That very familiar “How-deeee!” will echo eternally as we remember Minnie Pearl, the Queen of Country Comedy. The Hickman County Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to keeping her memory alive with the development of the “Grinders Switch Center-A Tribute to Minnie Pearl”.
“ How-deeee!!! I’m just so
proud to be here!”
Each Saturday night from the Grand Ole Opry stage, Minnie relayed the
latest happenings from back home in Grinder’s Switch, an
imaginary hamlet not far from Nashville. The town’s name was
appropriated from an actual country railroad junction located not far
from Centerville, where Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (who portrayed
Minnie Pearl on the Opry for half a century) was born.
Mrs. Cannon grew up in an area called Colleytown, which is where the Centerville train depot was located. Grinder’s Switch is located across the Duck River from Colleytown, and it is where her father, a logger, carried his products to be loaded onto the train.
Ophelia often accompanied her father to the Grinder’s Depot, where some of the area’s more colorful characters would congregate and tell tall tales and other stories. That is where she began to formulate the character that later became Minnie Pearl.
The Center is currently housed at 405 West Public Square in the Chamber of Commerce office. There you will find many of Minnie Pearl’s memorabilia, where you will be able to view some of her taped performances. Also featured are artifacts from the time period in which Minnie grew up.