When Parkersburg’s North End Tavern opened in 1899, it served shift workers and tradesmen, and quickly built a reputation as a rough-and-tumble watering hole. But West Virginia’s oldest bar (as far as they can tell—give them a holler if your establishment is older) and restaurant evolved over the decades. Now celebrating its 125th anniversary, the NET, as it’s called, operates as a brewery, distillery, and family restaurant known for German pub food and burgers made from local beef. “You can say it’s an institution,” says Tom Joyce, the city’s mayor, who has been dining there since childhood. Tavern owner Joe Roedersheimer purchased the bar in 1978 and expanded almost twenty years later, opening one of the state’s first craft breweries in 1997. “I figured I’ve already got a beer joint, I might as well add a brewery,” he remembers. The Roedy’s Red, an American amber ale named after him, remains its bestseller. Roedersheimer sees no reason the bar won’t be around another 125 years: “Our beer’s always good and cold. We make one heck of a good Reuben. We keep it simple, but we keep it consistent.”
Southern Agenda