Short Sugar's BBQ Restaurant (Reidsville, NC)

Short Sugar's BBQ Restaurant

Reidsville, NC

Their first location was a few yards north of where they've been for most of their existence. The first place was a former service station on S. Scales Street at Northup Street. I remember going there soon after they opened in 1949 with my parents and eating inside the car. It had limited parking for curb service, so it wasn't long before they built their present facility with a faux chimney at the south corner of the building with an addition later on which put the chimney more in the middle of the present building. The real chimney is on the northside of the building. That "chimney" used to house a phone booth.

No visit to Reidsville is complete without a meal at Short Sugar's. I have yet to taste barbecue in Florida that comes close to Short Sugar's and have often thought if they opened a place in Jacksonville that they would do well.

Source: Thomas Gunn Facebook Post 25 June 2021

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Along with his brothers Clyde Overby and Eldridge Overby, John (Johnny) Overby founded Short Sugar's BBQ Restaurant in Reidsville, North Carolina.

Legend has it that Eldridge Overby, who was on the short side, got his nickname in the late 1940s when his girlfriend, hearing her favorite song playing on a jukebox shouted, "I want to dance with my short sugar." From that day on, Eldridge Overby was known as "Short Sugar."

He and his brothers, Johnny and Clyde, went on to build Overby Brothers Drive-In. But just two days before the opening, Eldridge was killed in a car wreck. Johnny and Clyde decided to name the place after their departed brother, and Short Sugar's Drive-In was born.

Photograph courtesy The Caswell Messenger (Yanceyville, NC)

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So, other than its location in neighboring Rockingham County, what is the relationship of Short Sugar's to Caswell County?

Answer: David Burke Wilson, Bartlett Yancey High School Graduate, married Leatrice Ann Overby. She is a daughter of John Alvis (Johnny) Overby who, with his brothers, established what became Short Sugar's.

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In the early eighties I worked for a former V.P. in charge of development at Bodie-Noell enterprises (Hardees) and he said he approached them about becoming an national chain but they said no because it would mean that they would have to be open on Sundays.

Source: John Howard Facebook Post 25 June 2021.

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Short Sugar's in Danville on Riverside Drive was a great asset to the city over a decade ago. It hurt when it closed. It was a great political campaign stop. The BBQ was outstanding, and the hickory fired ovens wafted the aroma up and down the Dan River. Short Sugar's in Reidsville has been a hot attraction since the sixties for us. In my neighborhood now, it's Lillard's Family Restaurant in Providence on Old NC 86, minced BBQ served once a week.

Source: Gordon Bendall Facebook Post 25 June 2021.