JOHNSON CITY
Johnson City is a college town, centered largely around East Tennessee State University. It is known as the “Med Tech Corridor” backed by ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine and the Gatton College of Pharmacy, the Johnson City Medical Center, Niswonger Children’s Hospital, and Franklin Woods Community Hospital.
Johnson City lies primarily in Washington County but a few bits of it stray into Carter and Sullivan counties as well.
There are around 75,000 people living in Johnson City which is part of the Tri-Cities area along with Kingsport and Bristol, and the Tri-Cities have a collective population of nearly 520,000.
Well known figures from Johnson City include C+C Music Factory founder David Cole and Constance Shulman who was the voice of Patti Mayonnaise in Doug.
She also starred as Yoga Jones in Orange is the New Black and in Fried Green Tomatoes, alongside Dolly Parton in Heavens to Betsy, The Faculty, and Broad City, among other productions.
Artist John Alan Maxwell, known for his illustrations for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John Steinbeck, and Pearl S. Buck, spent the last couple decades of his life in Johnson City.
I have also learned that 90s-00s Belgian rockstar, Sam Bettens, briefly lived in Johnson City with his wife while working as a fire fighter.
Henry Johnson, founder of Johnson’s Depot, opened the “Blue Plum” post office in 1857 with himself listed as the Postmaster.
The Blue Plum office and depot was located in the building at the corner of State of Franklin Road and Buffalo Street, across the street from the one that now hosts Yee Haw Brewing and White Duck Taco Shop.
Since 1999, the Blue Plum Festival celebrates Johnson City’s early history, and it has become one of the largest music and art festivals in the Southeast.
Johnson had just recently founded Johnson’s Depot, later to be renamed Johnson City when it was incorporated in 1869.
The depot served as the major railroad station for the Southeastern US. Norfolk Southern, Southern Railway, and the narrow gauge Eastern Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad all crossed lines there.
I recently learned that the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad, abbreviated as ET&WNC, was jokingly called the “Eat Taters & Wear No Clothes.” Even more commonly than that, though, it was known as the Tweetsie Railroad.
The Tweetsie Railroad referred to its constant “tweet” sound of the train whistles as it connected Johnson City to Cranberry, North Carolina across the TN/NC State line. It was in service from 1882 until 1950 and had expanded to Boone, NC and other larger towns.
Tweetsie remains the longest “rails-to-trails” project in Tennessee and is now the star of a few different historic routes including The Johnson City Railroad Experience and George L. Carter Railroad Museum. Serious train history fans will want to visit the Clinchfield Railroad Museum in Erwin while you are in the area.
MOUNTAIN MUSIC
Johnson City is a major hub for country, bluegrass, gospel, folk and other old-time music, and you may have heard of Columbia Records’ famous 1928 Johnson City Sessions. Its Tri-County neighbour, Bristol, is the “Birthplace of Country Music” and home to the Birthplace of Country Museum which you can read more about here.
Meet the Mountains and the wildly popular Rhythm & Roots Reunion are two of the best regional music festivals.
One of the first things you may notice when you arrive downtown is this gorgeous mural titled Traditions of Appalachia by Steven Teller that spans the whole exterior of a building near Yee-Haw Brewing.
PROHIBITION & LITTLE CHICAGO
Johnson City is also known as Little Chicago because Al Capone and his gangsters are rumoured to have frequented the area back in the 1920s. The city is located about midways between Chicago and Miami, and had a well-connected railway stop to other cities that were part of the moonshine distilling ring during Prohibition.
Capone’s gang had a moonshine distribution route and Johnson City was a key city for the illegal operation. Local legend tracks him as having lived in the luxury Montrose Court apartment complex, and it is credible enough that the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Place.
The Little Chicago Festival started in 2016 but only ran for a few years, never resuming post-COVID.
APPALACHIAN HERITAGE
As loaded as Johnson City is with railroad, music, and moonshining history, it is also a region of Appalachian culture and heritage. Some of the most prominent sites where you can tour exhibits and peruse artifacts, photos, furniture, tools, special documents, machinery, art, and more from the earlier days of Johnson City settlements include the Reese Museum and the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site just outside of Johnson City.
THE REECE MUSEUM is part of ETSU’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Services, and it hosts over 22,000 artifacts and works of art that has been collected over the last fifty years. ETSU also hosts the online Archives of Appalachia, a vast collection of photos, documents, written word, works of art, documentaries, musical recordings, and other relics of Appalachian history. You can view the Digital Archives collection here.
THE TIPTON-HAYES STATE HISTORIC SITE was the home and farm of Col. John Tipton and his family in the 1700s. Tipton was a Loyalist leader during the State of Franklin and hosted a few major speaking events on his property. In 1788, a scuffle took place between Tipton and his crew against future Governor John Sevier, who led the Franklin faction at that time, and his crew.
Additional, similar historical estates include the Rocky Mount State Historic Site, the Sycamore Shoals State Historic Site in Elizabethton, Boones Creek Historical Trust / Living Museum, and the Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park around 20 miles away
The Appalachian Resource Conservation & Development also has a Quilt Trail which tells the history of this region in between barn quilts, or what us Midwesterners call Hex Signs.
GRAY FOSSIL SITE and Natural History Museum showcase the fossils and skeletons of tapirs, saber tooth cats, rhinoceroses, red pandas, alligators, plants, and other creatures that once roamed the area.
