‘Andre the Giant’ marker puts smalltown Ellerbe into spotlight
With a new roadside plaque unveiled in Ellerbe on April 23, legendary wrestler and local resident André René Roussimoff is finally getting the formal recognition fans believe he deserves.
Born in Coulommiers, France (where he famously received rides to school from his neighbor, Nobel-winning “Waiting for Godot” playwright Samuel Beckett), the 7-foot-4-inch Roussimoff’s unlikely path to becoming an international superstar still captivates his fans’ imaginations, even three decades after his death at age 46.
Yet, his decision to settle in rural North Carolina, where he rode four-wheelers and attended pig-pickin’ parties during his time off the road, may seem downright inconceivable.
It is all part of the lore surrounding the man known to many as “Andre the Giant,” whom children everywhere continue to recognize for his portrayal as Fezzik in the 1987 Rob Reiner-directed classic “The Princess Bride.”
A PLACE TO ESCAPE
Roussimoff first became acquainted with Ellerbe, about a 90-minute drive east of Charlotte, through wrestling promoters Dino Bravo and Gino Brito.
Reportedly drawn to it because of its similarity to the French countryside, he purchased 9 acres from local businessman Tommy Suggs in 1978, continuing to expand the property over the next decade into a 194-acre ranch along Big Mountain Creek.
Jackie McAuley — who served (with her late ex-husband, Joseph “Frenchie” Bernard) as caretaker of Roussimoff’s Ellerbe estate — said the bucolic retreat was the place where he could put aside the famous persona and simply be himself.
“This was where Andre could just be Andre, not Andre the Giant,” McAuley told Carolina Journal.
While in Ellerbe, Roussimoff could lounge on his sun deck or feast on artichokes with his two miniature dachshunds, Missy and Lonnie, wedged on either side of him.
He also kept longhorn cattle, which he purchased from friend and fellow wrestler Vladimir Koloff (né Carl Brantley) from a ranch in Wilkesboro.
And he enjoyed heading to the Rankin Museum of American Heritage on Church Street, where he would seat himself on a circular, buckskin-covered bench in the center of the room and admire the extensive array of historical artifacts from the collection of his good friend and physician, Dr. Pressley Rankin.
The museum, Ellerbe’s scaled-down answer to the Smithsonian Institution, now houses one of the few known public exhibits displaying memorabilia from Roussimoff’s extraordinary career — much of it donated by McAuley.
“I had all of this Andre stuff, and something — something I read, something I heard — had gotten into my head and I’m like, ‘You know, this stuff is just rotting in the attic,” she said
With help from a colleague at the local soil and water board, she loaded it up in a truck and dropped it off in a large pile for the museum.
“It’s really amazing to see the, the footprint, if you will, that he left,” said Brett Webb, president of the Rankin Museum’s board of directors. “And then again, on the local side of it, he was just — I mean, everybody talks about just what a nice guy he was.”
THE MARK OF PROGRESS
The new historical marker from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation, is a small but significant first step in memorializing the impact that Roussimoff had during his nearly 15-year residence in Ellerbe.
On Thursday, representatives from the DNCR joined local officials, along with several dozen of Roussimoff’s friends and fans, to unveil the marker beside the Ellerbe Rest Stop, at the intersection of highways 73 and 220.
Roussimoff’s estate, which was auctioned off after his death in 1993, remains privately owned. Although not visible during summer months due to tree cover, passers-by can see the barns in wintertime from Highway 73, on a stretch of road named in honor of Dr. Rankin.
Roussimoff’s roadside marker, placed a few miles from the actual estate, was the result of a lengthy application process initiated by historical enthusiast Forest Hazel.
“I’m just pleased to see people […] getting the recognition that they deserve,” Hazel told Carolina Journal during the unveiling ceremony. “All these little bits of history play a part in the story of North Carolina. That’s the important thing.”
Hazel has worked previously with the DNCR to get several markers placed recognizing the Native American tribes that once inhabited the state. He is working next to get a marker placed for the Rev. CD Brewington, a Croatan Indian educator and pharmacist who lived in Sampson County.
