This Old-Fashioned Tennessee General Store Serves Seriously Good Food
Fried chicken first, antique shopping second, ice cream after that. I can already see how this afternoon gets out of hand.
The fun here comes from stacking several experiences into one stop.
Tennessee has an old-fashioned general store where Southern comfort food shares space with vintage displays, sweet treats, and plenty of local character.
You can sit down for a hearty meal, wander through the collections afterward, then somehow end up near the ice cream counter.
Honestly, that sounds like excellent planning. This is the kind of place I would bring visiting relatives when one restaurant meal does not feel like enough.
Lunch gets you through the door, but everything around it keeps you there.
A Museum You Can Eat In
Antiques hang from every beam here, and I lost a solid ten minutes just staring at the ceiling. Old tools, faded signs, and gadgets nobody can identify anymore fill the space.
The Old Country Store began in 1965 as a place for founder Brooks Shaw to display his collection of antiques. A small lunch counter followed, and the business gradually grew into the restaurant and attraction visitors know today.
Nothing sits behind glass, which makes the whole thing surprisingly personal. You can lean in close, squint at a rusty label, and wonder who used it last.
A small detail caught my attention on one visit. Two kids were quietly counting the lanterns above their booth while their parents studied the buffet line.
Sound carries differently in a room packed with old wood and metal. Conversations blend into a comfortable hum rather than a sharp echo.
Brooks Shaw’s Old Country Store doubles as a history lesson with gravy on the side. Every wall gives you something to talk about while your plate cools.
You can find this Tennessee landmark at 56 Casey Jones Ln A, Jackson, right off the interstate.
Buffet Line Worth Loosening Belts
Loosen a notch before you grab a plate, because this spread does not mess around.
The buffet rotates through a broad lineup of Southern meats, vegetables, sides, salads, and homemade desserts throughout lunch and dinner.
Hand battered fried chicken comes out crispy outside and juicy inside. Mississippi Delta catfish holds its crunch, and the pot roast falls apart with barely a nudge.
Vegetables steal the show for me every single time. Collard greens, white beans, creamed spinach, and sweet potatoes all taste like somebody’s grandmother supervised the pot.
Macaroni and cheese arrives rich and creamy, the kind that sticks to the spoon. Meatloaf and cherry cola glazed ham round out the meat lineup nicely.
Then there is the cracklin’ cornbread, cooked on a griddle set right in the middle of the buffet. The recipe came from the founder’s own mother, and the smell alone pulls people over.
Fresh pans are replenished throughout service as diners move through the buffet. Cooks often check in to see how things are tasting.
Cobblers wait at the end, and peach seems to disappear fastest. Banana pudding also has a devoted following in this corner of Tennessee.
Sweet Stop At Miss Anne’s
Dessert has its own room here, which strikes me as excellent planning. Exiting the buffet drops you straight into Miss Anne’s Ice Cream Shoppe.
Named for founder Brooks Shaw’s wife, Anne, who helped keep the family business going after his death in 1971, the shoppe is modeled after an 1890s-style ice cream parlor.
The old-fashioned setting includes vintage-inspired soda-shop details that help give Miss Anne’s its late-19th-century atmosphere.
Blue Bell scoops go into freshly made waffle cones, and the whole counter smells faintly of warm sugar. Homemade fudge sits nearby, doing serious damage to good intentions.
Bottled soft drinks line the shelves in flavors you rarely see anymore. I always spend too long reading labels before finally choosing something odd.
Self serve candy bins by the pound turn adults into eight year olds. Nostalgia hits hard around the taffy and lemon drops.
Even after a heavy meal, most people walk out holding a cone or a shake. That says something about the pull of this little shoppe.
The Village Right Outside
The restaurant anchors Casey Jones Village, a longtime Jackson attraction that welcomes hundreds of thousands of guests each year.
Named for the famous railroad engineer John Luther Jones, the village pulls in hundreds of thousands of guests every year. What began as one man’s antique pile turned into a whole campus.
The Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum sits a short stroll away. You can climb aboard the museum’s replica of Engine 382 and ring the bell, one of the most hands-on stops in the village.
