The Old Country Store Series: Casey Jones Village
Opening in 1965, the Brooks Shaw and Son Old Country Store has become one of West Tennessee’s most treasured attractions. The Old Country Store is a part of Casey Jones Village, but it wasn’t always this way. “We like to think we are carrying on the legacy of Brooks Shaw,” Clark, his son and the CEO of the family business, told us. Brooks Shaw started the Old Country Store at the age of forty after he experienced two heart attacks that changed his life. His Doctor suggested he find a hobby and he began to collect southern country store antiques. After amassing a collection of over 5,000 he opened the original Old Country Store in 1965 as an antique museum “located just over the hollow” from downtown Jackson, Tennessee. Shaw continued, “We lost him six years later to his fourth major heart attack in 1971. I was sixteen, my sister was fourteen. My mother Anne knew very little about it, but we had a manager that did a great job overseeing the business on our behalf until I got old enough to begin leading.” Despite this tragic loss the Shaws stood strong, stayed together, kept the faith and continued to make Brooks Shaw’s story, his dream, the ever-growing reality that has become the centerpiece of Casey Jones Village.
Brooks Shaw knew the way an old country store worked because he worked in one in his first job as a youth. Once located about twenty-five miles away in the Wellwood community of Haywood County Tennessee, that very store is now sitting next to the country store it inspired in Casey Jones Village and it’s a blast to the past. With its walls lined with original shelves and antiques, the Wellwood Country Store is a classic example of the old stores of yesteryear. “Well, when we got it here it was in pretty rough shape,” Clark explained. It had been open and operating almost continuously from 1925 to 2001. Originally the store faced in one direction, toward the road, but about ten or so years later, another larger road was constructed next to the store, meaning it was no longer facing the main thoroughfare. The original owner was not pleased, “the owner of the store got some mules and logs and rolled it around, so now it was facing the main, bigger, road. That’s the way he wanted it, but now it’s over this ditch—talk about a challenge when it later came time to move it,” Clark laughed.
The ditch that the store was on top of wasn’t only a problem for the movers. It actually caused some problems that you may not think about for the store itself. Clark has a story about the store from the 1940s. “In World War Two, as many people know, there were a lot of things that had to be rationed for the war effort. Sugar was one of them. Well, this store was sitting over that small ditch and so that you could actually walk under it. One day somebody noticed that this large barrel of sugar was sitting in the store over where the ditch was. And so they had the bright idea and they could come back that night with a hand-drill, and while in the ditch, they calculated where the barrel of sugar was, then they drilled a hole through the floor, and through the barrel, emptying out all the sugar. The next morning the owners came in and nope everything looked as usual. No windows or doors were broken but the barrel was empty and there was this mysterious hole in the floor.” When you enter the Wellwood store today, the hole from the great sugar robbery is near the back where the resident woodworker is perfecting his craft. H.D. "Dee" Moss is amazing. His world class wood carvings inside his “Wildlife In Wood” studio is a wonderful asset to the Casey Jones Village and the Wellwood Country Store. He has created many masterpieces that are bigger than life. One of the biggest creations in his workshop is a life size bald eagle in flight that took thousands of hours to carve. When you stop by Casey Jones Village make sure you pop in and say hello to Dee too! You’ll be amazed by both his creations and the Wellwood Country Store!
It takes many things to keep Casey Jones Village a well-oiled machine. In the Old Country Store alone there are several different areas which are an experience in itself. The gift and confectionery shoppe has barrels of old-timey sweets, antiques harkening back to the early days of being a museum, and an old fashioned ice cream parlor with a rare 1880s ice cream soda fountain. The floors are hardwood and creak beneath your feet, but the ice cream parlor has a tiled floor, two-seat tables, and a bar you can sit at and watch the magic happen. The village baker was getting ready for the day while we were there—making homemade fried pies where the guests could watch and interact with her.
But that’s not all! The Old Country Store is also considered a local landmark restaurant! Their good ole southern cooking will make you want to visit again and again. From fried chicken like your momma used to make, and Mississippi Delta farm raised Catfish, to the best meatloaf you can buy, it’s like every day is Thanksgiving at the Old Country Store’s buffet. You will never be happier than when you sit down ready to eat some of the best food in West Tennessee! They have everything down to a perfect science right down to the seating and nostalgic decor. Get ready to load your plate with some Fried or Baked Chicken, Vidalia Onion Meatloaf, Chicken and Dressing, and Beef Liver and Onions. That’s not even including a large variety of vegetables like pinto beans, yellow squash, black-eyed peas, three kinds of greens, white beans and so much more. Juanita Shaw likes to refer to their vegetables as “the foundation of the Southern Table.” The buffet also features a large salad, fruit and soup bar and the famous cracklin' cornbread is cooked fresh right in front of you on the griddle in the middle of the buffet.
