Loretta Lynn’s Ranch Tour

We were on the road by 6 a.m. the next day.  Our destination was Roanoke, Virginia.  As we were driving, we saw all these signs that  showed we were really close to Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.  We took a detour to visit her Plantation Home, Ranch, Coal Mine, Butcher Holler Home and Museum. 

Her signs are everywhere for miles and miles so we just had to stop.

We arrived just as a guided tour was to begin so off we went on the shuttle.

There was no picture taking allowed inside the house but it was decorated just as it would have been way back in time.

Loretta Lynn is part Cherokee so she has this huge Cherokee Indian statue on the grounds.

We walked the grounds….

This is a museum of her collection of dolls and also a gift shop.

Then we had a tour of what a coal mine was like back in the day.

Then we were taken by shuttle to the Plantation House.

Beautiful home!

She has quite a collection of carriages…

Mooney’s man-cave was away from the main house.  In looking through the window, it was actually a pretty nice room.

The grounds are beautifully kept.  The guide told us that Loretta’s grandson is one of the grounds keepers.

We were able to see all of the first floor of the home.  She told us how this house is haunted and they have all witnessed this.  She left this home just as when she lived in it.

Several movies were filmed in this home.

We had a great guide.  She also told us that all of Loretta’s children manage the Ranch.

We went into the house through the back door and left out the front door.  There is a very long walk up to the front gate.

Awesome long porch!

This is Loretta’s grandson, hard at work!

The barn and stables are right next door.

Our tour of the house is over and we were taken to the museum next. 

Great place to visit!

Again, pictures were not allowed in the museum.  It is a great museum.  She has a very big section of her museum dedicated to Conway Tweety.  I remember we visited his Tweety City back in like 1983.  It was also a great place.  When we visited there, we also were traveling with Frank and Adela.  Great memories.  Our kids were very young then.  Our Goddaughter, Krista was about 2 years old then. 

This is one of her retired tour buses.  She has another one inside the museum.  We were able to go into that one.  She used to retire her buses every 10 years.  We also saw the one she uses at present.  She was preparing to go out on tour the day after we were there.  She was heading to the Washington DC area.  We are also heading that way.

Her boutique was great.  I took a couple of pictures there.

We were allowed to drive on the grounds, except the house area, so we drove out the back road behind the Plantation House so we could see the house where she lives now.  The guide had told us that she lived in a small house at the back of the property.  Well it was not little.  It is a single story home but not little.

We had to stop at the front entrance to her property so I could take more pictures.  I just had to walk up the stairs to get the whole view of the place.

Nice!

This is the home where she lives now.  It is behind the Plantation Home.  Very nice!

My camera has a pretty good zoom so here you go, closer look.

The surrounding area….

This cemetery is right next to her property. 

We took a little longer than expected so we never made it to Roanoke, Virginia today.  We drove a few hundred miles and stopped at Morristown, Tennessee for the night.  It was a well worth stop.  That is what vacations are about, right?!  More to come!