Things to Do in Brownsville, Tennessee

Before she was Tina Turner, Anna Mae Bullock went to this one-room schoolhouse, built by her great uncle in 1889. It was moved here from Nutbush and now holds her costumes, gold records and even her high school yearbook. The original desks, benches and chalkboard are still inside.

★ Good to know It’s the world’s only Tina Turner museum and an official stop on Tennessee’s Music Pathways.

The museum complex holding the Tina Turner Museum has more than 8,000 square feet of exhibits on West Tennessee music, cotton and the Hatchie River. The last home of blues pioneer Sleepy John Estes, a shotgun house, sits on the grounds. It’s right off Interstate 40 at Exit 56, so it makes an easy stop between Memphis and Nashville.

★ Good to know The gift shop sells local and regional handmade goods, and the center hosts the Exit 56 Blues Fest and Hatchie BirdFest.

Artist Billy Tripp has built this steel sculpture by hand on his father’s narrow downtown lot since 1989. It rises as high as 130 feet and is made from salvaged steel, machine parts, boats and a water tower from Kentucky. Tripp plans to be buried in the center of it.

★ Good to know It sits near South Monroe and West Main streets and is visible from the courthouse square, so pair it with a walk downtown.

This is the oldest synagogue in Tennessee. German Jewish families formed the congregation in 1867 and built the Gothic Revival temple in 1882, and it’s on the National Register of Historic Places. It still holds Shabbat and High Holy Day services.

★ Good to know It’s an active congregation at 171 N. Washington Ave., so check the temple’s site for events before you go.

Dunbar Carver High School opened in 1922 as a school for Black students during segregation, closed in 1970 and reopened as a museum in 2007. Its exhibits cover rural life, the school’s history and notable alumni. Tina Turner attended high school here, so it’s the next stop on her hometown trail.

★ Good to know From here, Highway 19 leads to Nutbush, the farming community from her song “Nutbush City Limits.”

The Hatchie is the longest free-flowing tributary of the lower Mississippi and holds the largest forested floodplain in Tennessee. The 11,556-acre refuge south of town protects cypress and bottomland swamp along it. It sits on the Mississippi Flyway, which is why Brownsville holds a Hatchie BirdFest.

★ Good to know Interstate 40 cuts right through the refuge, so it’s close even if you’re just passing through.

Downtown’s courthouse square has historical markers on many buildings, local shops and an amphitheater known as the Amp that hosts concerts. For something more active, the Rockin’ Roll Hatchie Trails at 1199 Windrow Road have more than 5 miles of dirt mountain bike trails along Sugar Creek. The trails are named for local musicians, like Yank’s Mandolin and Hammie’s Harmonica.