That bell echoes across the grounds at random moments. It always makes a few heads turn mid conversation.
About a dozen historic buildings and train cars have been relocated to Casey Jones Village over the years.
The Village Chapel, The Farm, Casey Jones Mini Golf, Art in the Village, and other historic structures add more to explore beyond the restaurant and museum.
Grassy areas around The Farm and village give travelers room to stretch between the indoor attractions. Road trippers charging their cars often wander over out of pure curiosity.
Gift Shop Treasure Hunt
Three thousand square feet of temptation waits near the entrance. Miss Juanita’s Gift Shop carries the spirit of the old rural general stores that once supplied entire communities.
Back then, those shops stocked whatever a home or farm needed, and ordered the rest. The tradition lives on here in modern form.
Shelves hold locally made jams and jellies, jewelry, and accessories. Hey Y’all shirts and sweatshirts hang nearby for anyone wanting proof they visited.
Books, old fashioned toys, and stuffed animals fill whole corners. Tennessee tri star merchandise makes for easy souvenir shopping.
Candy bins are the real hazard. Self serve by the pound means you scoop with confidence and regret nothing.
Waiting for a table becomes genuinely pleasant when there is this much to browse. I watched one family split up entirely, each person drifting toward a different aisle.
Historic display pieces are scattered throughout, including items tied to important moments in American history. Those quiet additions give the shopping a bit of weight.
Dixie Cafe And Breakfast Plates
Not everybody wants a buffet marathon, and the folks here understand that completely. The renovated Dixie Cafe sits right beside the main dining room.
Plate lunches serve the same Southern cooking in smaller, simpler portions. There is even a drive thru now, which feels charmingly out of place in a general store setting.
Burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, and fried green tomatoes join the menu. That last one deserves your attention if you have never tried it.
Mornings run on a schedule worth memorizing.
The Dixie Café serves à la carte breakfast Monday through Saturday beginning at 6:30 a.m., while the Old Country Store breakfast buffet is currently offered Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Eggs, bacon, country ham, sausage, casseroles, biscuits, and gravy fill the pans.
Pancakes show up too, along with a fruit and parfait bar for anyone pretending to be sensible. Breakfast potatoes round things out.
Dixie Café breakfast begins at 6:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday, while Sunday’s breakfast buffet begins at 8 a.m.
Three Generations, One Vision
Family businesses have a certain warmth that chains never quite copy. Three generations have run this operation, and it shows in small ways.
The founder started things in 1965, inspired by Southern hospitality and his mother’s home cooking. After he passed in 1971, his wife took over and kept the doors open.
Their son Clark later moved the Old Country Store to its current site in 1978 and helped establish Casey Jones Village around it. That decision turned a restaurant into the heart of an entire attraction.
Today Brooks Shaw, the founder’s grandson and namesake, serves as the third-generation owner and president. He carries the same last name and, apparently, the same stubborn devotion to doing things right.
Names appear all over the property as quiet tributes. The ice cream shoppe and gift shop both honor women who shaped the business.
Staff move with the easy rhythm of people who have worked together a long time. Servers keep glasses filled without hovering.
Sixty years is a long run for any restaurant, and 2025 marked that anniversary in Tennessee. Very few places manage it.
Awards And Sixty Years Strong
Sixty years in the restaurant world counts as an achievement worth celebrating. The 2025 anniversary marked exactly that milestone.
National recognition has come along the way. The Old Country Store has now appeared on USA Today’s 10Best Buffets list four years in a row, from 2023 through 2026.
Closer to home, The Tennessee Magazine recognized the restaurant in its Home/Country Cooking category for 12 consecutive years from 2012 through 2023.
Miss Anne’s remains a central part of the Old Country Store experience, serving Blue Bell ice cream, homemade waffle cones, candy, and old-fashioned treats.
Numbers only tell part of the story though. What sticks with me is how ordinary the place feels once you sit down.
Families spread across long tables, travelers pause mid road trip, and locals slide into their usual spots. Nobody dresses up. The buffet currently serves dinner until 8 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, while Sunday Supper ends at 5 p.m.
