Jones family recognized with NC barbecue legends

An Ayden family earned another honor for eastern North Carolina barbecue recently when it was inducted into the inaugural class of the N.C. Bar-B-Q Hall of Fame.

Sam Jones BBQ, Skylight Inn BBQ and the Jones family who started the barbecue restaurants were recognized March 1 at the first Hall of Farm event in Burlington with more than 300 people in attendance. Sam Jones accepted the award and was honored with his father, Bruce Jones, and uncle Jeff Jones.

Other inductees included Kent Bridges of Alston Bridges Barbecue in Shelby; Steve and Gerri Grady of Grady’s BBQ in Dudley; Charles Hursey of Hursey’s Bar-B-Q in Burlington, Mebane and Graham; Wayne Monk of Lexington Barbecue in Lexington; and Charles Stamey of Stamey’s Barbecue in Greensboro.

“We wanted to honor these people who created North Carolina’s authentic barbecue tradition and set the stage for the state’s national reputation. They’ve been in business 80, 90 years — that’s saying something,” said Chuck Hursey, who helped to organized the N.C. Bar-B-Q Hall of Fame event and whose grandfather S.H. Hursey Jr. started Hursey’s Bar-B-Q in Gibsonville in 1949.

Sam Jones is the grandson of Pete Jones, who opened Skylight in 1947. Bruce and Jeff Jones continued the Skylight Legacy. Sam Jones operates the business with his family today and in 2015 opened the first Sam Jones Barbecue in Winterville. Sam Jones Barbecue also opened a restaurant in downtown Raleigh in 2021.

The family’s barbecue has been lauded through the years. In 2003, Skylight Inn received its most prestigious award when it was named an “America’s Classic” by James Beard Foundation, according to the Sam Jones website.

“It’s important to honor the old guard of this tradition,” Sam Jones said. “I’ve been blessed to have been able to travel all over this country as somewhat of an ambassador of North Carolina barbecue, which previously was looked down upon in the culinary community. It was not until Southern cuisine was elevated to fine dining that barbecue rose to being recognized as something special.

“The old guard had been working hard all these years with almost no recognition. I wish the people who came before me, like my grandfather Pete and his uncle, the man who taught him to cook barbecue, could have accepted this award instead of me.”

Friday’s event was held at the Alliance Convention Center in Burlington and was followed by a concert by the Oak Ridge Boys. A portion of ticket sales raised more than $3,000 for Alamance County veterans, according to Hursey.