COVER / FAMILY ★
Southern
Story by John
Wells
Photos by
Martha Manning
Tradition
O
ne of the really wonderful things
about good food is that it can be
imbued with a sense of history,
of community, and of family. For Jimmy
Stubbs, this has cer t ainly
been the case over the years
as he’s owned and operated a
Chatham staple, Allen & Son
BBQ in Pittsboro, as well as
Stubbs & Son BBQ in Sanford.
family around the supper table, especially on
Sunday afternoons to eat real southern cooking which I’ve learned is real comfort food.”
The restaurant in Pittsboro
has a long history itself, having
been in business since the early
1960s, opened originally by
Henry Hearne. It took on its
current iteration under the
Allen family in 1967, and with
his BBQ chops long established, Jimmy took over Allen
& Son BBQ in the early 1990s.
Jimmy Stubbs is a longtime
Chatham native, born in Pittsboro. Growing up in Bynum, it
was Jimmy’s mother who, at an
early age, instilled within him a
love for and knowledge of cooking. She “cooks and bakes better
than any other southern woman I
know,” says Lori. “It’s always been
important to her to gather the
J im my ’s w i f e Lo r i
Golden, meanwhile, grew up
in Flint, Michigan, where she
lived until 2001, when she
moved to North Carolina to
work for ABC Channel 11. As she
puts it, “I planted myself in northern Chatham
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more a