Hawkins County - Dry? (Kingsport, Church Hill: sale, house, living)

[janiam2]

Not that I am overly interested, but is this county dry? And what exactly does dry mean? We visited Kingsport recently and noticed there are more fast food restaurants than Mom and Pop types.....does that mean no restaurant is allowed to serve alcohol?

We have recently put a bid on a house in Rogersville and are just trying to find out all we can about this beautiful county where we may be living soon.

[Ted Bear]

A quick search suggests that Hawkins County (but Rogersville could over-ride this with a Town Ordinance) is a Dry County. Basically that means liquor (but possibly not beer) can not be sold by the drink, nor can it be sold in a package store. This is a generic finding, and the local laws may be different. Your realtor will know.

In my experience this practice usually involves a local constituency who is making (a LOT of) money off the bootleg operations and therefore oppose the public sale of liquor. Some towns get around it by selling a private club license for the evening so that patrons are drinking, not in a public place, but in a 'private/members only' club.

It's a throwback which little by little is fading. It is always interesting to watch the bartender make cocktails in a place where they do allow it--they just haven't seen how its done, nor experiecned it first hand. Awkward, ****** pours seem to rule. But they figure it out over time.

[kamoshika]

With contested elections in every Hawkins County city Tuesday, the big winner on Election Day was liquor, which went four-for-four in its municipal referendums.

Rogersville voters approved liquor by the drink by a narrow seven-vote margin, 708 to 701. Rogersville also approved a referendum allowing package stores by a vote of 707 to 663.

Mount Carmel’s liquor by the drink referendum was approved with 1,176 in favor and 962 opposed while Church Hill approved its liquor by the drink referendum with 1,348 for and 1,113 against.
Liquor goes four-for-four in Hawkins city referendums | Kingsport Times-News

[MetropolitanTN]

Kamoshika is right. Hawkins county is no longer dry. My dad lives there and was telling me about the new package (liqour) store that opened.

[elrodcod]

Only beer can be sold in unincorporated Hawkins County. The city of Rogersville will eventually have two liquor stores that can sell spirits, wine, and strong beer (6.5% alc. & up). No news on when liquor by the drink will be sold in the appropriate venues.

[janiam2]

Thanks everyone for the information!!