On Virginia-Tennessee border, one side is now open for business while the other is still on lockdown
BRISTOL, Tennessee/Virginia state line — Joe Deel is behind the chrome-trimmed turquoise counter of his legendary diner, The Burger Bar, working with his wife Kayla, daughter Emily, and sous chef Corey Young; they can see people going in for lunch at the State Line Bar and Grill just across the street from them less than 50 yards away in Tennessee.
But their round, black-topped stools in Virginia remain as empty as they were nearly two months ago when the coronavirus first shut down the country.
(Michael Rayne Swensen / for the Washington Examiner)
“When they talked about opening Tennessee and not Virginia, I knew this was going to be a problem," Deel said. "I love the other businesses downtown. We all have a great relationship and help each other. It's nothing directly toward them. If people haven't been able to go out and sit down and eat and have a drink, and all of a sudden it opens, that's the priority where they're going to eat."
He explained, “It's just not a very fair battle or fight. And I'm glad for the guys that get to open up, but I sure wish it was us, too.”
There are a lot of cities and towns in our country that border neighboring states, but few quite like this one, where the city sits in two states and shares the same name and traditionally vibrant business district along State Street.
Thanks to very different approaches to reopening their states, the businesses on the Tennessee side were open Saturday, while the Virginia-side businesses, with the exception of curbside pickup operations at The Burger Bar and the legendary Blakey-Mitchel men’s clothing store a few blocks away, are nearly all closed.
(Michael Rayne Swensen / for the Washington Examiner)
“I try to keep a smile on my face. Sometimes, it’s real hard," Deel said. "Last week, there was a day I made $90 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.”
He does, indeed, have a broad smile on his face, but the pain of the effect of this pandemic is real for his family.
The fact that his governor, Democrat Ralph Northam, has to date yet to consider that a southwestern Virginia region deep in the heart of Appalachia might be having a completely different experience than the densely populated northern Virginia frustrates him.
“Typically, on a Saturday morning, the only day we serve breakfast, we run out of food, and this place is just packed to the rafters inside and out,” he explained, pointing to the tables and chairs that line the sidewalk.
Hugh Testerman stood outside of the Blakley-Mitchell Clothing Company a couple of blocks from the diner in a polo shirt and shorts. He immediately apologized for not having a suit on. You see, around these parts, he is known for his dapper attire.
“I just got done with physical therapy. I had knee surgery several months ago,” he said. He was going to go into the store and change because he had customers coming to pick up orders, including one driving up from Georgia. “Had a regular customer call me from Atlanta yesterday and asked if I’d be open. I told him I’d be here for him,” Testerman said.
“We only carry the best,” he said of the store that has a deep, rich history in this city that began in 1933. When his father came along to work for the store straight out of the Korean War in 1954, he rose through the ranks and eventually became the owner, and Testerman has been there since 1978.
“Not being able to work every day after a 40-year streak of work is awful,” the 60-year-old clothier said.
The Sullivan County Regional Health Department on the Tennessee side technically allowed businesses in the county to begin reopening last week. In Virginia, the statewide stay-at-home order remains in place through June 10.
Bristol is an independent city on the commonwealth of Virginia's side, meaning it is not part of a county, even though geographically it is completely surrounded by Washington County.
Tennessee’s testing for the coronavirus has been robust. It has consistently ranked at the top of the Johns Hopkins University mapping of coronavirus state testing, while Virginia’s testing has consistently lagged abysmally toward the bottom of that same list.
Today, the diner, which opened in 1942 and is best known for being the last place Hank Williams Sr. was seen alive, is serving no breakfast, no sausage gravy-smothered biscuits are overflowing on any plates, and no customers sit inside at its iconic counter, unlike The State Line Bar and Grill, which is serving a brisk business across the street.
“I would like to cordially invite Gov. Northam down and treat him and his staff to a burger anytime if he could come down and just see where we're at and our situation," Deel said. "If you sat on my front porch in my restaurant and looked over across the street and watched the parking lot fill up, maybe he would feel a little bit different, but I'm not sure if he would or not."
(Michael Rayne Swensen / for the Washington Examiner)
Beth Rhinehart is the president and CEO of the Bristol Tennessee Virginia Chamber of Commerce, a singular entity that represents and advocates for both sides of the city. “This is very challenging on a number of fronts and from a business perspective," she said.
She elaborated, “Our Virginia businesses are obviously very frustrated. They see others opening and know that they can actually watch the other side of the street and their lost business from their front doors."
Ninety-three summers ago, record producer Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company began making music history in this dual city when he began recording sessions of both Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Now known as the Bristol Sessions, that moment here in the middle of Appalachia became known as the "Big Bang" of modern country music and is how this city earned its moniker as “The Birthplace of Country Music.”
Johnny Cash called the sessions “the most important event in the history of country music.”
It is noon on Saturday. The sky is a calming blue, the sun brilliant, and the temperature has climbed to a balmy 71 degrees down the street from The Burger Bar on the Virginia side of town. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which honors that significant contribution to Americana, is closed. Lots of milkshakes are ordered and picked up from Deel, including a peanut butter and jelly one.
“We’ll be okay. We’ve got to be,” he says, then takes another order by phone.
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