a tour of the historic tennessee brewery

The historic Tennessee Brewery in Memphis was built in 1890. During its peak production years, it churned out 250,000 barrels of beer per day, making it the largest brewery in the South. It ceased production in 1954, and it became home to a scrap metal company until 1981. It was saved from the wrecking ball by the current owner in 1999. Despite his many efforts to revitalize the building, it has remained empty and he decided it would be demolished at the end of the summer if he hadn't found a buyer for it by that time. In order to help sell the building, a group of local businessmen decided to showcase its potential by opening a beer garden in the building's courtyard for six weeks. The Brewery Untapped features food trucks, acoustic musical acts and fundraisers for local nonprofits, and has attracted tons of patrons. You can read more about the efforts to save the building here. For more really interesting details about the Tennessee Brewery's past, I highly recommend this article from the Commercial Appeal.

Here are some photos from our afternoon at the Tennessee Brewery:

Isn't the white-washed brick lovely? The windows and arches are really incredible as well. 

 We have been so inspired by the efforts to save the Tennessee Brewery, and we hope this neat old building's story has a happy ending. Memphis has so many abandoned architectural gems. It would be such a big win for our city if they were able to save this building and turn it into a sustainable investment. 

Old Fayette County

Come along with us as we explore Fayette County, Tennessee and some of its cities -- Rossville, Moscow, La Grange and Grand Junction. The area is filled with historic buildings and homes, many of which predate the Civil War. The cities are tiny -- more like villages -- and seem to be frozen in time. [gallery columns="4" type="rectangular" ids="623,624,622,621,612,611,613,618,610,620,614,616,615,617,609,608,607,619"]

Of the towns, Rossville offered the most -- The Rusty Propeller, a really fun antique store filled with primitive Americana goodness and the Wolf River Cafe. Sadly, it was only 10:30 a.m. when we arrived in Rossville, so we didn't have lunch there. Instead, we walked around the three-block downtown area, and saw each of the beautiful old homes up close.

Next up was Moscow, a town with one antique store, Miss Ann's Antique Treasures, as well as some really neat old buildings with lots of potential. Unfortunately, all were empty and rather sad looking.

From there, we drove to La Grange. This charming village is the home of Retro, a cute consignment and antiques store. When we walked into Retro, no one was in the store (although the door was open -- very creepy!), but fortunately the owner popped out of the Town Office (located next door), just as we were leaving. He told us the building was originally his grandfather's, and he had always wanted to turn it into a store. It was so charming and even had a potbelly stove in the center of the room!

There were several other quaint stores in La Grange, but none of them appeared to be open. We later discovered that Cogbill's was open. We'll definitely check it out next time.

After we left La Grange, we headed to the Ghost River boardwalk. The area served as the inspiration for the local Ghost River Brewing Company. You can see where they got the idea for their logo! The Ghost River was so peaceful and beautiful but also a bit eerie.

Grand Junction, the next town, continued that slightly creepy pattern. It was quite literally a ghost town -- the buildings and signs were all in place, but everything was boarded up and abandoned.

As we headed back toward Shelby County and the twenty-first century, we talked about the potential of Fayette County and how cool it is that so much of its prewar architecture is still intact. We loved that so many families had restored the lovely homes and that several businesses were thriving. It was very inspiring for two people who love the past like we do!