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| Minnie Pearl Bronze Statue when it was in Centerville, TN. Photo by SeeMidTN.com |
One of the great mysteries in country music is the
placement of the bronze statue in honor of Minnie Pearl. Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, who was best
known around the world as the comedian Minnie Pearl, was born in Centerville,
Tennessee. It is a small town of about
4,000 not far from Nashville.
Minnie Pearl was best known for her comedic performances
on Hee Haw and the Grand Ole Opry. In
1975, the Country Music Hall of Fame included her in its class. In 1996, Sarah Cannon passed away. On her plaque at the Country Music Hall of
Fame and Museum, you will never see a date of death as Sarah always said that
the spirit of Minnie Pearl will live on even when she passes. Today, the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation and
the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center has helped cancer patients within Middle Tennessee
and southern Kentucky. She was presented
with the American Cancer Society’s Courage Award in 1987 by President Ronald
Reagan for her volunteer work. She once
said, "I think everyone of us has a social
responsibility and a moral obligation to be as kind to people as we can."
In 2005, Rod Harris commissioned a 900-pound statue of
Minnie Pearl to be placed in downtown Centerville at the Hickman County
Courthouse. It was privately funded,
with one donor covering much of the $150,000 cost. Per Larry McCormack of The Tennessean
newspaper, "the donation came with one caveat: The statue had to stay on
one exact spot in downtown Centerville, Tenn." {USA Today Article}
Mr. Harris was disgruntled with officials wanting to move
the statue. It was creating traffic
problems as those taking photos would standing in traffic to get the whole
statue. A rock wall was built to keep
drivers from running over it.
In 2009, however, Rod Harris removed the statue and
placed it in Linden at the Commodore hotel lobby. To Mr. Harris, he felt that Minnie Pearl
should be center-stage and not moved a few feet. Later, he moved the statue to Grinders Switch Winery in Centerville. He demanded
$10,000 from the city to return the statue to Centerville.
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| Minnie Pearl at Grinder's Switch Winery - Photo by Grinder's Switch Winery |
The city refused Rod Harris's demands, which then led him
to move the statue to Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. It use to sit in the main room of the Wrather West Kentucky Museum. However, after talking to museum officials, the statue was just part of a traveling exhibit and left there over three years ago.
So where did Minnie Pearl head to? After contacting my journalist friend, Chuck Dauphin, he was able to determine the whereabouts of the infamous statue. He indicated that it was moved back to the historic Commodore Hotel & Cafe in Linden, Tennessee, which is about 30 miles from
Centerville, in the middle of nowhere.
Sure enough, a search on their Facebook page shows the bronze Minnie
Pearl statue in all her glory standing in a corner inside the Commodore Hotel
and Cafe.
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| Minnie Pearl Statue at the Commodore Hotel & Cafe - photo via Facebook |
As for the town of Centerville, they have commissioned
another artist, Ricky Pittman, who has created an 8-foot statue made from
chicken wire and colored bronze. It is now sitting at the courthouse square for
all to see. Click here for the Kickstarter
campaign with updates on the project.
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| Minnie Pearl Chicken Wire Statue - photo from Kickstarter Campaign Page |
Furthermore, Mary Beth Pruett, the great-niece of Minnie
Pearl announced a campaign to raise $100,000 for a life-size bronze statue in
Grinder's Switch in 2013. Click here to read more about the campaign. So far there is no indication if anything has been done since 2013 to build the statue.
Don't forget, if you visit the Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville, you can also see Minnie Pearl alongside Roy Acuff sitting on a
bench. No matter if it is a bronze
statue, or one made of chicken wire, the legacy of Minnie Pearl alludes us all
with her humor and talent. Sometimes you
never know where you will see her smile and hear the infamous greeting of
"HOWWWDEEE!" in your head.
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| Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl Statue at Ryman Auditorium - Photo by Jessica Bray |
