of course at the FBO at Davidson County Airport; the real deal at Grady's; BQ1
airport owner Roland Gilliam with Pik-N-Pig owners Ashley Sheppard and his mother, Janie.
Once again, I'm on Auchmutey's bad side because
I order a cheeseburger and fries. I find the look of this
western barbecue off-putting. This is no longer wholehog
territory but pork shoulder, and it and the coleslaw
are ground so fine that they appear to blend together in
a white sauce tinged with red, which is ketchup he says.
" The people in the east think that this little bit of
red ketchup in the barbecue sauce is somehow sacrilegious,
but the people here can't understand why you
wouldn't have it. This is good stuff, and they've been
doing it a long time. "
Pik-n-Pig Carthage (BQ1)
We arrive in Carthage, North Carolina, at the spot
that inspired our barbecue hop idea. It's a barbecue
restaurant on an airfield, which is known as BQ1, and
it's busy with aircraft flying in for lunch almost every
day it's open, Thursday through Sunday, 11 a.m. until
4 p.m. It had a devastating fire in 2021, and it has
been on our to-do list since it reopened in February
2023. So beloved in the community, this restaurant
was rebuilt in part from donations of nearly $30,000
from the rural community.
The cause of the fire is not known but it destroyed
the entire restaurant, and, with COVID-19, it took
quite a long time to rebuild. Tiffany and Ashley
Sheppard and his mother Janie are the proprietors.
Their background in barbecue
goes back to the family starting
in the 1970s. They came to
Carthage in 2006 and started
selling barbecue by the side of
the road and then were introduced
to airfield owner Roland
Gilliam (the official name of the airfield is GilliamMcConnell
Airfield). Gilliam tells me he put in the
strip for his own use, but the restaurant drew others
to land here. It's a challenging 2,500-foot-long
asphalt runway among stands of trees at each end
and has a parallel grass strip.
" Even though I'd grown up three miles down the
main road here from this place, I'd never turned up
into the airport. We came over here and topped that
hill, and as soon as we got to the top I said, 'that's it,' "
says Ashley. " You could tell it was a barbecue restaurant,
and it was rebuilt after a complete and total loss
to the fire. The whole building burned down, but it's
built to resemble what was here before. "
Sheppard is not a pilot but appreciates his clientele;
many of the decorations throughout the
restaurant pay homage to pilots as well as the allmighty
pig. It's a very welcoming place, and those not
flying in enjoy watching the airplanes. Those who do
fly in often grab and go.
" The majority of our business is local customers,
people who drive in. But everybody comes because of
the airplanes. And they come for the barbecue, " he says.
The pork butt is cooked overnight in a smokeView
the video
aopa.org/pilot/
march25
house, manned by loyal pit man Travis Baker. He's
up all night manning the smoker and leaves for home
and much deserved sleep when the restaurant opens
at 11. The restaurant also serves
brisket and smoked chicken.
We had amazing fried pickles,
and Auchmutey smiled through
most of the meal. Except when
I ordered the fried chicken.
julie.walker@aopa.org
AOPA PILOT / March 2025
57

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - March 2025

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