Jackson, Tennessee ... lunch !

CASEY JONES


JACKSON, TENNESSEE

You never know what you’ll find along the highway, and Casey Jones Village was one of those fun surprises where you have to stop. Remember the old musical Disney cartoon about Casey Jones, whose actual name was John Luther Jones, the famous railroad engineer who died in a train wreck in the late 1800s. I didn’t realize he was real person, did you?

Colleen in front of Casey Jones house.

The village is located just off of Highway 40 in Jackson, Tennessee. There’s a railroad museum, Jones’ house, several shops and one of best restaurants and country stores I’ve ever visited.

A Real country store !

Jackson was once a bustling railroad town, and the “Old Country Store” was (and still is) a place you can pick up just about anything you want. Today, the merchandise is more about tourism, and less about things like pickle barrels and yardage.

We ate lunch in the restaurant, which was an unusual experience. This was the “real deal,” about as country as it gets! Lunch was a massive buffet of biscuits, gravy, greens, all sorts of beans, fried chicken, corncakes, cobblers, and just about every fried sort of thing imaginable. The fun part was that because it was a buffet, we were able to taste bits of the various dishes, without having to guess at what we would like and not like. Surprisingly, the food was delicious, though I suspect much of it was made in the old fashioned way – using lard (ugh).

REAL Country Cookin'

We bought a few jars of locally made jams, and I found a dynamite necklace for $9.00!! Most of the candies were made by the Amish and looked delicious (though we actually used our nearly non-existent will power and resisted buying more sweets).

Back on the road this afternoon, heading to Kentucky.