The Wild Ones: Riverview Cafe, Lou and Jill Manring
“The Wild Ones” interviews local entrepreneurs and community members who call Washington County home.
From central Massachusetts to Plymouth, North Carolina, Jill and Lou Manring wanted a warmer climate near the water.
After moving to Plymouth, they finished their careers, then retired - only to renovate an old building and open a restaurant with an artisan market in the front.
Now they offer pontoon rides to anyone who climbs aboard and they have future dreams of another restoration and a floating airbnb.
Tell us about yourself and your business.
My wife Jill and I moved down here to NC in the summer of 2007. Her family lived in NC and they often asked us about moving here. They started looking for jobs for me in the area and I stated that it had to be near the water. At the time, I, as superintendent of public works for a small community in central Massachusetts, had grown weary of the snow and cold weather so I was ready for a change. They found a public utility directors’ job here in Washington County being offered and I applied. I guess they were desperate because they hired me. She resumed her career in teaching special needs children in Williamston.
Riverview Cafe and Artisans Market, at 108 East Water Street in downtown, Plymouth, NC, is a community meet up place and anchor to downtown revitalization.
Why Plymouth/Washington County?
In 2018, when we had both finally retired (or so we thought) I began to get very restless for a project. We both felt Plymouth had definitely seen her share of bad days but the town had no place to go but up. There was a lot of potential with it’s location on the Roanoke River and it’s access to hunting, fishing boating, photography, etc.
What made you interested in opening a cafe?
We decided to purchase one of the old downtown buildings and were lucky enough to get one on the Roanoke River (with a dock even). Our initial plan was to renovate it and then sell it, but Jill came up with the idea of opening a coffee / bakery. I did some research and found that about 5 million cars a year travel east and west on highway 64. I also found that about 15,000 people live withing 10 miles of downtown Plymouth. That was very encouraging. The idea soon morphed into a full blown coffee shop/ café. I enjoyed the building, managing and coffee part and Jill fine-tuned her already impressive baking skills. We decided to offer gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches as our main lunch faire and complimented that with all types of coffee drinks and baked goods.
“We decided to offer gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches as our main lunch faire and complimented that with all types of coffee drinks and baked goods.”
- Lou Manring
And our bonus question that we ask everyone: Bears, Birds or Water?
One of our favorite parts is the river access. We have a pontoon boat there that we frequently take out for afternoon rides with friends and we now have my sisters houseboat moored there also. Not into hunting ,fishing, birding- just relaxing on the river.
Jill and Lou just relaxing on the river at Riverview Cafe.