However, sitting down for a family-style that is just like a home-cooked meal is only one way to experience all the delicious food at Casey Jones Village. The Dixie Cafe is located just opposite the gift shoppe from the buffet. With the option of take-out or making a quick stop for a bite, the Dixie Cafe serves a generous portion of meat, with two vegetables, and a roll or cornbread! This 1880’s style lunch counter offers many special daily meat options and about ten different veggies and homemade desserts to choose from. While some people want the sit-down experience the Old Country Store’s buffet provides, the Dixie Cafe is more like a deli line that will get you what you want to eat by just going down the line.
For the Shaw family, Casey Jones Village, and Brooks Shaw and Son’s Old Country Store is all about keeping a legacy alive and dreaming to make it bigger and better. Today most of the Shaw family lives in the Village. Clark and his wife Juanita live in 1,000 square foot cottage that pre-dates the Civil War. Its beautifully restored and now sits between their first home on the property and the 1837 Providence House, a special events venue. The first cottage they built on the property is only eight steps from the old country store. Those eight steps were the catalyst that led them to live in the village. Clark explained, “The older I've gotten, the more I understand that there are many wonderful seasons of life. At one time I had a 3500 square foot log home sixteen miles out in the country on the site where my great-great-grandfather owned the land. My great grandfather lived there. My grandfather lived there briefly. My dad, he was born on that site in a real log cabin. I thought that this is where I will spend the rest of my life—here, on this spot. Well, God had different ideas. Because our schedules were so crazy, Juanita and I rarely did the drive in to the village together. “This was also about the time their son Brooks, who is named after his grandfather,” was turning sixteen and he was about to start driving all these winding country roads. We had already hit three deer, so we had been thinking about that too with him. We had a swimming pool, a beautiful long drive along an ancient cedar tree lane, and we were surrounded by gently rolling farmland. I thought this was our forever home but one day Juanita said, ‘Honey, with all this driving we're doing, could we build a little cottage at the store and spend half the week there and half the week out here at the cabin.’ So we built a little cottage and lived there for several years.” Clark continued that when traveling sixteen miles to work became literally eight steps into work it didn’t take long to see the Village is where they needed to make their new home. “Juanita looked at me one day and said ‘Honey, this is so convenient, I just don’t want to go back.’ What do you do when your wife tells you that… you don’t go back. You try to honor your wife and do the best you can. I said okay and it took me a few years to get over it but I finally did. Now we see this place as a huge blessing from God that he gave to us. I look back now and see that was a season of life. For twenty years, I got to raise my family in that beautiful log home built on the very spot where my ancestors lived. Now, this is another season. You cannot imagine how much Juanita and I love living in this small 1850’s cottage. It's our haven just literally steps from the store.
Clark loves Casey Jones Village and the Old Country Store and so does his family and the people who work and visit there. “Tennessee is a major travel destination and we welcome hundreds of thousands of guests annually. From our friends located here in West Tennessee to visitors from across the nation and around the world we love to show them our southern food and hospitality. At last count over seventy-five countries were represented on our map” Clark said. For the Shaw’s it’s all about family as Clark and Juanita are now mentoring the third generation of owners in their son Brooks and daughter Elizabeth. Brooks now serves as the General Manager of the company and Elizabeth works in the Business Office.
It would be easy to go on for hours in thousands upon thousands of words about all the nooks and crannies that compose Casey Jones Village. There so much more to tell about America’s Railroad legend Casey Jones himself, how his home and 8,000 sq foot Train Station museum and Train store also came to rest in the village. That’s not even mentioning the historic train cars that commemorate him! Then there's The Shoppes At Casey Jones Village that include AirB&B accommodations above them and just across the Village Square, old meets new at the Tesla SuperCharger stations that can help travelers in electric cars get from Nashville to Memphis. There’s also the history behind the 1905 Village Chapel, the 1837 Providence House Event venue, the Farm At Casey Jones Village and large Outdoor Amphitheatre. Upcoming projects include a Farmers Market, a Drive Thru, as well as a Barn and Cotton Gin as event venues. You’ll be able to find each of these stories in our Casey Jones Village Blog Series! This exclusive content will highlight each and every one of the unique parts of the village.
The Casey Jones Village is located just off Interstate 40 at 56 Casey Jone Lane in Jackson, Tennessee. Visit their website at www.caseyjones.com or call them at 731-668-1223. They can also be found on Facebook at Brooks Shaw’s Old Country Store and Instagram.