Just sniff. From the Nation's Capital, south to Florida, across the Gulf states, and to the Oklahoma plains, barbecue scents nearly all Southern breezes.

Woodsmoke curls along the roof of the South. In the D.C. area, many salute Georgetown's Old Glory All-American Bar-B-Que, which represents all Southern styles served in a senate of sauces and a congress of 'cue.

The sauce is thick, red, and rather hot at Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que near Williamsburg, Virginia. Southern Living reader Terry Holzman of Keswick compares Charlottesville's Jinx's Pit's-Top to Alabama's legendary Dreamland Bar-B-Que.

Lynnmarie Cook, our Associate Editor of Custom Publishing, pauses at The Blue Ridge Pig before she visits Virginia's Wintergreen Resort.

Love barbecue? You'll find dozens of delicious recipes in our Bar-B-Que special issue, on newsstands now!