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WBM september 2013
I
f going on a Saturday, even
as early as 10:30 a.m.,
it is not uncommon to
pull up to Lanes Ferry
with pulled pork in mind
only to find that this week’s batch of
20-to-40-pound BBQ is already gone,
hoarded that morning by others ordering
ahead.
“Come back next Friday around
11,” Big Mac says. “It’s next level stuff
and that is when it is really on point.”
Hungrier because of the emptiness
the sold-out BBQ leaves in your
imagination, a signature burger or
Mac Attack bacon-wrapped hotdog
with hand-cut fries or chips are a
placebo on the breakfast and lunch
café menu.
A walk around the grounds of the
historic ferry landing nearby and the
sights of the Northeast Cape Fear
River can also help divert thoughts
from the promised “next level BBQ.”
Although the current home of
Lanes Ferry Dock and Grill was built
in 1932, there has been a store next
to this Northeast Cape Fear River
ferry landing since at least 1881. An
article from The Morning Star on
June 10, 1932, tells of a robbery that
occurred at Mr. Jos. F. Westbrook &
Bro. at Lanes Ferry.
“The store … was broken open
some time on Sunday before last and
robbed of about $40 in money and
other articles, while the clerk, who
sleeps in the building, was absent at
church,” the author wrote.
Other records of the area show
its residents participated in the bootlegging
business during the Prohibition
years from 1920-1933. Another The
Morning Star article from July 19,
1928, describes the scene of a federal
raid on the Lanes Ferry still.
The pulled pork sandwich at
Lanes Ferry comes with any of the
homemade, vinegar-based Eastern
Carolina BBQ sauces or naked, piled
high with homemade coleslaw on
top and a side of hand-cut potato
chips or French fries. The Mac Attack
bacon-wrapped hotdog is topped with
jalapeño peppers.