The Carolina Watershed’s name reflects its downtown location (Carolina Avenue) and its unique site where two waterfalls — 12 and 14 feet high — maximize the property’s natural elevation. The ponds, along with cottonwoods, dogwoods, mimosas, and red maples, command the Watershed’s landscape in both winter and summer. Inside, silos shape a circular bar where bartender Erin Simpson oversees cocktails, wine, and beer on tap. Chef Andy Knight, also pictured, steers the Watershed’s appealing menu which includes the CW Club with house-smoked turkey and bacon, salads, pizzas, brunch, and late-night options.
The steps behind Carolina Watershed nestle into the hillside, and on a winter weekend with temperatures in the teens, we race to the top to find the trains. We watch the boxcars crawl by for a minute or two, and then spin around to see the hardscrabble outline of downtown warehouses and cottonwood trees, angled in odd ways to reach the sun. To our left, a waterfall tumbles over Arkansas fieldstone to the yard below, where a rustic silo beckons us to come inside, like a welcomed arctic outpost promising fellowship and food.
Thanks to Chef Andy Knight, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and shared plates are exceptionally good, but it’s the respectful landscaping that makes the Watershed absolutely unique. “In the late 1930s, dirt was a commodity, so they bulldozed the dirt out of these two lots,” explains Mac Hopper, co-owner with Brad Barnett of the new restaurant and bar, located on Carolina Avenue just east of South Main. “Basically, the lots sat here untouched for the next 70 years.”
The property’s unusual elevation dictated its development. “We mulched and contoured, built the water features and some retaining walls, but left the lay of land,” Hopper explains. “We fell in love with the elevation.”
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Justin Fox Burks
The Carolina Watershed’s name reflects its downtown location (Carolina Avenue) and its unique site where two waterfalls — 12 and 14 feet high — maximize the property’s natural elevation. The ponds, along with cottonwoods, dogwoods, mimosas, and red maples, command the Watershed’s landscape in both winter and summer. Inside, silos shape a circular bar where bartender Erin Simpson oversees cocktails, wine, and beer on tap. Chef Andy Knight, also pictured, steers the Watershed’s appealing menu which includes the CW Club with house-smoked turkey and bacon, salads, pizzas, brunch, and late-night options.
2 of 4
Justin Fox Burks
The Carolina Watershed’s name reflects its downtown location (Carolina Avenue) and its unique site where two waterfalls — 12 and 14 feet high — maximize the property’s natural elevation. The ponds, along with cottonwoods, dogwoods, mimosas, and red maples, command the Watershed’s landscape in both winter and summer. Inside, silos shape a circular bar where bartender Erin Simpson oversees cocktails, wine, and beer on tap. Chef Andy Knight, also pictured, steers the Watershed’s appealing menu which includes the CW Club with house-smoked turkey and bacon, salads, pizzas, brunch, and late-night options.
3 of 4
Justin Fox Burks
The Carolina Watershed’s name reflects its downtown location (Carolina Avenue) and its unique site where two waterfalls — 12 and 14 feet high — maximize the property’s natural elevation. The ponds, along with cottonwoods, dogwoods, mimosas, and red maples, command the Watershed’s landscape in both winter and summer. Inside, silos shape a circular bar where bartender Erin Simpson oversees cocktails, wine, and beer on tap. Chef Andy Knight, also pictured, steers the Watershed’s appealing menu which includes the CW Club with house-smoked turkey and bacon, salads, pizzas, brunch, and late-night options.
4 of 4
Justin Fox Burks
The Carolina Watershed’s name reflects its downtown location (Carolina Avenue) and its unique site where two waterfalls — 12 and 14 feet high — maximize the property’s natural elevation. The ponds, along with cottonwoods, dogwoods, mimosas, and red maples, command the Watershed’s landscape in both winter and summer. Inside, silos shape a circular bar where bartender Erin Simpson oversees cocktails, wine, and beer on tap. Chef Andy Knight, also pictured, steers the Watershed’s appealing menu which includes the CW Club with house-smoked turkey and bacon, salads, pizzas, brunch, and late-night options.
Interior spaces, constructed with adjoining silos, also fit the site. Inside, everything is circular, including the bathrooms and the bar, which serves cocktails, beer, and wine. Be sure to meet Jolene, a flirty hand-crafted drink made with sweet tea, lavender lemonade, and Old Dominick toddy, locally produced on Front Street downtown.
Knight’s updated Southern menus for weekdays, late night, and weekend brunch also complement the Watershed’s fun and sociable vibe: Pickled vegetables and blue cheese dressing perk up sweet and spicy wings; catfish smoked in-house comes with arugula and remoulade; and buttermilk fried chicken and slaw stack nicely inside a brioche bun. For a delicious and shareable sandwich, try pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes on grilled sourdough bread. “This is the best sandwich I’ve ever had,” says Beth Cooper, an Oakland, California, journalism teacher on a recent visit home. “And I am absolutely serious.”
Carolina Watershed, 141 E. Carolina Ave.(901-321-5552) $-$$
