Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop
Art Lives Here
Thursday thru Sunday 12:00 - 5:00PM
We are a designated Monarch Waystation
204 Cumberland Street Cowan, TN
Thinking of a Road Trip?
Think of Cowan, TN
Looking for a peaceful day trip (or an overnight stay) to one of Tennessee’s pleasant tiny towns?
Cowan (population 1,800) might just suit your fancy, especially if you love trains, old hotels, arts & crafts, vintage clothing, ice cream and country vistas.
Set in Franklin County on U.S. Highway 41 S., six miles east of Winchester, the village’s shining star is the Cowan Railroad Museum, which pays tribute to the history of the track that runs from Nashville to Chattanooga. The tracks are still busy as 12 to 20 trains run through here daily.
Jarod Pearson, a fifth-generation resident of the community and its biggest booster, explains, “What you see here in the museum is the story of the railroad and the related industries for the Cumberland Plateau. When you come in you see a replica of the yard-master office, which is where a dispatcher would help sort out freight cars, especially the coal cars going to the coal mines in Grundy County. You’ll also see the area which was the passenger depot where arriving passengers would make their connection to Sewanee and Monteagle.
“We also have some other railroad relics and some antiques. One of our treasures is a hand-crafted brass steam locomotive built by some brothers from Sherwood. It still belongs to the Robinson family, but it’s on loan to the museum.”
Other artifacts include railroad watches, old telephones and a large collection of old photographs, yesteryear railroad signals (color lamp signals) and model trains.
The railroad museum is open May through October from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. It’s closed for the winter months, but train enthusiasts are welcome to come year-round to see the outside of the depot, which includes rare porter-type steam locomotives, a flat car and a rare bay window caboose.
As for a bit of Cowan railroad history, construction of the tracks began in the early 1840s, and the biggest challenge was the elevation. Engineers decided to build a railroad tunnel through the Cumberland Plateau, which when finished was the longest railroad tunnel in the world.
It took about four years as crews worked day and night seven days a week carving out the rock, mostly by hand. The line opened in 1855 (the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad), and a depot was built at the bottom of the mountain.
Besides serving the University of the South at Sewanee, the trains carried coal as well as steel due to Sewanee Furnace, the largest producer of pig iron in the world. The cars also carried off loads of timber, while taking passengers to the university and vacationers to the resorts on Monteagle Mountain.
Passenger service ceased in 1965, and the depot was abandoned in 1972.
After the depot was scheduled for demolition, a group of citizens formed the Cowan Beautification Commission to preserve the structure. Two years later the railroad agreed to sell the depot for a dollar on the condition that the group move the depot a safer distance from the tracks. That was accomplished on Sept. 21, 1976, and Cowan Beautification became the Cowan Railroad Museum. For details, go online to cowanrailroadmuseum.org
The Franklin House
The Franklin House basks in the center of town at 108 Cumberland Street East. A bit under 10,000-square-feet, the two-story boutique hotel offers one complete apartment and eight rooms. Pearson had his hands in preserving this white brick structure as well.
“I ran it for 17 years. When I bought it in 2002, it had been largely abandoned for years. So the building went from empty to a purpose, and it became a hotel again,” he said. “When I started volunteering as a tour guide at Cowan Railroad museum at age 14, the old hotel was a mystery to me, but the old-timers here told me the stories of the Franklin House. The original railroad hotel was built in 1885. I was fascinated and so I did further research.
“I wrote an article as a school English assignment about the old hotel and talked about how it would be nice to have that building reopened as a hotel in Cowan. Then years later I made that happen.”
In December of 2020, Pearson turned the hotel over to artist Rachel Thompson, a Florida native whose mother was a Winchester native.
“I was living in Florida involved in the art world down there. … I needed my roots and my family. So here we are. The hotel was in good condition. It was more traditional, more Victorian, and I’m more eclectic, being a Floridian and an artist, so I kind of did some things to turn it on its ear. Let’s just say I morphed it into putting my signature on it over time,” said Thompson.
“It’s a historic railroad hotel and it’s charming. What it’s become to me is, I feel like it’s more really like a guest house, even though I’ve promoted it as a boutique hotel. I find that I get along better with the hotel if I treat the people as if they were coming to stay in my home. So with that attitude, they come back. It’s just paying attention to treating somebody as if they were at your house. We’re about to add soups and homemade sourdough bread.”
The hotel offers a banquet room that seats 125 and it is being used as for church, sewing circles, yoga classes, and Saturday night jam sessions.
Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop
Franklin County supports a thriving arts scene and many of its artisans have their works nestled in the Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop a short way down the street from the hotel.
Pippa Browne, president of the Franklin County Arts Guild and gallery coordinator of the shop, said, “The Franklin County Arts Guild came out of a collection of retired artists who gathered together in the ’70s, and they started doing art together. They wanted a space to show their work, and they also wanted to promote art in the community. So, they started the Franklin County Arts Guild to promote art in the community. The gallery moved from one place to another and then finally it’s been here since 2017.
“We bring Franklin County elementary and high school students here to show their work. At this time, I would say we have 800 pieces here. Our goal is always to get more people into this space, to experience it, to be part of it.”
Franklin County Arts Guild vice president Mary Ann Morrison added, “We have community shows, which are sort of monthly, and those people may or may not be members of the guild. There’s no age limit and no proficiency level. If they’re interested in showing their work, they bring it.”
The Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop is open noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
Valley Vintage Shop
Directly across from the Franklin House is the eclectic Valley Vintage Shop operated by Tracy City native Amanda Wiseman. Opened in March 2021, this upscale resale shop holds a horde of new and used items.
“There’s men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, belts, hats, accessories, and then we have a lot of home goods,” said Wiseman. “We have a lot of wall decor and lamps, so you can kind of get a little bit of everything in here. We have a mix of both new and vintage. We have gently used clothing, and we have handmade items.”
Valley Vintage hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday.
Cowan Tasty Treats
Christina Woods launched this ice cream (Blue Bell brand) and candy shop a little over a year ago and it looks as if everything is going sweetly. The Michigan native and her family have been in Cowan for 20 years. She retired last year from Nissan and said to herself, “I’ve always wanted to do something for the kids.” Thus, she decided to give this corner shop a try.
“It’s going pretty good,” she says. “We kind of got it set for kids and adults, so we’re not just kid friendly. Folks really like our Dubai chocolate candy bar that has pistachio cream in it. Then we have a gift shop where we make shirts for the schools. We sell a lot of novelty candies too.”
Hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m. 6 p.m. Sunday.
Chimbolo Mexican Restaurant
Another newcomer to the Cowan dining scene is Chimbolo Mexican Restaurant, which is open seven days a week at 11 a.m. Israel Garcia and his wife, Anjelica, opened their dining place last year in early October after working in a restaurant in Woodbury for 14 years.
Israel said, “I was cook. I was service and making a little bit of everything. I’m thinking, ‘I’m ready to start something personal,’ so I’m having the chance here for start, so I come. Today it’s a hopping.”
His said his top dishes are tacos, quesadillas, nachos, enchiladas and quesabirria. He brags just a bit about his guacamole casero, saying, “It’s fresh avocado, chopped onion, cilantro, a little bit of lime. It’s good stuff.”
Another of his favorites is milanesa, which he describes as “a whole chicken breast with a little piece of bread on top. It’s Mexican traditional and really good. We serve a little bit of a mix, Tex-Mex and Mexican food.”
Lapp’s Greenhouse
A couple of miles west of Cowan on Highway 41 South, flower lovers and gardeners will discover Lapps’ Greenhouse, run by Sam and Verna Lapp. The couple had a dairy farm and at some point Verna started a greenhouse business.
Then they decided to move to Tennessee where they had children and grandchildren, planning to have one greenhouse and grow produce and a few cattle.
“This is what the outcome was,” said Sam, about their budding business that’s about to complete its 10th year. “In the fall time it’s all about mums and pumpkins, and, of course, flowering cabbage and kale and so on. Springtime it’s mostly annuals and perennials. We also have a nursery, trees, and shrubs. April/May’s our peak. We also sell a lot of outdoor furniture, and then at Christmas we sell trees and our own homemade wreaths and poinsettias.
“We’re moving the one greenhouse and putting a big building there, and then we’ll have a cafe in there with a bakery and maybe a coffee shop.”
Lapps Greenhouse is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.
TENNESSEE’S BACKROADS HERITAGE
Tennessee’s Backroads Heritage is a non-profit organization that serves a seven-county area ((Bedford, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Lincoln, Marshall and Moore) by promoting some of the best attractions, festivals and outdoor recreation in Southern Middle Tennessee. For details, go to www.tennesseebackroads.org.
Cowan (population 1,800) might just suit your fancy, especially if you love trains, old hotels, arts & crafts, vintage clothing, ice cream and country vistas.
