Old Hampton Store & BBQ Restaurant

Visit a step back in time at the Old Hampton General Store, located at the foot of Grandfather Mountain in Linville North Carolina. This Historic 1920 general store and grist mill, was the original train stop for the Tweetsie Railroad. Tweetsie was the narrow-gauge railroad that served Eastern Tennessee and Northwestern North Carolina when timbering and mining were important parts of this region's economy. Tweetsie came from Johnson City TN, down through Roan Mountain, over to Elk Park and Cranberry NC, through Newland and Pineola and then on to Linville. These towns and other small towns in between were heavily logging timber, mining minerals and became commerce locations for grain mills to ship their flour and grist products to markets outside the local region. The Old Hampton Store today is a thriving place to gather for fun, family, food, art and crafts, and live bluegrass music. If you are looking for unusual gift items and a great meal, stop in, explore and shop in an authentic old-fashioned store and gristmill. Dine in our quaint country restaurant serving up great barbeque piled high on sourdough bread, bite into a smoked turkey sandwich on the front porch, or have banana pudding at the picnic tables underneath the trees. For 28 years we have been celebrating the culinary art of cornbread with our annual cornbread cook-off. Contestants enter under traditonal and nontraditional categories. The winners in each category take home a gift certificate and their recipe is published in the local paper. The weekend is full of great food, live music, artist demonstrations, sculptures, pottery, and the best cornbread you have ever tasted.