For decades, the drab little building at the foot of Signal Mountain has been assaulted by sun, wind, rain — even the collateral damage of a mudslide that flattened a neighboring property in 2019. But if its weather-beaten exterior is showing its age, the restaurant inside is thriving.
For almost 40 years, Jeff Davis has been serving barbecue from Shuford’s Smokehouse on Signal Mountain Road, just as Shuford Johnson did before him. Davis kept his predecessor’s name when he bought the restaurant, thinking Shuford’s Smokehouse had a better ring to it than Jeff’s BBQ.
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And if the exterior wood is splintered and gray? Well, that’s part of its appeal, he says.