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It doesn’t take an afternoon of “elbow bending” for one to experience a little stagger in their step at the Blue Room in New Minden. Simply walking into the joint is a knee-wobbling experience. It’s not always the booze. The floor of the hotel-turned-tavern that ripples back to at least the early 1900s has more buckles to it than a straight jacket.
Owner Tammy Weihe-Rounds can’t pin down the actual age of the establishment. Her only historical reference is a picture dated 1904.
“It started as a hotel. That’s all I know,” she said after scrubbing post-lunch crowd dishes on a Wednesday afternoon.
Tammy does know, however, of the Blue Room’s “modern” history. She said the Ellerbush family owned and operated it from the 1930s until the 1970s. The owners after that painted the inside blue, hence the name that stands today. In 1986, her family entered the picture.
“My dad came by, talked to the owner and we bought it,” she said, adding that she is now the sole proprietor.
The Blue Room is rife with traditions; some retired and some continuing. From the 1950s until recently patrons would “shoot the gap”, i.e., they’d wriggle through the narrow space between the turnbuckle that holds the place together and the ceiling. Tammy halted that (only recently) for insurance purposes.
Gap shooters under her ownership were allowed to scrawl their names on the walls and ceiling. Now, graffiti is simply allowed.
The other newly-minted tradition is partying down at the Blue Room on New Year’s Day where this year more than 350 people packed the place.
“People started having house parties and we were dead on New Year’s Eve,” she said. “We decided to have a New Year’s Day hangover party. It has just gotten bigger. This year we had 10-12 buses stop here.”
As brightly-colored as the interior of the bar is the clapboard exterior looks thirsty for paint. That isn’t going to change anytime soon.
“I’ve never seen it painted,” shrugs Tammy, a life-long resident of New Minden.
The rough exterior might make many wary of visiting the Blue Room located on Ill. 127 north of Nashville. Rest assured, the atmosphere is unique, the owner welcoming and the food – great ribs, French onion soup, burgers and more -- outstanding.
