Mt. Olive Pickles-- Part 2: What Keeps Mt. Olive Going

Today, Mt. Olive Pickles is the nation's largest privately held pickle company, with one million square feet of production and warehouse space located on 150 acres.  You enter Mt. Olive and see signs saying "Welcome to Mt. Olive.  Home of Mt. Olive Pickles."

Shikrey Baddaour left the business years before his death in 1938, his homegrown company is one of Wayne County's largest employers -- providing more than 600 jobs.

"Without Mt. Olive Pickle, you might have to roll the sidewalks up," says Charles Brown, town manager.  "Mt. Olive Pickle is what keeps Mt. Olive going."

Plus, Baddour's descendants have been very active in North Carolina ever since.

--Cooter

Mt. Olive Pickles-- Part 1: A Lebanese Opportunity

From the February 2017, Our State (N.C.) magazine  "Bringing It Home" Karen Sullivan.

The story of Lebanese Immigrants to North Carolina.

THE BADDOUR FAMILY, MOUNT OLIVE

Dreams of a better life caused thousands of Lebanese to leave their country between 1880 and 1920.  In North Carolina, the census counted nearly 1,400 people of Lebanese descent in 1920.

Shikrey Baddour was one of those early Lebanese immigrants, arriving in the early 1890s.  The streets were not paved with gold as he was told, but there was an abundance of opportunity.  By 1924, just nine years after he arrived in the U.S., he was already running a shirt factory in Goldsboro, N.C..

One day, on a drive through nearby Mt. Olive, he saw farms where cucumbers were rotting in the fields, he was inspired to turn this into a profit.  With the help of 36 shareholders, he started the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in 1926.

And, you can go into most any store here in the Midwest and find these pickles on the shelves today.

--RoadDog