This fossil site formed as a result of an underground limestone cave that collapsed into a massive sinkhole, and eventually served as a water reservoir during the Pliocene epoch between four and seven million years ago.
Under those ideal conditions, the damp and mineral rich soil preserved these remains quite well.
An impressive skeleton of the giant short-faced bear towers over my 6′ tall frame. This bear was the largest carnivore in North America during the Ice Age.
PARKS & RECREATION
Johnson City is proud to offer more than two dozen public parks as well as community and recreational centers, mountain bike parks, pickleball courts, tennis and volleyball courts, swimming pools, dog parks, seventeen playgrounds, boat ramps, amphitheaters, sports stadiums and fields, skateparks, arboretums, golf courses, splash pads, and trails. This list is seriously impressive!
Some of the most noteworthy outdoor spots nearby are the Nolichucky River, known for being one of the most beautiful rivers and best whitewater rafting in the Southeast, as well as Blue Hole Falls, Buffalo Mountain Park, Warriors’ Path State Park, Roan Mountain State Park, Unaka Mountain Recreation Area, and Sycamore Shoals State Park.
FOUNDERS PARK is a scenic five-acre urban park and greenway in the middle of downtown with rock structures, a creek flowing through it, and sculpture installations on both sides.
THE JOHNSON CITY FARMERS MARKET is another one of our favourite events downtown. You can visit the market under the downtown Pavillion every Saturday from 8 am- 1 pm, May through October.
WHERE TO EAT & DRINK
Of all the places I have been in Johnson City, the one I think of and have visited most often is Freiberg’s German Restaurant.
FREIBERG’S is the place for an icy German beer and chicken cutlet, baked crisp and covered in cheesy caramelized onions. Our favourite sides are the roasted potatoes and purple cabbage, but they have other staples from the Vaterland.
Staff at Freiberg’s compound their own green onion butter, and it is delicious.
You can spot the restaurant easily in one of the most attractive buildings downtown, right behind the water fountain. It is small and cozy so you may want to plan ahead by making reservations or allowing plenty of time to wait your turn.
Moon Coffee and Dos Gatos Coffee are both excellent choices for caffeine and early meals, and you can take your pick of global cuisine from restaurants like Sahib Indian, Red Meze Mediterranean, Pho Lao, El Charolais, Mad Greek, Portobello Italian, Juniper, Café Lola, Timber, Down Home, Label, Pal’s, Southern Craft BBQ, and SO many more.
THE HIDEAWAY is a long-running dive bar that has hosted some really great punk, metal, rock, and unclassifiable oddball shows over the years.
I feel like this is as good of a place as any, as this is the first place I thought of, to mention these juicy little tidbits I learned about Johnson City.
City officials used to enforce a special tax on carnivals and traveling shows in order to deter them elsewhere, and prohibited merchants from banging on drums or yelling to hawk their wares. The “Barney Fife Ordinance” also allowed the city police force to draft locals, instantaneously and against their will, into helping them make arrests or quell any ruckus that may occur.
A special version of Mountain Dew called Johnson City Gold was also created to honour the city and its moonshinin’ history.
LITTLE MAGIC/VOODOO CHICKEN is a relatively new bar, offering a multi-use space with a covered patio up front, a disco-themed karaoke bar in the center, and a hot chicken restaurant in the back.
We had so much fun sitting in the rope swings on the far side of the bar, chatting with and watching other patrons working on their various art projects.
CAPONE’S stands in tribute to Johnson City’s rumoured gangster history and is a long lasting staple of downtown.
We were given a private tour by the owner before the bar opened, and were completely free to take photos of the bar’s stunning decor and admire all the small details without a room full of people wondering what we were up to.
The mural on the wall inside Capone’s is actually the exterior of the building next door. During remodeling, they sort of absorbed the wall while expanding the width of their own building.
We also got to check out the lower level dance floor and enjoy our very own light show.
JOHNSON CITY BREWING COMPANY is an iconic brewpub and event venue on Main Street. You can also go there to pick up any home brewing supplies and equipment you might need.
WATAUGA BREWING is a couple blocks outside the main downtown squares and has a spacious, cozy rooftop bar that overlooks the city.
WINDSOR SPEAKEASY was a fun stop. You walk into what looks like an unattended Whirlpool shop or abandoned laundry mat, with a cashier counter top and drink machine that both look out of service. Wait quietly for just a moment and a hostess will appear, leading you through a vault door into the actual speakeasy.
I have been to countless “speakeasies” that you just walk into the front door and see that it is decorated like a speakeasy, each failing to obscure access in any way or function like a true speakeasy. This place was different, it had me second guessing if we were at the right place, and I liked it.
Great Oak Brewing, Little Animals Brewery, Atlantic Ale House are on my list for next time.
SHOPS
Johnson City has several locally-owned shops and boutiques that I want to mention like Atlantis and the Generalist Collective.
The Generalist has tons of possum gear, which lured me in like a fly to honey. I really love the variety of art and gifts from all types of local artists.
TERRARIUM Plant Store has a beautifully curated selection of plants and garden-themed gifts, both practical and unconventional. It is the kind of place I just want to vibe in for a while.
Keep your eyes open for murals, statues, and tiny little embellishments as you explore downtown Johnson City. There is so much to see and so many projects currently in the words, so I look forward to our next visit.
In the area for a while? Follow me to Bristol, Jonesborough, and the Great Smoky Mountain Scenic Byway.
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