Photo Gallery: Rusty's TV & Movie Car Museum
A Batmobile, a DeLorean, Lightning McQueen, and Herbie fill the rows at Rusty’s TV and Movie Car Museum on Hollywood Drive in Jackson. Owner Rusty Robinson says it’s a collection that began with a love for cars and television. What started as a hobby has turned into a tourist attraction with vehicles from every kind of show imaginable, from The Fast and the Furious and Death Proof to Wayne’s World and The Beverly Hillbillies. Some of the cars are originals used in productions, others are replicas, and some (like the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine) are Rusty’s own creations.
To get you all ready for tomorrow's podcast with Rusty, we thought we'd give you a little glance at this quirky, hidden treasure of Jackson. Check out these stunning photos by Kristi Woody and see what all you've got to go see.
Kristi Woody is a photographer and storyteller for our Hello Jackson features about locally owned retail stores and restaurants. She also works as the university photographer for Union University and owns her own wedding photography business, Woody & Pearl Photography. In her free time, Kristi enjoys spending time with her husband and rambunctious beagle, Rhett and Chipper respectively. If you can't find Kristi in Jackson, you'll find her in her second favorite place: Disney World!
Introduction written by Nathan Handley.
Why do we create monuments to the past? What is it about physical reminders—be they statues or plaques—that move us? Why do we feel the need to travel to the places of great historical events and walk the same ground? I am struck by the words of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, the hero of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg: “In great deeds, something abides. On great fields, something stays.”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, y’all! Jackson has so much family fun for you this holiday season, so check out these five favorite events happening this December.
Maybe it will be a high school production of the musical Camelot. An exhibit of stunning photography by a local class may catch your eye. Perhaps you’ll just want to see the downstairs museum, where dozens of photos, plaques, awards, and costumes recall the acting careers of Dixie Carter and her husband, Hal Holbrook. What will bring you to The Dixie? The Dixie Carter Performing Arts & Academic Enrichment Center is a historical performing arts and enrichment center in Huntingdon, Tennessee.
What will a person not do because of love? With love, the seemingly absurd and impossible becomes logical and likely. Love is what drives us to actions and accomplishments, from the noblest and greatest to ordinary and poignant. To paraphrase the famous early twentieth century English author G.K. Chesterton, something becomes great or beautiful or indeed lovely because we love it. Not because it was great, beautiful, or lovely before we came. This is because love is transformative.
August is here, which means school is back in session and the weather may be a bit better—right? Either way, Jackson still has some awesome events to keep you and the family entertained as we say goodbye to summer, from golfing and hacking to contemporary music and old movies. Check out what you should be at this month.
Welcome to West Tennessee, City Farmhouse Pop-Up Fair shoppers! We're so glad to have you. If you're taking a few days to peruse the fair but also want to check out all the fun we have here in Medina and Jackson while you're in town, check out some of our best local picks from Our Jackson Home Editor-in-Chief, Katie Howerton, and White Oak Farms owner, Stephanie Alexander, featuring our favorite restaurants, boutiques, and more.
Walt Disney World, Gulf Shores, Baton Rouge, France, the Bahamas, the Yucatan; these are places we go to retreat from the normalcy of life. These are the destinations of our vacations, our free week off from work to do what we want. Yet retreating to something different doesn’t have to mean venturing beyond state lines. As native West Tennesseans, we forget the vast culture and history that surrounds us.
Ordinary guys don’t spend too much time thinking about the best escape route out of a restaurant or a home or out of town. And while most people I know aren’t worried about the trackability of their IP addresses or burner phones or whether or not they’ve been recorded on too many security cameras in public, that’s not the case for Lee Wilson. But then again, Lee isn’t exactly having an ordinary moment.
An expansive flock of slate grey clouds span the sky as I drive along the narrow highway. The landscape rolls beside me, before me. The hills and subtle ridge lines guide the highway that bears my passage. Rural fields are dotted with gigantic cotton gins, dilapidated barns. Small colonies of trailers and rented houses populate gravel side roads, sprouting like branches from the main highway. I am northward bound, driving into an increasingly brisk wind.
