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| Hurricane Mills - Loretta Lynn's House. Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
You are not a true Kentuckian nor a real
country music fan if you do not know who Loretta Lynn is. She was one of the country music pioneers
that paved the way for many females to sing in music. Today she continues to tour, putting in over
70 concerts a year and nothing seems to slow her down.
Last year I had the opportunity to visit
Butcher Holler, the home of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle. You can check out my adventures by clicking here. This week, while in Nashville, I
decided to take the trip out to Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, to the Loretta Lynn
Ranch. Needless to say, it was well
worth the hour drive from Nashville.
Just off the exit on I-40, you will
travel 6 miles before turning left into Loretta Lynn’s Ranch. Right off of the exit is the Loretta Lynn
Kitchen up on the hill. Be sure to stop
by there for some delicious home cooking.
Upon entering the ranch, you see various
log buildings and an office. The Loretta
Lynn Ranch contains not only her home, but an RV park, camping facilities,
cabins to stay in, ATV course, outdoor stage, farming area, and more. As you wind your way down the paved road, you
see the pure beauty that surrounds you.
Signs lead you up the road to where her house is and then where to cross
the bridge, turn left, and to park behind the gift shop.
First, go into the Ranch gift shop to
inquire about tour tickets. They will
give you a set time. I got there about
2PM and the only tour available was at 4PM.
It worked out perfectly with timing to give me time to see everything
else. The friendly staff person told me
that Loretta Lynn was indeed on the Ranch and there might be a chance to see
her. Needless to say that put a little
smile on my face.
After I got my ticket, I took off
exploring. My first stop was over at the
Loretta Lynn Museum. Don’t forget to
take the opportunity to take a photo by the large rock display.
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| Loretta Lynn Museum with Conway Twitty Tribute - Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
Upon entering the museum, you will be
greeted by a staff member who will escort you to one of the rooms. We were told no photos and no video are
allowed in the museum. That included
cell phones. The first room I was taken
into contained several vehicles and artifacts.
First, you can climb up into Loretta Lynn’s first tour bus and see how
they lived out on the road. It was neat
seeing little pieces of history on the bus to give it that retro look. You can see the jeep that Mooney had and that
was used in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Near it is Hank Williams, Sr. bed, along with a Christmas tree full of
ornaments handmade by fans, and the Mack Truck that Mooney use to drive.
Down the ramp, you are lead into the
next room that is just FULL of memorabilia of Loretta Lynn, family members, and
friends. Each display case had its own
theme. One of those contained wedding
dresses of various family members.
Another was double sided of items of country music celebrities that
donated items to her museum. Award
plaques, photos, and posters hung on all of the walls. All of her awards were in one display,
including her trophy for being inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame.
Then there was the very large tribute to
Conway Twitty, complete with movie screen of videos of him on stage surrounded
by display cases of clothing, books, photos, and personal items from the family
collection. It was a fitting tribute and
you couldn’t help but have a tear in your eye looking at the stuff while
hearing Conway sing “Goodbye Time” on the screen.
After touring the Museum, I went
exploring through the other museums on the ranch. There was the Grist Mill Museum and the Doll
Museum. Throughout the ranch, there are
various gift shops containing Loretta Lynn memorabilia. Some are the same items, but I did notice a
couple of things had different prices.
You can purchase some autographed items reasonably cheap.
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| Beautiful Grist Mill in Hurricane Mills - Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
Don’t forget to pick up a post card! You
can drop it off in the mailbox and have it stamped at the Hurricane Mills post
office.
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| Hurricane Mills Post Office - Photo By Jessica Blankenship. |
It was getting close to our tour time so
our group of about 10 or so gathered in front of the Ranch Gift Shop waiting on
our little bus. Meanwhile vehicles drove
by left and right. All of a sudden, a
while truck pulled up slowly and the window rolled down. “Hey ya’ll!” yelled out a voice from the
passenger seat. I couldn’t believe it,
but there she was, Miss Loretta Lynn. I
didn’t even think to pick up my camera and take a photo. The folks around me were shouting and
screaming and taking photos. It
literally was like the paparazzi. For
me, I stood there grinning and just in awe.
She didn’t stick around too long and they headed up to a building up on
the hill.
Soon after, our tour guide, Andy, came
to pick our group up. Since we didn’t
get to do the Butcher Holler home replica and Coal Mining Museum, we did that
first. The Butcher Holler replica had
some items that were in the movie and some of the actual artifacts from back
home. Having been to Butcher Holler, it
was neat how much they did make the house like the original. We were not allowed to take any photos inside
– whereas you can take photos in the original Butcher Holler. The Coal Mining Museum was in tribute to
Loretta’s dad. Andy spoke about the
hardships of mining and pointed out different features throughout the
museum.
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| Replica of Butcher Holler - Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
Next it was off to Loretta Lynn’s
mansion. Again, we could take photos
outside the house, but not inside. First
thing we saw was a set of wagons that use to be Mooney’s. You also get to walk past what he called his “man
cave,” a building on the outside full of his stuff for his office. You walk up the garden path up to the
house. We were told the history of the
plantation and that Loretta and Mooney purchased it many years ago. Inside, it was a step back in time with the décor. We saw her salt & pepper collection, as
well as the set where she filmed her Crisco Country Cooking shows. We were just shown the lower floor and Andy
indicated different things that were in the movie.
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| Mooney Lynn always loved Case farm equipment - here rolls a combine getting ready for harvesting season. Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
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| Walkway up to Loretta Lynn's mansion - Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
We were fortunate to get to see the
whole tour as we were told that Loretta Lynn was on the ranch because she was
filming a documentary for PBS. It is set
to air next spring and probably for a couple of hours. We saw a few of the items left over by the crew
as they were wrapping up.
Loretta lives in a house behind the mansion. The mansion itself is now a museum and no one lives there.
After the end of our tour, we headed
back over to the store and Andy said our goodbyes. Before I left, I made sure to drive over to
get a photo by the gate.
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| Me on the steps of the Loretta Lynn Ranch |
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| Of course, Gnomecephus the traveling gnome had to join in on the fun! Photo by Jessica Blankenship. |
Something to note – some of the features
are handicapped accessible, while others are not. The Loretta Lynn Museum and Home are
handicapped accessible with ramps. The
Grist Mill and Butcher Holler Home Replica are not and some steps are required. The small tour bus does not have a wheelchair
lift and you will have to climb a few steps to get on. I wanted to give this heads up in case you
wonder about wheelchair access. I am
sure they will be willing to assist you, but I would call ahead and ask.
Needless to say, I’m so very thankful
that I made the trip over to Hurricane Mills.
It has been on my bucket list to see the Loretta Lynn Ranch and little
did I know, I would have the surprise of seeing her. Be sure to check out the website for the Loretta Lynn Ranch and perhaps
plan your adventure to the ranch. They
also have cabins, so you can even stay there if you would like.
