The Power of the Pig

When you drive onto Main street in Lexington, NC, you can feel the power of the pig. Pigahontas greets you on the right. SeSEQUEALcentennial calls out from the left. Girl Snout requires a slightly longer hoof to the end of the street, where she sits with curly tail and wide-brimmed smile. These figures, part of 20 other fiberglass pigs littered through Downton Lexington, are part of the city's public art project "Pigs in the City." And as any Lexingtonian will tell you, this this is the barbecue capital of America. And though many may not tell you, there are likely as many dead pigs here as there are people.

In Lexington the pig is King. Lexingtonians have been digging pits in the ground and cooking pigs for nearly a century. This site tracks the history of barbecue as a cultural icon of that city and its people.