WILLIAM DRIVER, THE FORMER SEA CAPTAIN, turned into entertainment venues in the past, but this was a Union man beset on all sides by the Confeder- new addition to Nashville’s cocktail scene has an inacy. In 1837, the Massachusetts-born Driver settled in comparable grandeur. William Driver would be proud. The Soler sisters, Alexis and Britt, are the mixoloNashville after a long career at sea, bringing with him the seventeen-foot-long United States flag that served gists behind this insane masterpiece of industrial conas the masthead on his journeys around the globe. On version. Alexis and Ben Clemons opened No. 308 in holidays, Driver proudly displayed the flag above the 2011, and their Gallatin Avenue bar quickly became a street in front of his home, hanging the enormous beloved Eastside staple. Britt hopped on after finishbanner between his attic and the high branches of a ing college, and now the sisters have established their locust tree across what is now Fifth Avenue South. But own foothold on the other side of the river. When I when Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, the arrive, Britt welcomes me from behind the bar with Stars and Stripes was less welcome. When the new a smile. She and her sister join me at a cushy leather Confederate governor sent his men to collect Driver’s booth and tell me all about their new adventure. Our conversation is loud and enthusiastic, with libfamous flag, the fearless mariner turned them away. An armed squad arrived for a second attempt. Again, eral expletives. Old Glory opened its doors in March, Driver refused to yield. Fearing for the safety of his less than two months ago. “That was a whirlwind! I beloved flag, he asked local women who were friendly don’t even fucking remember,” Britt exclaims. “It feels to the Union cause to sew the flag within a calico quilt. like we’ve been open a year,” Alexis adds, with a hint Despite repeated searches of Driver’s home, his flag of weariness. Britt counters, “A year, and then like two remained concealed in its ingenious disguise. No one weeks at the same time!” Five-plus years at 308 gave the Soler sisters a solid managed to find William Driver’s flag—the one he sense of the Eastside vibe, but Edgehill was totally called “Old Glory.” The captain’s flag now resides at the Smithsonian, foreign, as Alexis explains. “Coming to a new neighbut another Old Glory has arrived in Nashville. It’s borhood, we were kind of unsure of what was gonna just as grand as its namesake and almost as well-hid- happen because we don’t really know the dynamic den. Strolling through the shops at Edgehill Village, around here.” Their fears quickly proved unfounded. “When we you could walk past the entrance to Old Glory a hundred times and still miss it. The black door is unas- were building out, people would come to us and be suming, situated in an interior courtyard that weaves like, ‘Oh! I’m so excited! We need something like that.’ between Taco Mamacita and Bella Napoli Pizzeria. A So that was reassuring,” Britt shares. “I don’t think we wide golden triangle painted on the surrounding brick expected quite the response that we received, ‘cause it is the only clue that something out of the ordinary was just all at once. [We were] flooded with awesome people coming and visiting us.” might be inside. The build-out was a complicated affair, tangling I’ll admit I wander for a while, walking with false certainty past diners in the portico, pausing at random the Solers in the massive undertaking for more than doorways that most likely contain brooms. Eventually a year. “We designed the space,” Alexis states proudly, the sounds of a classic country song drift from behind then pauses for a beat as she and her sister take a satisthe triangle and draw me toward my destination. I fied glance around us. I ask about their reaction when step into Old Glory, and moving down into the space they first saw the remarkable space. They both laugh. via a curling staircase with a gorgeous Art Deco brass “We didn’t really say anything,” Britt tells me. “It was railing, the magnificent scope of the place comes into one of those sisterly moments where we just walked view. Tall brick walls soar up to a ceiling high above around . . . and we just looked at each other and just me—it must be at least fifty feet up. A broad smoke- kept looking, and we were like, ‘Yeah. This is it.’” Though the fundamental design concept was all stack rises toward rows of clerestory windows. Rusted chains and knotted ropes hang from various metal re- the Solers’, they had plenty of help: Powell Architects mainders of the room’s previous life. Two terrace lev- assisted with contracting; Lindsay Meacham of Red els are stacked above the bar. This was once the boiler Rock Tileworks added the “OG” custom tiles that room of White Way Cleaners, a commercial laundry feature prominently; Andrew Ferrin of Ferrin Ironcompany that owned the space going back to the Works designed the metal elements, such as the rail1920s. I’ve seen rehabbed warehouses and factories ing of the central stair. “They’ve made our vision what
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