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CONTACT INFORMATION:
George Hawver
MCTA Public Information Officer
770-634-4263
hawverg@hotmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tanners Historic Cafe Grand Opening set for April 22, 2022
Wartburg, Tennessee – After two and a half years of repairs and restoration with delays caused by the Pandemic, The Morgan County Tourism Alliance is excited to unveil Tanners Historic Cafe during the Grand Opening to be held from 10 am – 4 pm on Friday, April 22, 2022. The store will open on Saturday, April 23 from 10 am - 4 pm, and Sunday from noon – 4 pm on April 24, 2022. Following the 10 am Ribbon Cutting on Friday, April 22, Tanners Historic Cafe will once again assume its place as a gathering spot for citizens and visitors to Morgan County. Following the Grand Opening Weekend, the cafe will be open Thursday through Saturday from 10 am – 4 pm and Sunday from noon – 4 pm.
Initially, the Cafe’s offerings will include Chicken salad sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, grilled cheese paninis, grilled ham and cheese paninis, soups, hot dogs, brats, ice cream sundaes and cones, sodas and coffee. Diners will be able to sit at the original century-old counter, one of two antique booths or tables where they can check out the historic furnishings and examples of merchandise once sold when the cafe served as a drug store and general store. Visitors can also tour the adjoining heritage room featuring a restored vault from when the building served as a bank in the early 1900’s.
Tanners Historic Cafe once featured the town’s first heated running water and a shower that local miners would pay five cents to use to wash off the dirt and coal dust. The restoration included a new shower that will be available to through-hikers passing by on the nearby Cumberland Trail. Wartburg is currently the only town along the planned 300+ mile trail route which crosses Tennessee from near Chattanooga to the Cumberland Gap Park in Virginia. The cafe hopes hikers will also be able to get information and directions and one day resupply with essential supplies to be available in the cafe in the near future.
The Cafe is on the National Registry of Historic Places and as such, the repairs and restorations attempted to preserve the original style and appearance of the building whenever possible. Due to years of neglect, much of the building had to be rebuilt after the roofing system was replaced and leaks repaired. The electrical and plumbing was brought up to code and the damaged ceilings, walls and floors were repaired or replaced.
The Morgan County Tourism Alliance hopes to re-ignite the memories of locals who grew up visiting Tanners over its nearly 100-year history (next year will be the centennial anniversary) and provide a place for visitors to begin new memories in this historic building.
For more information about Tanners Historic Cafe, visit mctamoco.com.