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A day at the Homestead
Granville’s newest attraction draws history buffs and nostalgics
| Story and photos by Mark E. Johnson |
8/31/2012 |
As a quaint tourist destination, Granville is rapidly becoming the worst-kept secret in Middle Tennessee.
Since the tiny Jackson County town opened its museum in 1999 to document the area’s rich riverboat history, visitors have slowly but surely been discovering Granville’s Mayberry-esque charm, which has led to more endearing and authentic attractions, which have led to more enthralled tourists.
Where will it all end?
“I’m not sure!” laughs Randall Clemons, a Granville native and president of the town’s museum committee. “We’re about to run out of space!”
Randall admits that he thought the town had run out of space for any new attractions until one of Granville’s signature properties — the Ben Sutton residence — became available for purchase in May 2011. When word about the sale got out, the response from heritage-minded Granvillians was immediate.
“We raised $187,000 in the community within 30 days,” says Randall. “That was enough to purchase the property and do a lot of the restoration.”
The result is the Sutton Homestead, which opened in October 2011. On the 2.5-acre property are the Sutton house, a working gristmill, weaving and blacksmith shops, an automotive museum that includes a vintage service station, and a pioneer village with a cabin, several log outbuildings, and garden and tobacco patches. Each area is staffed by volunteers — dressed in period clothing — who produce real merchandise available for purchase, including corn meal and grits, a variety of baskets, and doilies.
Randall says the Homestead is a “perfect companion” to the town’s existing museum, gift shop, agricultural museum, and centerpiece structure, the T.B. Sutton General Store.
“[The Homestead] was something we needed,” Randall says. “A visitor can now be entertained for at least four hours without leaving the confines of the town.”
This is quite an accomplishment, he notes, especially since the town was barely a blip on Tennessee’s radar for the several decades leading up to the 1999 opening of the Granville museum. In the early 1900s, Granville sat at the edge of the Cumberland River and was a bustling riverboat hub where farmers from the Jackson County area would bring their goods to be shipped to Nashville. Poised for greatness, Granville’s potential for growth fizzled when automobiles came onto the scene and riverboats became obsolete. In 1972, the river itself went away when a Tennessee Valley Authority dam project created Cordell Hull Lake.
These days, the river traffic of old has been replaced by land vehicles carrying visitors to one of Granville’s main events — the annual Heritage Day and Uncle Jimmy Thompson Bluegrass Festival in May, the Fall Celebration, Country Christmas, or the increasingly popular Sutton Ole Time Music Hour, a weekly bluegrass music show broadcast via radio and Internet. With the addition of the Granville Homestead, the tiny hamlet has redefined itself as a true tourist destination as well as an educational field trip option for area school children.
“We never dreamed it would turn into all of this,” says Randall, pointing out that the town has hosted more than 600 school groups since the Homestead opened. “We started the museum in 1999 mainly to preserve our local heritage, and one thing has led to another. People now view Granville as a step back in time. Many tell us that their stresses of life fade away as they drive into our town. That’s exactly what we’re shooting for!”
Sutton Homestead and Pioneer Village is open noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and admission is $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens, and $3 for children 6 to 12. Children 5 and under are admitted free. To learn more and view a complete list of upcoming events in Granville, visit www.granvillemuseum.com.
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