Crace Family Profile
"A Century of Charcoal"

The Crace Family has been involved in charcoal manufacturing for four generations, spanning nearly 100 years.

Jess Rawlins - In the early 1900's our great-grandfather was known to his fellow Southern Ohio residents as the community collier. A collier was an individual who burned charcoal. It was common in those days for farmers to cut and clear trees in developing their land. This wood would be stacked or placed in pits for burning into charcoal. This process was an art form, inexperienced burners would return to just a pile of ashes. Jess, the foremost authority on the subject, would make his rounds lighting and burning various farmer's piles. After several weeks of inspection and cooling, the farmers could sell the charcoal to local markets as a cash crop.

Roland Crace - In the late 1930's Roland took a different approach. He combined efforts with a local Ohio brick kiln operator and made charcoal by a production method. Stacking, setting and burning kilns under controlled conditions allowed for year-round, scheduled productions and the development of a local market. Roland also bought a small operation in West Virginia that specialized in selling charcoal for its carbon characteristics to steel/alloy mills.

Don and Joe Crace - In the early 1950's after running the West Virginia plant, the brothers decided to expand. The backyard barbecue market, combined with warm weather made Florida an obvious choice. For 15 years Pioneer Charcoal operated several plants in the southeast enjoying a dominant market share. Then in 1970, Don and Joe started Hickory Specialties. The company initially made liquid smoke flavor but within several years, charcoal briqueting had also been added. Over the next twenty years until it was sold in 1992 to Bob Evans Farms, the company had developed many product lines and marketed them to a worldwide customer base.

Don Crace Jr. and Sam Crace - In 1992 Cowboy Charcoal was formed to specialize in NATURAL "LUMP" CHARCOAL. A state-of-the-art, environmentally compatible, wood-retort plant was built in Albany, KY. For nearly a decade we have marketed hardwood charcoal to a wide range of industrial, foodservice, wholesale and retail accounts. We have enjoyed a client base as wide ranging as Williams-Sonoma Gourmet Cooking stores to the Brass Foundry Industry which appreciate our product's ultra carbon characteristics. Following a history of growth, new product lines are in development to serve the consumer barbecue market.