Set in Franklin County on U.S. Highway 41 S., six miles east of Winchester, the village’s shining star is the Cowan Railroad Museum, which pays tribute to the history of the track that runs from Nashville to Chattanooga. The tracks are still busy as 12 to 20 trains run through here daily.
Jarod Pearson, a fifth-generation resident of the community and its biggest booster, explains, “What you see here in the museum is the story of the railroad and the related industries for the Cumberland Plateau. When you come in you see a replica of the yard-master office, which is where a dispatcher would help sort out freight cars, especially the coal cars going to the coal mines in Grundy County. You’ll also see the area which was the passenger depot where arriving passengers would make their connection to Sewanee and Monteagle.
“We also have some other railroad relics and some antiques. One of our treasures is a hand-crafted brass steam locomotive built by some brothers from Sherwood. It still belongs to the Robinson family, but it’s on loan to the museum.”
Other artifacts include railroad watches, old telephones and a large collection of old photographs, yesteryear railroad signals (color lamp signals) and model trains.
The railroad museum is open May through October from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. It’s closed for the winter months, but train enthusiasts are welcome to come year-round to see the outside of the depot, which includes rare porter-type steam locomotives, a flat car and a rare bay window caboose.
As for a bit of Cowan railroad history, construction of the tracks began in the early 1840s, and the biggest challenge was the elevation. Engineers decided to build a railroad tunnel through the Cumberland Plateau, which when finished was the longest railroad tunnel in the world.
It took about four years as crews worked day and night seven days a week carving out the rock, mostly by hand. The line opened in 1855 (the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad), and a depot was built at the bottom of the mountain.
Besides serving the University of the South at Sewanee, the trains carried coal as well as steel due to Sewanee Furnace, the largest producer of pig iron in the world. The cars also carried off loads of timber, while taking passengers to the university and vacationers to the resorts on Monteagle Mountain.
Passenger service ceased in 1965, and the depot was abandoned in 1972.
After the depot was scheduled for demolition, a group of citizens formed the Cowan Beautification Commission to preserve the structure. Two years later the railroad agreed to sell the depot for a dollar on the condition that the group move the depot a safer distance from the tracks. That was accomplished on Sept. 21, 1976, and Cowan Beautification became the Cowan Railroad Museum. For details, go online to cowanrailroadmuseum.org
The Franklin House
The Franklin House basks in the center of town at 108 Cumberland Street East. A bit under 10,000-square-feet, the two-story boutique hotel offers one complete apartment and eight rooms. Pearson had his hands in preserving this white brick structure as well.
“I ran it for 17 years. When I bought it in 2002, it had been largely abandoned for years. So the building went from empty to a purpose, and it became a hotel again,” he said. “When I started volunteering as a tour guide at Cowan Railroad museum at age 14, the old hotel was a mystery to me, but the old-timers here told me the stories of the Franklin House. The original railroad hotel was built in 1885. I was fascinated and so I did further research.
“I wrote an article as a school English assignment about the old hotel and talked about how it would be nice to have that building reopened as a hotel in Cowan. Then years later I made that happen.”
In December of 2020, Pearson turned the hotel over to artist Rachel Thompson, a Florida native whose mother was a Winchester native.
“I was living in Florida involved in the art world down there. … I needed my roots and my family. So here we are. The hotel was in good condition. It was more traditional, more Victorian, and I’m more eclectic, being a Floridian and an artist, so I kind of did some things to turn it on its ear. Let’s just say I morphed it into putting my signature on it over time,” said Thompson.
“It’s a historic railroad hotel and it’s charming. What it’s become to me is, I feel like it’s more really like a guest house, even though I’ve promoted it as a boutique hotel. I find that I get along better with the hotel if I treat the people as if they were coming to stay in my home. So with that attitude, they come back. It’s just paying attention to treating somebody as if they were at your house. We’re about to add soups and homemade sourdough bread.”
The hotel offers a banquet room that seats 125 and it is being used as for church, sewing circles, yoga classes, and Saturday night jam sessions.
Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop
Franklin County supports a thriving arts scene and many of its artisans have their works nestled in the Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop a short way down the street from the hotel.
Pippa Browne, president of the Franklin County Arts Guild and gallery coordinator of the shop, said, “The Franklin County Arts Guild came out of a collection of retired artists who gathered together in the ’70s, and they started doing art together. They wanted a space to show their work, and they also wanted to promote art in the community. So, they started the Franklin County Arts Guild to promote art in the community. The gallery moved from one place to another and then finally it’s been here since 2017.
