Kittrell General Stores and Industries

General Stores

There were two stores in Kittrell. They were on opposite sides of the road. Mr. Burgan Jamison and Mr. Billy Smith had a store on the north side of the road for several years, but closed some time before the other one did.

Across the road a few yards from the blacksmith shop was Mr. Lewis Bowling's store.

In 1884 the U. S. Government established a Post Office at Kittrell. They put it in Mr. Bowling's store and appointed him Postmaster.

Both stores were the typical general country store with potbellied stoves, J. P. Coats thread, cracker barrels, nail kegs, pins, domestic and calico, smoking and chewing tobacco, sugar, salt, coffee, and all commodities to meet country people's needs.

The Post Office was closed when Rural Free Delivery was established. Route #5 came out from Murfreesboro. The store continued in operation until Mr. Bowling became ill in 1923. He died in 1925.

Industries

Blacksmith Shop

One of the best blacksmith shops in this part of Rutherford County was at Kittrell. It was run by Mr. Jack and Mr. Will Coleman. In addition to shoeing horses, "Uncle Jack," as he was called, could fix anything.

Mr. Will lived some distance from the shop, but Uncle Jack lived "just a stone's throw" from the shop in the tollgate house. From the early days of the stage coach road, which later was called a "turnpike", until the state took it over, a tollgate was placed about every five or six miles.

The first one out of Murfreesboro was where Mercury Boulevard now runs into Highway 70. The second one was at Kittrell, a third one just above Readyville, and a fourth one was just below the bridge at Woodbury.

A house was built with a porch reaching the road. A long log would be put across the road about four feet from the ground with a rope on one end which could be fastened to a post on the porch. The other end rested on a frame and had weights on it which would make the pole go up when the rope was unfastened.

A toll was charged of 5¢ for horseback, 10¢ for buggies, and 15-25¢ for wagons according to the load.

Mrs. Coleman ran the tollgate during the day when Uncle Jack was in the shop and he took care of it at night, and thus they were able to keep up with where everybody went.

The first tourist who came up the road in a car ran into the tollgate and smashed his windshield. As long as Uncle Jack lived he enjoyed telling about the "cussin out" which that man gave him for having a pole across the road.

Uncle Jack could fix anything from a clock to a steam engine. They made plows, wagons, hoes, rakes, and any other kind of tool used on the farm.

When the state highway changed the road the tollgate and blacksmith shop were done away with. Mr. Will began farming and Uncle Jack drove the school wagon.

Sorghum Hill

As soon as "frost was on the pumpkin," and leaves began to turn, people started stripping their sorghum cane and bringing it in great wagon loads to Mr. Pitts' sorghum mill.

Mr. M. E. Pitts owned a farm on the banks of Cripple Creek. He grew the usual corn, cotton, wheat, and a large patch of sorghum. He built a mill to grind his cane under a big oak tree between his house and the creek.

The mill consisted of a grinder which was turned by a pole to which a mule was fastened. He went in a circle around the mill and furnace.

A large pan, several feet long, caught the juice as it was ground out in the mill. The pan extended over a furnace which was kept hot by a wood fire underneath. After the juice was squeezed from the cane the remaining pulp, called "chawings," was put in a big pile nearby. Farmers frequently took it home to feed cows, and children loved to play on it.

It took several hours to cook the juice "down" to molasses; therefore, the cooking lasted until in the night. As it was done in the season of the harvest moon, the nights were usually pretty and bright. It was one of the interesting entertainments for the young people of the community to go to the sorghum mill in the evenings with their buttered biscuits for the first taste of the sweet syrup.

Later in the year, molasses candy pulling, helped many evenings pass happily for the young people.

People came for miles with their jars, jugs, and kegs to get Mr. Pitts molasses. The sorghum mill was discontinued when he died in 1913.

Weaving

Mrs. John Sanford, called "Miss Sine" by her family and friends, had a hand loom in her home. For many years she wove blankets, carpets, rugs, and linsey cloth for people in the community and neighboring areas.

One afternoon in the spring of 1911 after a hard rain and thunder storm, her husband came home from the field and found her lying in the road in front of the house. She had been killed by lightening.

Weaving is still being done in the community. Mrs. Lizzie Saums has a loom which she has used for many years. She helped her mother and grandmother thread their loom when she was a child, and when they were not looking she shot the shuttle across. As soon as she was tall enough to reach the treadle, they taught her to weave and she has been doing it ever since. She does custom weaving of rugs and carpets at her home on Mt. Herman Road where she has lived all of her life.

Kittrell | Rutherford County | Tennessee

Source: Rutherford County Historical Society, Publication No. 2, winter, 1973.