Bristol, TN/VA, Tri-Cities Trip

[Ex-Ithacan]

So I decided to take a couple of days off from work and check out the Tri-Cities area of Tennessee/Virginia. Never been there and was curious to see it first hand. Of course the weather didn't always cooperate, but I'm use to that.

Other Stops:
Kingsport, TN

Johnson City, TN

Asheville, NC

Roanoke, VA



1.



2. Across the freeway from the rest area (I had to pee )



3. Nashville who?



4. The main drag downtown - State Street. VA on the left, TN on the right.



I'll be starting with the Virginia side first.
Here's some info about Bristol, VA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol,_Virginia



5. Train Station



6.



7. War Memorial



8. Frightening kids for years.



9. Small bandstand.



10.



11. Public Housing



12. Old Post Office building reused.



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The Virginia side of downtown does have some issues.

18.



19. The Executive Plaza looked mostly empty.



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24. This one kind of surprised me.



Some strange looking buildings too

25.



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28. The front display for the Tobacco store above.



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33.



34. More on this later.



Now Bristol, TN.
Some info on Bristol, TN:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol,_Tennessee


35.



36. The downtown center (not exactly busy).



37. Little bandstand.



38. Lots of rules.



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42. Lots of plaques for the building above.



43.



44. Uh-oh, the cops are bustin' the grannies.



45. ^ above



46. City housing authority.



47. Nice rehab.



48. Cool narrow street.



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53. Colorful bunch.



54.



55.



56. I wonder whar else is on that 2nd floor?



57.



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59. As said earlier, lots of strange buildings.



60. Patriotic?



61. Ooops, a big empty.



62.



63. Wish I could have stayed to hear the "concert".




Finally I happened to pass this rascal.

64. The 4th largest sports stadium in the country(according to WIKI)




Hope you enjoyed.

[Evergrey]

I always enjoy an Ex-Ithacan tour... you've shared so many smaller cities with us!

Bristol is one of those fascinating multi-state cities... looks like it was pretty important about 90 years ago or so. Sad to see yet another music store closing... but I suppose it's inevitable. The Burger Bar looks tasty.

[Expat]

Thanks for posting these pictures. Very interesting. Love the big sign and the guitar. And lots of good buildings downtown.

I have the strangest memory of this place from when I was a wee lad in the 1960s. We were traveling through and stopped for lunch. I think we had been on vacation at a lake somewhere down there and were headed to DC to continue our vacation. We stopped downtown for lunch. We were excited about the main street being a state line. The streets were busy and we detected a southern accent. Being foolish children, we got it in our heads that these people were hillbillies. Which caused us to get a good scolding from mother. She was embarrassed because people could hear us. And she explained that we were rude & incorrect to think they were hillbillies even if they couldn't hear us. We were shamed! In retrospect, I am glad my mother never allowed us to say mean things.

[ChrisLA]

Hey Ex-Ithacan it's always nice to take a few days off and take a road trip we all need that from time to time. In fact it's about time for me to take a break, I need a few days away. Thanks for sharing, and BTW I love those strange looking buildings you captured.

[xzmattzx]

Nice to see Delmar's big cousin. Obviously Bristol has a bigger population and so there are more businesses than in Delmar. I wonder how the businesses operate with two states on either side of the main street. What if last call was different for each state? It would be strange and cool to just walk across the street, be in the same city and neighborhood, and enjoy more time at the bars.

That sign in #38 is terrible. "Reouire"? Random spacing and sloping of the lines show how shoddy of a job someone did.

#35 is not working.

[hauntedheadnc]

My mom's first husband was from Virginia, not too far from this area. Everyone from the county where he lived had to come all the way to Bristol and Kingsport to shop or work because there were no jobs at home. So strange to see it after having heard about it from her and how it looked back then in the 1960's.

It doesn't appear that urban renewal was very kind to downtown(s) Bristol. Lots of bad 70's and 80's modernizations tacked on to what were once lovely historic buildings.

[Expat]

There must be some beautiful residential districts in these towns. All the buildings downtown indicate a prosperous merchant class back in the day.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Expat - good story, and sorry about not getting into any of the residential neighborhoods. I was on a tight time schedule.

HH - keep an eye out for a side trip I took on this tour.

[giovanni sasso]

attaboy, ith. i stayed at the best western outside of bristol a couple years ago while a junior nascar race was going on just outside the window. it was LOUD. never made it into town to see this stuff. that building with the glass block and mod cornice seems confused, but confident. any town where jimmie rodgers and the carter family recorded can't be all bad. good show, ol' boy.

[ColDayMan]

I went to Bristol (both) ten years ago and it looks like things...look the same. But that's a great tour!

[stepper77]

I remember reading about the Bristols a while back. Nice looking place, especially the TN side. Great photos, thanks!

[John R]

The building with the Hayes Furniture sign on it is an old Montgomery Ward store. (Photograph 23)

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Looked like there were a couple of old department stores on State Street.


Thanks for the responses guys.

Hey Gio, I stayed at a Best Western in Bristol just off I-81, my back is still sore.

[Clevelumbus]

Thanks for the tour! Been to that 'stadium' before.

[Thundertubs]

I know it's a pretty simple concept, but the idea of a state line running straight through a downtown is still slightly mind blowing. Virginia! Tennessee! Virginia!

[LSyd]

thanks for the pics and Tri-Cities tour.

too bad you couldn't also hit up nearby Elizabethtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethton,_Tennessee (1799) and Jonesborough(founded 1779)

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[mthq]

Hey! My brother and I always looked forward to when NASCAR hit the Bristol Motor Speedway (imo the best track in the season), so it's good to finally see how this Bristol town we always hear about looks like