Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City will host a launch Saturday, Aug. 26, for the first-ever book-length history of the iconic East Tennessee restaurant.

THE PROFFITTS OF RIDGEWOOD: AN APPALACHIAN FAMILY’S LIFE IN BARBECUE, published by Mercer University Press and written by Fred Sauceman, traces the history of the restaurant from its founding as a roadhouse in 1948 to its status today as one of the country’s most heralded spots for barbecue smoked over hickory wood. The restaurant is in its third generation of ownership by the Proffitt family and has never moved from its original location.

The book tells the story of how barbecue became the hallmark of the business, how the famed barbecue sauce was created, and how blue cheese dressing claimed its place as a pork prelude.

Sauceman shares how the fresh hams are cooked slowly for eight hours over hickory wood as smoke drifts through the small community named Bullock’s Hollow just across the Carter County line in Sullivan County. “It’s a smell both ancient and alluring. The technique is as old as cooking itself. Gas and electricity play no part. Wood, fire, and smoke are the elements. Pressures to modernize are constant, but labor-intensive tradition prevails at Ridgewood Barbecue near Bluff City. The restaurant has been located at the same spot since 1948, and it has been owned and operated by the Proffitt family all that time,” writes Sauceman.

In the book about the Proffitts and Ridgewood, Sauceman tells a story of persistence, respect for tradition, and loyalty to the land.

Sauceman shares how the enterprising Grace Proffitt opened a beer joint in Bullocks Hollow, and how four years later, the county went dry, forcing Grace and her husband, Jim, to seek out another means to raise their young sons, Larry and Terry.

Grace and Jim chose barbecue. They designed their own pits. And they created a sauce that only two people know how to make today. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Ridgewood is a barbecue restaurant run by the Proffitts’ pharmacist-son, Larry, and his daughter, Lisa, a registered nurse.

Despite its secluded location, the parking lot is constantly full. Diners from all over the world seek out the hickory-smoked ham, tomato-based sauce, blue cheese dressing, and swigs of sweet tea. Sauceman’s book tells the story of those remarkable products and the hard-working Appalachian family who created them.

“When the Ridgewood started serving wood-cooked ham, thinly sliced, with a Kansas City-style sauce, no one would have guessed that this family restaurant in rural East Tennessee would become a pilgrimage site for barbecue lovers, many of whom believe that its unique barbecue is the best in the world,” writes John Shelton Reed, University of North Carolina professor emeritus and the author of several books on barbecue. “Fred Sauceman, our foremost chronicler of Appalachian foodways, tells us how this happened, and it is a fascinating story, well told.”

Sauceman, members of the Proffitt family, and representatives from Mercer University Press will be on hand for the book launch, which will run from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the restaurant.