Scott has followed South Carolina athletics for over 40 years and provides commentary from a fan perspective. He writes a weekly newsletter (this email) year-round and a column during football season that’s published each Monday on GamecockCentral.com.
Scott Davis: The Rushmore to End All Rushmores
Guys, I don’t know why I’m doing this.
I don’t know why I would put myself in this position. I had other options for this newsletter. I could’ve made it easy on myself. We didn’t have to go down this road.
But once the idea flashed into my mind, I slowly began to realize that I couldn’t deny it, no matter how much of a ruckus it might cause. Together, you and I are getting ready to create the Mount Rushmore to End All Mount Rushmores.
It almost feels like everything I’ve ever done in my life has been leading up to this moment.
Each year as spring drifts towards summer and the Gamecock sports calendar slows to a halt, we’ve used this newsletter to build memorable Mount Rushmores covering every topic under the sun, from greatest Gamecock players to most loathsome Gamecock villains.
Generally, this is the time of year when my readers are most engaged with me. What can I tell you? People love Mount Rushmores. I do, too. And when there’s nothing else to talk about, it’s easy to find a reason to start arguing about the four most important examples of any particular classification.
For seven years now, May has been our Rushmore month. We’ve picked the best teams in South Carolina sports history. We’ve tabbed the most underrated Gamecock football games of all time. We’ve even used this space to swerve into some genuinely weird realms, often with delightful results.
To this day, the most mail I’ve ever received – about any subject, including coaching searches – was in response to my Mount Rushmore of Yacht Rock Songs (which coincided with the Gamecock football program’s first spring under the smooth-sailing and smooth-talking Shane Beamer). Man, everyone had an opinion about Yacht Rock.
So I’ve been around the block a time or two with this Rushmore thing. I’m a wily veteran, and I know these debates will always stir up a little controversy. Heck, that’s what makes them fun.
Still, there’s a reason I’ve never tried what I’m about to try.
Because there’s no more controversial topic than barbecue. And there’s no place more passionate about barbecue than South Carolina.
A Mount Rushmore of the Best Barbecue Restaurants in the Palmetto State? Who would be brave enough to touch that one?
Friends, I guess I am.
Where to Begin?
I grew up in the South Carolina Upstate.
Even in the Year 2026, there are still some old-timers in this state who insist that there is no real barbecue in Upstate South Carolina, and that real porky goodness can only be found in the Midlands, Pee Dee and Lowcountry.
I don’t agree, of course. But I’m aware of the perception. That’s only the first of many knots we’ve got to untangle.
In fact, we can start this debate by acknowledging that we’re not even entirely sure what parts of the state qualify for inclusion in a Mount Rushmore of Greatest Barbecue Restaurants of the Palmetto State.
We can also start this debate by acknowledging this: There’s no one single agreed-upon barbecue sauce that every South Carolinian favors, either. While the mustard-based sauce of the Midlands is the Palmetto State’s most famous flavor, it’s not universal. There’s the vinegar/pepper sauce of the Pee Dee, plus sauces that mix and match from those and other traditions in the Upstate and Lowcountry.
The questions seem endless.
Are we insisting on whole-hog cookery? Do shoulders suffice? What about those pork shacks that are only open once a week, once a month, or whenever the proprietor feels like opening them? Do those count alongside full-service restaurants? Are buffets cool? And surely we’re insisting on wood-smoked pig meat rather than gas-fired, right?
Is it too late for another topic?
Finding the Big Four
The more I began to delve into the infinite possibilities for defining the structure of this debate, the less I wanted to define it. I felt overwhelmed, like a man on a life raft in the middle of an angry ocean.
That’s why there will be no rules whatsoever for this Mount Rushmore to End All Mount Rushmores.
We’re just looking for the four best barbecue restaurants in South Carolina. The end.
Define that however you want. If you want four mustard restaurants, say so and we’ll count your vote. If you believe mustard to be poison and can only be moved to nominate non-mustard houses, your vote will be accepted and included.
If you know a guy who roasts one pig a year and gives the meat only to his closest relatives, and yet you’re positive his pork is the best in the state, vote for him and we’ll add it to the tally.
Your nominated restaurants can be in the Upstate. Or the Pee Dee, Lowcountry or Midlands. Your picks can be in North Augusta or North Charleston or the Orangeburg town of North (but may not be in North Carolina).
They can even include restaurants that cook their pork with – gasp – gas (but just don’t tell your neighbors or friends that you voted this way).
I repeat: There are no rules.
Well, there’s one rule: You must think your four restaurants are awesome, and that they genuinely represent the best four barbecue restaurants in South Carolina to your way of thinking.
I have a feeling we’re going to make some people unhappy with this proposed mountain of pig-based excellence.
But hopefully we’ll make some people happy, too.
Because nothing brings South Carolinians of all classes and creeds together quite like barbecue.
And nothing divides us quite like barbecue does, either.
This ought to be fun.
Send me your nominations for the best barbecue restaurants in the state of South Carolina by writing me at scottdavis@gamecockcentral.com. (Please do not reply to this email.)
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