North Carolina has no shortage of legendary barbecue, but some of the best smoke this state ever saw isn’t rising anymore. All across the backroads and small towns, there were old BBQ joints that once fed whole communities—places where the pork was cooked slow, the slaw was just right, and you could smell the pit before you ever saw the sign. Some of these spots are gone, some are sitting quiet, and some are only alive now in the stories folks still tell. The closed BBQ joints. The ones we still miss. The ones that helped shape what North Carolina barbecue even means. Because even when the doors shut, the memories don’t.