06/18/2026
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ง๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ก๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐.
It was 1934. North Carolina had been dry since 1908 โ twenty-six years before a man named ๐ฃ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ opened Popโs Beer Garden in a small brick building just up from the Oak Street corner and did something nobody in this town had done legally in a generation.
He poured a cold one.
Brave? ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ.
Scandalous? Depends who you asked!
Necessary? Letโs not pretend everyone was heartbroken.
Popโs was reportedly the first establishment in Tryon to legally sell beer after Prohibitionโs repeal. And once that door opened, it stayed open.
A bar held that address for decades through name changes, new owners, and probably more than a few conversations that sounded important at the time. Whiteyโs. Samโs Place. Docโs, named for Horace โDocโ Sain, who ran it until he didnโt. Eventually, the business moved one door down and became Prestonโs, but 86 North Trade had already written its chapter.
Today, itโs the 80Six Gallery. The name comes with the building. And according to the historic district documentation, the interior retained its original pressed-tin ceiling โ one of those details old buildings keep around so they can quietly judge the rest of us.
As for Trade Street itself?
Tryon now has an open container ordinance. Which means you can buy a drink and walk the whole street with it.
Twenty-six years dry.
Ninety years later, you can justโฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ.
History is funny like that. Sometimes it takes a generation to pour one legal beer. Sometimes it looks around decades later and says, โActually, take it to go.โ
Pop would have thoughts.
๐ Follow along as the Tryon History Museum walks Trade Street, one address at a time.
