HISTORIC HIDEAWAY.

• Author: Mims, Bryan
• Position: TOWN SQUARE: Warrenton

ONCE AMONG THE STATE'S WEALTHIEST TOWNS. WARRENTON ATTRACTS NEWCOMERS WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT.

The young woman tending bar wears a blue T-shirt that puts her small town on the map. Over an outline of North Carolina and its 100 counties, it poses the question: "Where in the hell is Warrenton?" It's a great icebreaker for out-of-towners sidling up for a Mai Tai or a cold beer.

The T-shirts are sold here, at Robinson Ferry Restaurant & Spirits, the go-to gathering place in this town of fewer than 900 people. Warrenton, to answer the question, is a dozen miles south of the Virginia state line where it crosses Kerr Lake, Lake Gaston and Interstate 85, about 55 miles north of Raleigh.

Warrenton might be too small for a Bojangles' or a Food Lion, but it's just right for Robinson Ferry. "I've been in here when you couldn't move," says Karen Wilkerson, a local real-estate agent. After ordering eight bones of pork ribs and a draft beer, she offers an appetizing, if bold, prediction: "I would say give it 10 years. If the economy keeps on going, this could be like a second New Bern," referring to the historic coastal city where tourist dollars flow as wide as its rivers.

Warrenton, like New Bern, is awash in history and saturated with courtly homes and churches from the 19th century. Its historic district encompasses more than half the town and contains more than 50 buildings. Between 1840 and 1860, Warrenton was one of the wealthiest towns in North Carolina, serving as a trading center for local tobacco and cotton plantations.

These days, however, Warren County, with a population of about 20,000, is among the poorest in the state. Roughly a quarter of residents live in poverty. Between 1990 and 2016, state employment records show, the number of manufacturing jobs plunged from more than 1,500 to about 500. It's a familiar tale in rural counties across North Carolina as textile mills and other factories shut down. Still, Warrenton has fired the imagination of entrepreneurs who see urbane possibilities in the small-town environs.

On this particular weeknight at Robinson Ferry, the elbow room is ample, the conversations low-key and the vibe laidback. The restaurant opened in 2012, only to close a couple of years later. It reopened in September 2015, thanks in part to co-owner Michael Ring, who works in the kitchen overseeing food preparation. "I've got a lot of connections with the local farmers. I'm big on that," Ring says. Menu items include...