Jonesborough catching a much-needed bathroom break

Visitors of Tennessee’s oldest town will soon get some much-needed relief. Jonesborough leaders say its town’s Main Street will soon have the one thing it has lacked during the last several years; a place for tourists to use the restroom.

Now that Washington County has moved its courts out of downtown, Mayor Kelly Wolfe says Jonesborough wants to use the extra space behind the courthouse to the town’s benefit. According to Wolfe, leaders plan on transforming a historic office building behind the courthouse into a public bathroom, much to the relief of merchants.

“Seldom do you go to a tourist destination that doesn’t have good signage and the proper facilities to accommodate all of your visitors,“ Jonesborough Art Glass Gallery owner Steve Cook said. “You hear people every week, if not every day (saying), ‘We all have our needs and we need some place to go.‘“

The town expects the public restrooms to be ready by the spring. They should come in extra handy during the town’s National Storytelling Festival and the Music On The Square Events.

“Our visitors have increased,“ Cook, who also serves as Music On The Square Director, said. “We need to accomodate them in every way.“