More Distilleries and Miss Mary Bobo’s…

Wow what a fun few days we had visiting friends Charles and Sandy in Middle Tennessee! Our last day there was as great as our first two. Sandy had a prior commitment early that day so Charles came over to take us to another tour of a distillery. This time we toured Charles Dickel and although they weren’t in production the lady who guided the tour was very informative.

The distillery is located in a sleepy little town called Cascade Hollow and originated in the mid 1800’s. Charles Dickel  grew the distillery into Tennessee's largest distillery but then came prohibition in 1919 and it was forced to close.After nearly forty years in 1958, Master Distiller Ralph Dupps rebuilt the distillery.and since then no one has had to be without George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.

After the tour Charles had a treat in store for us by taking us to Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House and Restaurant which is a well known southern food establishment. This restored  historic boarding house serves up classic southern cuisine and is all you can eat served family style.  We were assigned a dining room and when the bell rang we were escorted to our room by a hostess. What a cozy room it was featuring the original fireplace and mantle. The table in our room seated 12 so we were sitting with strangers but that is what family style is all about.

Our hostess had us each introduce ourselves so soon we were no longer strangers. Then she told us a bit about the history of the boarding house and about the local area as well. The restaurant is owned by Jack Daniels Distillery which is also located in the town of Lynchburg (which is interestingly a dry town). She then explained our servers were awarded two years fully paid college and in return worked at the restaurant during the summer and college breaks. She had one of the servers introduce himself and he told us he planned to receive a business degree so he could hopefully return to this town and work for Jack Daniels distillery!

The food appeared and was placed on a giant lazy-susan in the middle of the table.  Everyone was instructed to simply rotate and spoon out their foods of choice. Today’s menu included fried chicken, meat loaf, okra, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, black eyed peas, corn bread and coleslaw. They also served some fabulous apples stewed in, you guessed it, Jack Daniels! After lunch our servers brought out our dessert which was a chocolate brownie pie topped with Jack Daniel's special whipped cream.

We noticed they even have an RV park, a small city park, right behind Miss Mary Bobo's which has electric and water hookups (no sewer). It is walking distance to the Lynchburg town square and  to the Jack Daniel's distillery as well as the restaurant. 

After lunch we toured the nearby Jack Daniel's distillery and unfortunately a thunderstorm was rolling through the area so the tour guide couldn’t allow us to exit the bus somewhat diminishing our experience. But after that wonderful lunch we really didn’t care. especially since the tour guide was very entertaining.

Wow our time  visiting Charles and Sandy's beautiful farm went by fast and we had such wonderful hosts. However, it was indeed time to move on. We planned to leave bright and early as I had my first ever VA hospital appointment in Murfreesboro, TN and then after the appointment we plan to travel to just south of Lebanon, Tennessee…