Landmark Midlands BBQ restaurant to close Sunday

Two years ago this week, legendary pit master James E. “Jackie” Hite passed away at the age of 77.

On Sunday, his family will close the landmark Jackie HIte’s Bar-b-que in Batesburg-Leesville after nearly 4 decades of serving up mustard-based whole hog barbecue.

“It is bittersweet to announce the end of an era, but it is time,” the family said on the restaurant’s website. “The 23rd is special to our family as we buried The BBQ King two years ago on this date. We cannot thank our incredible customers enough for supporting our small business and sharing our love of BBQ across the state and beyond. The Jackie Hite family believes this is the right time and exactly what Jackie Hite himself would want. “

According to the book “A History of South Carolina Barbeque,” Hite’s restaurant got started after Hite’s father, Jack, a former fire chief in Leesville, began barbecuing hogs and selling the meat and hash as a fundraising event for the volunteer fire department in the late 1950s. The barbecue became so popular that the Hites began selling it on a regular basis from the family hardware store before moving to a “stand” and then a sit-down restaurant in the 1980s.

Many considered HIte’s barbecue special because it was whole hog cooked over wood coals, as opposed to pork butts.

Not only was Jackie Hite’s beloved in the Mildands, it was named the 39th best barbecue “joint” in the South by Southern Living Living magazine.

It wrote:

“The all-you-can eat buffet features whole-hog barbecue cooked over hickory coals on old-fashioned cinder block pits. The meat is hand-pulled into long strands and served with a tangy version of the Midland’s unique yellow mustard sauce. Equally impressive is the family’s version of hash and rice, the region’s traditional barbecue side. It’s made the old school way, with cuts of pork stewed for hours in a giant iron pot, pulled by hand into long strands, then simmered with plenty of mustard until it dissolves into a succulent, gravy-like concoction.”

In 2015, the S.C. House passed a resolution to express appreciation for Hite’s “significant contributions to his community and to our state and nation.”

The restaurant at 460 E. Railroad Ave. in Leesville is scheduled to be open each day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This story was originally published September 20, 2018 at 11:43 AM.