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Grinders Switch is a location just outside Centerville, Tennessee, which consists of little more than the railroad switch for which it is named.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2013) |
Grinders Switch is a location just outside Centerville, Tennessee, which consists of little more than the railroad switch for which it is named.
Grinders Switch was also the fictional hometown of the comic character Minnie Pearl, created and portrayed at the Grand Ole Opry by comedian Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, who grew up in the nearby Town of Centerville, Tennessee.
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon's father was a lumberman who shipped logs from the Grinders depot on the Centerville branch of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. There was a team track at the depot, necessitating the installation of a switch. Long after the depot disappeared, the team track and its switch remained, thus the name "Grinders Switch". Grinders was still listed in the railroad tariff book called "Official List of Open & Prepay Stations No. 82" dated November 15, 1967.
Sarah Colley sometimes accompanied her father to the Grinders depot, where the local characters would hang out. This was part of her inspiration for her "Cousin Minnie Pearl" routine.
Minnie Pearl closes her autobiography:
People always ask me, "Where is Grinders Switch?"
As I grow older, the place is no longer a little, abandoned landing switch on a railroad in Hickman County. Grinders Switch is a state of mind – a place where there is no illness, no war, no unhappiness, no political unrest, no tears. It's a place where there's only happiness – where all you worry about is what you are going to wear to the church social, and if your feller is going to kiss you in the moonlight on the way home.
I wish for all you a Grinders Switch. [1]
So much unwarranted traffic to Grinders Switch, looking for the hometown Pearl described, was generated by tourists following the road sign, that the Hickman County Highway Department was finally motivated to change the designation on the "Grinders Switch" road sign to "Hickman Springs Road".
A "Grinders Switch" theme park was proposed for the area, with promoters going so far as to move the former railroad depot of Slayden, Tennessee to the area to serve as one of its buildings, but little more seems to have been done in regard to developing the park to this point.[ citation needed ] The park failed and all investors lost their money. The railroad depot remains, however. Hickman County bought the land where it operates the Hickman County Agriculture Pavilion. The Hickman County Fair is located at the Ag Pavilion. The National Banana Pudding Festival, one of Hickman County's more popular events, had been held at the Hickman County Ag Pavilion and Fairgrounds, featuring live music concerts, many attractions, and many kinds of banana puddings. [2] but has now been relocated to Patton's River Park, a location closer to the rest of Centerville.
Charlie Daniels mentions southern rock band Grinderswitch in his 1975 song "The South's Gonna Do It", with the lyric that is also a play on the name of the town, "Well, the train to Grinders Switch is runnin' right on time and them Tucker Boys are cookin' down in Caroline".
Tyler Farr mentions Grinders Switch in his 2015 song "C.O.U.N.T.R.Y.", written by Chris Tompkins, Craig Wiseman, and Rodney Clawson.
Perry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,366, with an average population density of 20.2 persons per square mile, making it the least densely populated county in Tennessee. Its county seat and largest town is Linden. The county is named after American naval commander and War of 1812 hero Oliver Hazard Perry.
Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,159. Its county seat and largest city is Lawrenceburg. Lawrence County comprises the Lawrenceburg, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro, TN Combined Statistical Area.
Hickman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 24,925. Its county seat is Centerville. As of 2023, Hickman County is part of the Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area, although it was once removed in 2018.
Centerville is a city in and the county seat of Appanoose County, Iowa, United States. The population was 5,412 in the 2020 census, a decline from 5,924 in 2000. After the turn of the 20th century Centerville's coal mining industry attracted European immigrants from Sweden, Italy, Croatia, and Albania. Centerville is also home of the largest town square in the state of Iowa.
Fulton is a home rule-class city in Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,357 at the 2020 census, down from 2,445 at the 2010 census. It was once known as the "Banana Capital of the World", because 70% of imported bananas to the U.S. used to be shipped through the city. Fulton is part of the Union City-Hickman, TN–KY Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Slayden is a town in Dickson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 178 at the 2010 census.