Leslie Leonard, a research historian for the DNCR who currently oversees the Historical Marker Program, told Carolina Journal that she was encouraged by the attention that the “Andre the Giant” marker had received. She was hopeful that it would help spread greater awareness of the program, which is entirely driven by applications from members of the public like Hazel.
“It is never a case of folks sitting in Raleigh and deciding what markers are going up across the state of North Carolina,” she said.
The process can be lengthy due to the time it takes to make the plaques. They are produced by Ohio-based foundry Sewah Studios, which handles not only the business from North Carolina but also many other state marker programs.
“I like to say from application to installation, it takes about a year and a half to two years,” Leonard said.
The initial process requires applicants to submit an essay based on reliable primary and secondary sources. Twice a year, the applications go before a 10-person committee of professors who decide which ones to approve.
Leonard said the committee usually approves somewhere between 12 and 20 markers per year, culled down from about double or triple the number of applications.
“Even if the committee says something doesn’t rise to the level of statewide significance, I still, in my position, work with an applicant to try to figure out, is there another way we can mark the history,” she said. “Just because we’re saying it’s not eligible for a state marker doesn’t mean we can’t figure out how to remember it in some way.”
With around 1,700 markers throughout the state, though, there is a good chance that if something notable happened in the past, it is commemorated.
The DNCR maintains a database of all the markers, searchable by both topic and location. In terms of pop culture, that includes signs honoring jazz greats like Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane — the latter of whom was born about 20 miles from Ellerbe, in the town of Hamlet.
Other state markers recognize the first-ever circus stop of PT Barnum and the first recorded home run to be hit by Babe Ruth.
Fans of more contemporary North Carolina history-makers, such as Richard Petty and Michael Jordan, will have to wait a bit longer.
“We do have some rules and criteria, like a person has to be dead for at least 25 years to get a marker; an event has to have been 25 years in the past,” Leonard said. “And that’s really just so that we can know that there’s good scholarship on a topic.”
A GIANT OPPORTUNITY
In some respects, the press release that Leonard’s office issued last Monday announcing the highway marker for Roussimoff was just standard operating procedure.
“All of our markers do get the same treatment,” she said. “We issue a press release for every marker that goes up — you know, this isn’t the only one; it’s just gained more traction than other ones.”
The announcement went viral on social media such as X and TikTok, drawing several media outlets and wrestling fans to the unveiling.
Rankin Museum officials, who had coordinated with Hazel in his research and helped to sponsor the application effort, were taken by surprise when calls started coming in about it.
But Webb said he welcomed the opportunity to draw attention to the museum’s display and its extensive collection of historical artifacts.
“I’m glad to see the legacy of Andre being memorialized there with a DOT marker,” he said. “However, if you plan to come down for that, I would recommend you come spend some time at the museum, see the exhibit — you know, give you more bang for your buck.”
While the museum has a small amount of merchandise for sale, royalties from Roussimoff’s image and brand belong to his daughter, Robin Christensen–Roussimoff, who was raised by her mother on the West Coast and has few ties to his home in Ellerbe.
Still, some local residents hoped to see more recognition of their cultural claim to fame.
“I was hoping for a statue, but at least we’re getting a plaque,” said Dixie Burger owner Sherry Nunn, who purchased the business with her husband, Donald, about 20 years ago.
The restaurant, on Main Street in Ellerbe’s quaint downtown area, was a frequent haunt for Roussimoff, and a few autographed photos still adorn the wall.
McAuley, who recently returned to Ellerbe after eight years in Florida, said in the years following Roussimoff’s death, organizers tried to sponsor several wrestling events that drew people in.
“They were having some matches here and stuff, but it was basically one or two people who ended up doing everything, and everybody else was just walking around talking to the wrestlers instead of doing the job,” she said. “So, I think there would have to be some more changes before something like that happened.”
Nonetheless, she said she would love to see Roussimoff’s legacy help to put the town on the map.
“‘Where in the hell is Ellerbe?’ I’ve got a hat that says that,” she laughed. “There’s a lot of people that come out of the way looking for it.”
“‘Andre the Giant’ marker puts smalltown Ellerbe into spotlight” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.
