We finished up 2021 with a little oldest tavern hunting in Virginia and North Carolina. With Maryland as our home base you might wonder how Virginia has evaded us this long. Well, Virginia's oldest tavern is in Abingdon, Virginia, not far from the Tennessee border, a good 6 hour drive for us. Enduring a 6 hour drive we naturally needed a pit stop along the way, so we just followed James' Toucan Sam tavern finding nose to come upon Long Way Brewing. Neither old nor a dive, the converted Seventh Day Adventist church serves up an array of tasty beers, is a great music venue, and provides an important service to the community. The Long Way supports a program where you can round up your bill with the change going to a food pantry, called Radford Fairlawn Daily Bread, that operates out of the tavern's lower level. A great job they're doing, so please stop in if you find yourself traveling down I-81 in scenic western Virginia.
After the pit stop we resumed our journey to Abingdon. Upon hitting town we headed straight to The Tavern, the oldest bar in Virginia, established 1779. We weren't disappointed, the historic Tavern, has that cozy colonial feel and has retained much of its history. The Tavern is comprised of a bustling restaurant and a bar with a mere four seats, but they'll shoe horn in a couple more for their friendly local regulars. Besides attending to the small group at the bar, the lone bartender also prepared all the drinks for the diners in the packed downstairs and upstairs dining rooms. She was a blur of hands and arms, only stopping for a quick picture, as she professionally plied her craft and kept everyone satiated and happy.
After spending the night in Abingdon, we went 15 more miles down I-81 to Bristol, Virginia or was it Bristol, Tennessee? Actually, it was both. The Virginia/Tennessee state line runs right down the middle of Main Street, so you can literally have a foot in both states while crossing the street. We had a blast going back and forth across Main Street visiting cool watering holes in both states. Bristol (Virginia or Tennessee) is worth a stop, even if the NASCAR show is not in town.
The next next day we headed to Winstom-Salem, North Carolina to visit the state's oldest tavern. Unfortunately, the Tavern in Old Salem, established in 1784, is closed for now but it is a very cool establishment in the Old Salem historic district. Someone, please reopen the Tavern! Old Salem, (think Williamsburg), needs a great watering hole and eatery for the many tourists, and this historic place has loads of charm and potential.
Okay, so we could only touch the outside of the state's oldest tavern, but we wouldn't be deterred from hitting a great North Carolina dive bar. We had a tip that the Thirsty Beaver Saloon in Charlotte would be right up our alley, and it turned out to be all that and more. The Beaver just happened to be built on valuable property coveted by a land developer. However, the owner refused to sell, so the tiny bar is now surrounded on three sides by a towering condominium complex. The Beaver screams dive bar with: loads of affable locals and curious tourists; bras hanging from the ceiling; juke box blaring; pool tables; and Hee Haw playing continuously on its singular television. So glad they refused to sell out...What a fun place!!!
A couple of final thoughts...We want to send out a big THANKS to Len and Connie, who we met during our trip to Ireland in 2019, for hosting us while in Charlotte. Also, if you're keeping score, we finished the year having visited the oldest taverns in 26 states, plus D.C. We look forward to filling in more of our oldest tavern map in 2022. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and safe travels to all!
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