“We bring Franklin County elementary and high school students here to show their work. At this time, I would say we have 800 pieces here. Our goal is always to get more people into this space, to experience it, to be part of it.”
Franklin County Arts Guild vice president Mary Ann Morrison added, “We have community shows, which are sort of monthly, and those people may or may not be members of the guild. There’s no age limit and no proficiency level. If they’re interested in showing their work, they bring it.”
The Artisan Depot Gallery & Gift Shop is open noon-5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
Valley Vintage Shop
Directly across from the Franklin House is the eclectic Valley Vintage Shop operated by Tracy City native Amanda Wiseman. Opened in March 2021, this upscale resale shop holds a horde of new and used items.
“There’s men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, belts, hats, accessories, and then we have a lot of home goods,” said Wiseman. “We have a lot of wall decor and lamps, so you can kind of get a little bit of everything in here. We have a mix of both new and vintage. We have gently used clothing, and we have handmade items.”
Valley Vintage hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday.
Cowan Tasty Treats
Christina Woods launched this ice cream (Blue Bell brand) and candy shop a little over a year ago and it looks as if everything is going sweetly. The Michigan native and her family have been in Cowan for 20 years. She retired last year from Nissan and said to herself, “I’ve always wanted to do something for the kids.” Thus, she decided to give this corner shop a try.
“It’s going pretty good,” she says. “We kind of got it set for kids and adults, so we’re not just kid friendly. Folks really like our Dubai chocolate candy bar that has pistachio cream in it. Then we have a gift shop where we make shirts for the schools. We sell a lot of novelty candies too.”
Hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 11 a.m. 6 p.m. Sunday.
Chimbolo Mexican Restaurant
Another newcomer to the Cowan dining scene is Chimbolo Mexican Restaurant, which is open seven days a week at 11 a.m. Israel Garcia and his wife, Anjelica, opened their dining place last year in early October after working in a restaurant in Woodbury for 14 years.
Israel said, “I was cook. I was service and making a little bit of everything. I’m thinking, ‘I’m ready to start something personal,’ so I’m having the chance here for start, so I come. Today it’s a hopping.”
His said his top dishes are tacos, quesadillas, nachos, enchiladas and quesabirria. He brags just a bit about his guacamole casero, saying, “It’s fresh avocado, chopped onion, cilantro, a little bit of lime. It’s good stuff.”
Another of his favorites is milanesa, which he describes as “a whole chicken breast with a little piece of bread on top. It’s Mexican traditional and really good. We serve a little bit of a mix, Tex-Mex and Mexican food.”
Lapp’s Greenhouse
A couple of miles west of Cowan on Highway 41 South, flower lovers and gardeners will discover Lapps’ Greenhouse, run by Sam and Verna Lapp. The couple had a dairy farm and at some point Verna started a greenhouse business.
Then they decided to move to Tennessee where they had children and grandchildren, planning to have one greenhouse and grow produce and a few cattle.
“This is what the outcome was,” said Sam, about their budding business that’s about to complete its 10th year. “In the fall time it’s all about mums and pumpkins, and, of course, flowering cabbage and kale and so on. Springtime it’s mostly annuals and perennials. We also have a nursery, trees, and shrubs. April/May’s our peak. We also sell a lot of outdoor furniture, and then at Christmas we sell trees and our own homemade wreaths and poinsettias.
“We’re moving the one greenhouse and putting a big building there, and then we’ll have a cafe in there with a bakery and maybe a coffee shop.”
Lapps Greenhouse is open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.
TENNESSEE’S BACKROADS HERITAGE
Tennessee’s Backroads Heritage is a non-profit organization that serves a seven-county area ((Bedford, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Lincoln, Marshall and Moore) by promoting some of the best attractions, festivals and outdoor recreation in Southern Middle Tennessee. For details, go to www.tennesseebackroads.org.
The Artisan Depot Gallery and Gift Shop is a community exhibition space supported by the Franklin County Arts Guild for members of Franklin County and beyond.
ALL community members regardless of age or experience are invited to show their art in any of our community shows. No fee required.
Make a Donation to our Scholarship Fund.
No person on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, or sex shall be excluded from participation in, or be denied benefits of, or otherwise be subject to discrimination of services, programs, and employment provided by the Tennessee Arts Commission and its contracting agencies.