Briar Patch History

The building was originally built in 1948 by Tom Viar. Joanie Lingerfelt has owned and operated The Briar Patch since 1986. The restaurant first opened in 1948. Joanie leased the building and eventually bought it in 1995

The restaurant is considered a landmark and a social hub, referred to as “the Cheers of Amherst” and drawing visitors including Jackie Onassis and musician Dave Matthews.

The Briar Patch has a warm and friendly, cozy atmosphere highlighted by maple wood wainscoting, hardwood floors and warm ambient tones reflecting a comfortable neighborhood environment.

The building has gone through several owners and incarnations, including a life as a lawn and garden center - this explained the barn-style doors that had to be big enough for tractors to get through.

In the 60s, Sweet Briar College students packed the restaurant, and in later years members of the then-unknown Dave Matthews Band would eat at the Briar Patch when they performed in nearby Faulconerville.

Long considered a “Staple of Amherst County Diets” since 1948, longtime residents describe the establishment as an irreplaceable community landmark. “It was the place to go for the Sweet Briar people to go back through the years”said former town of Amherst police chief Haney Motley who remembered eating lunch there as a young police officer in the 1950s.

It seems that there is almost no one in Amherst County who does not have a memory of the place.“It was the first restaurant I ate in when I arrived in Amherst” Town Manager Jack Hobbs said. “It is one of the two icons in the town, the other being the traffic circle.”

Joanie began the expansion in the Fall of 2001 and opened the new areas in July of 2002. Thirteen months later, tragedy struck:

The whole of Amherst County and the surrounding area has gone into mourning over the loss of a very close friend. The destruction of the Briar Patch by fire on Sunday Morning

local newspaper Reporter Mike Morell reported , Thursday August 21, 2003 in the Amherst New Era Progress.

This was the first of two devastating fires. In spite of the challenge Joanie chose both times to rebuild and continue the tradition. The first fire started when faulty wiring behind a refrigerator in the employee area shorted out and began to burn within the walls.

The second fire 18 months later in January 2005 started in the attic only four months after the joyful re-opening. One reporter for the Lynchburg News and Advance reported

I've now gained enormous respect for Joanie Lingerfelt, the owner of the Briar Patch restaurant in Amherst. In August 2003, the “Patch” - a local institution that once served Jackie Onassis - was destroyed by fire. So Lingerfelt had it put back together again. Four months after the joyful re-opening, it burned again.

In private, she may well have screamed at the top of her lungs and pounded her head against the nearest wall. In public, though, she talked calmly with news media people and said: “I've already spoken with the contractor, and we're going to get it up and running as soon as I can.” Not once did she ask aloud“Why me?” “It is what it is,&rdquo she said. “We have to move on.&rdquo

In September 2005 the Briar Patch once again opened the doors for business, and business is booming once again.