© OpenStreetMap- 98 mi from Knoxville
- 2.3 mi from Piney Flats
- 2.1 mi from Pardner's
Hickory-smoked ham barbecue · Elizabethton Highway, Sullivan County
Ridgewood Barbecue
The Proffitt family's hickory-smoked ham barbecue in Bluff City since 1948.
- Today
Why go
Ridgewood has served hickory-smoked barbecue since 1948. The Proffitt family built it; in a 2009 oral history Larry Proffitt described seeing the foundation strung out with his father Jim as a small boy.12 He traced the smoking method to a family trip to Florida, where his father saw chickens cooked with piped smoke.2
What to order
Good to know
Hickory
Hickory-smoked since 1948.1
What people are saying
Posts and videos from people who’ve eaten here, pulled from 2 platforms and linked to the original.
- WJHLYouTubeView on YouTube ↗
- @jnichols_2121X · Oct 2023View on X ↗
- @BarbecueBrosX · Jan 2024View on X ↗
Tap a post to play it here. We never edit posts or pay for them.
In the press
- Feb 23, 2009Southern Foodways Alliance · Larry Proffitt, Ridgewood Barbecue
What we don’t know yet
We only publish what we can source. Here’s what’s missing.
- Prices
- Photos
- Wood and pits
- Cash or card
- The pitmaster
More barbecue nearby
Pardner's Bar-B-Que
Open dailyHighway 11E · about 2 mi
5444 Hwy 11E
Big Boy's BBQ & Grill
Bluff City · about 2 mi
4571 US-11E
Phil's Dream Pit
Elizabethton · E Elk Ave · about 7 mi
633 E Elk Ave
Nearest trail: Franklin and Williamson County Trail, about 248 miles away.
Researched by Erik Peterson, sources linked below.
Sources (2) · every fact on this page links to one
- Home and hours · Ridgewood Barbecue · Checked Oct 27, 2026
- Larry Proffitt, Ridgewood Barbecue (oral history) · Southern Foodways Alliance · published Feb 23, 2009 · checked Oct 27, 2026