After you crank your car down from the sixty-five miles-per-hour speed limit, you’ll make a turn onto a shaded, gravel road, and if you are lucky you’ll catch your first glimpse of the exotic: radiant peacocks, enormous camels, ancient buffalo, and vibrant zebras. In a way, you will feel that you have just stepped into a new world filled with wonder and excitement. And you’ve only just pulled in. Tennessee’s only drive-through safari park is truly a captivating place.
One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to go shopping for antiques, and Yarbro’s Antiques has always been one of the best places to go in Jackson to find a great variety. Yarbro’s is made up of booths stocked by a variety of sellers. Some dealers specialize in collectibles such as linens, military items, or glassware, and others sell things like seasonal decor or restored furniture. There is a little bit of everything with prices ranging from $1 all the way to $10,000.
I was never a baller. I wanted to be one, though. The grace and fluidity with which truly great basketball players move is unparalleled in any other sport. I was jealous. I’m tall and used to be pretty thin, but I never had the grace the true athletic players seemed to have. Gravity appeared to have a stronger hold on me than it did my teammates and my opponents. Sure, I was able to dunk a ball for a period of time in my 20’s and early 30’s, but it was off one foot and more of a “rim grazer” than a true “flush.”
One of the most well-known attractions in Jackson is Brooks Shaw & Son Old Country Store, a place both residents and visitors love. One of my earliest memories of the Old Country Store is from a field trip I took in kindergarten, where I was so excited about the barrels upon barrels of candy! The main draw of the Old Country Store is definitely the traditional Southern food buffet, which ranges from $8 to $13.
When I first moved to Jackson, my only regret in my college choice was (what seemed to me) the lack of natural beauty in the university’s town. As a Middle Tennessee native and an East Tennessee enthusiast, I grew up enthralled by the beauty of Tennessee’s landscape: the rolling hills, slow-moving rivers, and Blue Ridge Mountains in the east. Hence, my relocation to West Tennessee was, quite literally, flattening.
I had forgotten how exhilarating it is to fly up in the sky. The takeoff, the landing, and the whole experience seems to take your breath away. Maybe that’s because I don’t travel by air as often as I would like. I still think it’s crazy that Katie Howerton and I managed to take time out of our schedules to enjoy a day trip to St. Louis—flown directly out of Jackson. Encouraging a getaway trip to St. Louis might not come across as a typical Our Jackson Home topic. At least that’s what I thought at first.
One of the many reasons that I started Hello Jackson was to create a resource for people traveling through West Tennessee to find local businesses to support. One of the places that is already pretty popular with travelers is the I-40 Exit 87 BBQ Stand. It is a food truck-style establishment with a lot of character. Growing up, I always associated barbecue with family gatherings. Any time we all got together, we went somewhere to get some delicious pulled pork and all the sides.
A new form of entertainment is catching fire all across America, and it involves teams of players willingly locking themselves into rooms before solving a series of themed puzzles and riddles in order to get out. It’s an immersive and interactive experience that is scratching an itch that most didn’t know they had, one that is resulting in a fever for novel problem solving and adventure.
To get you all ready for tomorrow's podcast featuring Rusty Robinson or Rusty's TV & Movie Car Museum, we thought we'd give you a little glance at this quirky, hidden treasure of Jackson. Check out these stunning photos by Kristi Woody and see what all you're missing out on!
On a fall afternoon I decided to diagnose my boredom with little good, ole fashioned exploring around the heart of Jackson, Tennessee. Equipped with my camera, I ventured downtown searching aimlessly for anything out of the ordinary to grasp my attention. Having already spent a majority of my time in this part of town, I desperately needed to be more creative with finding a hidden gem. After countless hours of wandering, trespassing, and jaywalking, I was on the brink of defeat.
Fall is finally in full swing, and if you're anything like me, you know that there are few things better than fall camping season. There's just something about the cozy campfires and the chilly mornings that makes being outdoors in the fall so much more invigorating than any other season. And if you live in Jackson, you're fortunate to be surrounded by tons of nearby state parks and recreation areas that make getting out in nature a breeze.