Centerville is a town in Hickman County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,489 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat and the only incorporated town in Hickman County. It is best known for being the hometown of American comedian Minnie Pearl.
Cookeville is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was reported to be 34,842. It is recognized as one of the country's micropolitan areas, or smaller cities which function as significant regional economic hubs. Of the twenty micropolitan areas in Tennessee, Cookeville is the largest. The Cookeville micropolitan area's 2010 Census population was 106,042. The U.S. Census Bureau ranked the Cookeville micropolitan area as the 7th largest-gaining micropolitan area in the country between 2018 and 2019, with a one-year gain of 1,796 and a 2019 population of 114,272. The city is a college town, home to Tennessee Tech.
Atoka is a local government area with a town charter in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States. In 1888, Atoka was a stop on the Newport News & Mississippi Valley Railroad. Today the City of New Orleans Amtrak passenger train makes its daily route between New Orleans and Chicago, through Atoka. The population was 10,008 at the 2020 census, making the Town of Atoka the largest municipality in Tipton County.
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (1940–1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.
Ward–Belmont College was a women's college, also known at the time as a "ladies' seminary," located in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Belmont Mansion, the antebellum estate of Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham.
Opryland USA was a theme park in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 to 1997, and for a special Christmas-themed engagement every December from 1993 to 1997. During the late 1980s, nearly 2.5 million people visited the park annually. Billed as the "Home of American Music," Opryland USA featured a large number of musical shows along with typical amusement park rides, such as roller coasters.
Grinder's Stand was a stand, or inn, located on the Natchez Trace. A replica can be visited today at the Meriwether Lewis Park, located on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Lewis County, Tennessee, south of Nashville, southwest of Columbia, and east of Hohenwald, Tennessee. This is where Meriwether Lewis died, by suicide or homicide.
William Adams "Wild Bill" Hickman was an American frontiersman. He also served as a representative to the Utah Territorial Legislature.
Culver Depot, also called Culver Terminal or Culver Plaza, was a railroad and streetcar terminal in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, United States, located on the northern side of Surf Avenue near West 5th Street. It was just north of the boardwalk, near the former Luna Park amusement complex, and across from the current New York Aquarium. Originally built by the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad for the Culver surface line, it later became a major terminal for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT).
As a first name, Minnie is a feminine given name. It can be a diminutive (hypocorism) of Minerva, Winifred, Wilhelmina, Willemina, Winona, Hermione, Jasmine, Mary, Miriam, Maria, Marie, Naomi, Miranda, Clementine, Dominique, Dominic, or Amelia. It may refer to:
The Gettysburg Lincoln Railroad Station, also known as the "Gettysburg Train Station," "Lincoln Train Station" or "Western Maryland Railroad Station," is a historic train station with depot, platform, museum and offices on Carlisle Street in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Operable from 1858 to 1942, it contributes to the Gettysburg Battlefield Historic District and is most notable as President Abraham Lincoln's point of arrival on November 18, 1863 and departure, following delivery of the Gettysburg Address. The station served as both a hospital during the battle and hub for outgoing wounded soldiers and incoming resources and supplies following the end of the war. On 2015, following several years of delays, the station, which was originally owned by the Borough of Gettysburg but was bought by the Gettysburg Foundation, the non-profit partner to the National Park Service, was placed under the purview of the National Park Service.
Camp Nelson National Monument, formerly the Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park, is a 525-acre (2.12 km2) national monument, historical museum and park located in southern Jessamine County, Kentucky, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Lexington, Kentucky. The American Civil War era camp was established in 1863 as a depot for the Union Army during the Civil War. It became a recruiting ground for new soldiers from Eastern Tennessee and enslaved people, many of whom had fled their living conditions to be soldiers.
State Route 50 (SR 50) is a west–to–east highway in Middle Tennessee. The road begins near Only and ends in Altamont. The current length is 161.3 miles (259.6 km).
Captain William Martin was an American merchant who is considered the father of the town of Martin in Tennessee. Because of his significant role in the region, residents gave him the name prefix Captain.