A New Slice of Home — Greenbrier Valley Quarterly

By Dawn Nolan

When Hill and Holler temporarily closed for relocation in October 2024, the wait for its return felt long for loyal fans of its wood-fired pizza and smoky, fall-off-the-bone wings. But the wait was worth it. The beloved Lewisburg restaurant reopened in February 2025 with a fresh space, upgraded equipment, and the same community spirit that’s made it a local favorite for years. Now located in the former Harmony Ridge Gallery space in downtown Lewisburg, Hill and Holler has even more room to serve its customers—with a larger dining area, a custom-built pizza oven, and a bar that bourbon lovers will want to linger at. Owners Kate and Jody Wooton have preserved the charm of the past while reimagining the space for the future. And if the buzz around town is any indication, Hill and Holler is back and better than ever.

“The wings, I feel, were the number one thing people were missing the most. We heard a lot of that chatter,” says Kate Wooton, who co-owns the business with her husband, Jody. “And then, when we reopened, we ran out immediately.”

“We wanted a better location in a building that we owned,” Jody explains. “We knew Aaron and Monica [Maxwell, owners of Harmony Ridge], and we always loved this building. We’d actually talked to them about purchasing it a few years ago. It just wasn’t the right time then, but when it came back available, we went to them right away.”

The Wootons closed on the building in August, and construction began a few months later.

Merrick Tracy originally opened Hill and Holler Bike Shop in April 2011, next to The Wild Bean in downtown Lewisburg. In July 2013, it expanded and moved into a new space across from City Hall. Two years later, in June 2015, the business relocated once again, this time to Montwell Park, and a restaurant was added to the bike shop at that time. Jody, a local attorney, and Kate, a dentist, assumed ownership the following year.

“We didn’t know anything about bikes, so we kept it as a restaurant only,” Jody laughs.

The new location on the “main drag” in downtown Lewisburg is more accessible and offers much more room than the previous.

“It was always hard to describe to people that weren’t very familiar with Lewisburg where we were. Now, we can say, ‘We’re beside Food & Friends, or we’re across from Yarid’s.’ And everybody knows where that is,” Jody explains. “We are thrilled to have doubled our space.”

With full control over the design, the Wootons went with a modern style, though they knew it was important to preserve some of the past.

“There was certainly some charm to the log cabin,” Jody says. “This is still an old building with historic features, they’ve just been beautifully redone.”

One of those features is the side windows.

“Once we discovered those, we decided to uncover and restore all of them. They are all functional now. It really opens and brightens up the space.”

The bifold accordion windows at the front of the restaurant are another example of the new design.

“We wanted to be able to open them up on a nice day,” Jody says. “There’s so many other restaurants and nice shops right around here, we wanted to do whatever we could to invite people in.”

One of the things that the Wootons knew they wanted to have in the restaurant was a living room-type sitting area with a fireplace, just like the former location.

“We loved the fireplace, and we wanted to bring pieces of the old place back,” explains Kate. “Our family in particular would sit in front of the fireplace and eat. There was enough room to double that.”

More TVs for sports viewing and a new stage with built-in speakers all add to the restaurant’s appeal.

“It’s a much cleaner system,” Jody says. “The plan is to continue all of the entertainment that we used to do.”

A nice, big proper bar (with built-in phone chargers) was also essential as was the beverage selection to go with it.

“Our Bourbon selection, certainly for the area, maybe even the bottom half of the state, I think is the best,” Jody says. “We also have 30 taps—24 for beer and six for wine. We have red, white and sparkling on tap in addition to bottles.”

“Bottled wine is something new here that we didn’t do there,” Kate adds. “We tried it a few times, but we didn’t stick with it. Now, we’re committed. We also added a private dining room with a wine wall.”

The couple worked with a close family friend, Ashley Powroznik, on the design.

“She’s an interior designer, so she did all of the lighting, the millwork, the detail,” Kate says.

“The bar, the cabinetry replacement, the colors, it all looks this way because of her,” Jody adds.

Observant diners might recognize one of the art pieces on the wall.

“We bought a piece from Harmony Ridge Gallery for the old location, and we brought it with us. It’s now hanging in the same place it was when we bought it,” Jody says.

The wooden Hill and Holler logo that hangs on the wall near the stage is also a nod to the Gallery. We had Barnwood Builders take a piece of the gallery’s bar to create it.

Something that diners won’t see; however, but will certainly experience the benefit of, is the addition of a new pizza oven.

“That was a bottleneck at the old place. You could only cook four pizzas at a time, and it’s usually in the same spot, so the bottoms of the pizzas pull all the heat out, but the top was still hot—so it overcooked the top and undercooked the bottom. So, it was very temperamental on busy nights,” Jody explains. “We upgraded and bought this one. It solves all of the bottleneck since it rotates. It’s a custom Forno from Italy and we had it built here on-site. Its capacity is 250 pizzas every hour. It’s much bigger, and it allows us to access all of the deck. It’s still wood-fired, and we’re still using the same dough that we make in-house, the same sauce, all of that’s done here.”

The menu itself hasn’t changed, either. Hill and Holler still serves the same pizzas, calzones, sandwiches, salads that diners have come to know and love.

“We want to add to it eventually, specifically in terms of starters and appetizers,” Jody says.

Hill and Holler might have been the Wootons’ first restaurant business venture, but it seems to be working out quite well.

“A new chapter is a great way to put it,” says Kate.

“We spent eight years there learning and keeping things that worked. We certainly learned a lot. The things that weren’t working or weren’t necessarily working well, we fixed that up here. So, it’s such an easier operation, ” Jody adds. “It’s just been so great seeing the surprise on people’s faces that used to come into the old place. The response we’ve received has been positive, overwhelmingly positive.”

Mark your calendars for Hill and Holler’s annual Crawlfish Boil on Memorial Day weekend! More details TBA.