MYSTERY PHOTO: Under construction

Just where in the Charleston area might you have seen this building?  For those of you who use Google images to try to scout this new building, good luck!  Send your guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.

Our previous Mystery Photo

Our Oct. 28 mystery, “Great flower boxes” showed the exterior of Rodney Scott’s barbecue joint on upper King Street in Charleston.  Just looking at the building makes one’s mouth water for Scott’s tasty pork sandwiches.  

Congratulations to several alert readers who identified the location:  George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Stephen Yetman and Sandra W. Campbell, both of Charleston; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Ray Pantlik of Kiawah Island and Kristina Wheeler of West Ashley.

“According to washingtonpost.com, Rodney Scott was born in 1971 in Philadelphia, but the following year, his parents, Roosevelt and Ella, whisked their only child to South Carolina, where Ella’s father had land around Nesmith, a small community in Pee Dee. The family became farmers, raising hogs and growing tobacco and other crops. Come harvest time, or the holidays, the family would smoke a hog. It’s what folks did in the area. 

“Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in Charleston, a counter-service restaurant that puts a sleek, fast-casual spin on an old Pee Dee tradition. The place debuted in February 2017 with 64 seats and a menu that went well beyond the Scott family’s signature whole-hog barbecue with a spicy vinegar sauce. It also features spare ribs, fried catfish and a rib-eye sandwich.  Scott was nominated by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef: Southeast and became only the second pitmaster to win a Beard chef award.”

Peel, a Texan, wrote:  “The Charleston City Paper rated this restaurant as “Best Pitmaster” for both 2018 and 2019, once again beating out the 2017 winner, John Lewis (of Lewis Barbecue fame). Rodney was also named the Southeast winner of the ‘2018 James Beard Best Chef Award’. While I have never eaten there myself, I guess that the food at Rodney’s place may be pretty good…even if it isn’t Texas BBQ 😉

“Rodney Scott’s BBQ website provides an interesting story behind Rodney Scott’s rise to fame. The Scott’s family opened a convenience and grocery store in Hemingway, S.C., when Rodney was only 1-year old. They sold local produce throughput the week, but they would smoke a whole hog every Thursday using the whole hog pits that they built behind the store. Rodney himself smoked his first hog when he was only 11-years old, and he hasn’t looked back since!

“Over time, the Scott’s increased the frequency of how often they would smoke hogs. By 2012, they were offering their customers, who would drive all the way from Charleston, some 90 miles to the south, for a taste of hog heaven. Their smoked hogs were so popular, that Charleston residents started begging them to open up a place in Charleston. So in July 2016, Rodney Scott left the family business in Hemingway, and opened Rodney Scott’s BBQ on King Street in Charleston. Since then, Rodney has opened another location in Birmingham, and has recently announced that a third location will be opened in Atlanta (in the spring of 2020). What’s up, Rodney … scared to come to Texas?”

• Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.