Spud,
This was an old thread from Gardenweb but the info is still relevant. Cherries, particularly sweet cherries like Bing and Rainier do not do well in warm, humid climate like your east coast zone. Rainier is not cold hardy enough for my colder east coast zone.
Too much issues to make growing sweet cherries in the east coast worth it for many people. Some cherry issues can start early like leaf spot and canker. Others like cracking or birds show up when trees bear fruit. Brown rot is a couple of years after fruit bearing.
Many people along the east coast have tried to grow sweet cherries with limited success and a lot of work. So far, people report their success with other varieties, not names Bing and cherries, like Black Gold, White Gold, Regina, Black Tartarian. There are some newer varieties but I have not seen many reports from people yet.
I hope one day, new sweet cherry varieties that are crack resistant and disease resistant suitable for east coast will be developed.