Blue Ridge Country March/April 2021 - 12
T H E G O O D WA L K
Walking Bristol, Walking Two States
" Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, keep on the sunny side of life. "
-From the eponymous song, recorded by the Carter Family in 1927 in Bristol.
Text by LEONARD M. ADKINS | Photos by LEONARD M. AND LAURIE ADKINS
RIGHT: The mural on
State Street celebrates
Bristol's unique spot in the
history of country music.
FACING PAGE: A walk
through nearby Steele Creek
Park makes a great augment
to the Bristol walk.
IF A ONE MILE WALK IS
NOT ENOUGH
Steele Creek Park, a few minutes' drive south of
downtown, has a 54-acre lake with more than 20
miles of trails, some ascending moderately strenuously onto ridgelines and others lakeside that are flat and
easy. There's also fishing, a nature center, golf course
and the Steele Creek Express, a miniature railroad.
WE ATE AT EATZ
Bristol Hotel's rooftop bar was standing room only
with live music fans, while the main dining room
had a long wait time. But on a side street we found
Eatz. Thank you fate! Some of the best comfort food
ever-fried catfish, meatloaf, mac and cheese, collards and corn bread-at practical prices.
12
BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
W
e are in Bristol, the city that straddles the
Tennessee/Virginia state line and that has
been made famous by a cartoon gecko
standing in the middle of its main street.
But, more importantly, Bristol is also the
congressionally designated " Birthplace of
Country Music " and we are on the selfguided walking tour of more than a dozen downtown
sites that highlight the birth and growth of a music genre.
I'm explaining to Laurie that in my earlier life I was the
host of the Down Home Music Show on West Virginia
Public Radio and the Carter Family's " Keep on the Sunny
Side " was the program's opening theme song.
A mural on State Street commemorates the 1927 recording sessions of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers,
the Stoneman Family and others that Johnny Cash called
" the single most important event in the history of country music. "
Except for this and a couple of other murals, the downtown's buildings and storefronts look much like they did
in the early 20th century and it's easy to imagine your-
http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
Blue Ridge Country March/April 2021
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