One hundred years ago, the old toll road connecting the rural villages of Franklin and Spring Hill, Tennessee began transforming into U.S. Highway 31. Construction began in 1925, the same year that Mamie Early and her son Erskine set up a roadside market in the shade of an old mulberry tree, where they sold their honey, produce and smoked meats to locals. When Highway 31 opened in 1929, it became one of the nation’s major arterials, connecting northern Michigan to southern Alabama.
Early’s Honey Stand was on the map. With thousands of cars and trucks passing now passing by, they bought the old toll house and converted it into a store where travelers could stop for seasonal treats. For many, the stand on Main Street in Spring Hill became a landmark for families on the annual Florida pilgrimage, or a trip to see relatives for the holidays.
Ever the entrepreneur, Erskine began pressing the Early’s apples into cider as a child, a hallmark for visitors still today. He was just as much an innovator, and in 1950, he introduced a mail-order catalog that he designed by hand. With addresses from two decades of travelers, Early’s launched a booming business of packaging and shipping favorites — jars of honey, jellies and jams, country hams and smoked sack sausage — to customers all over the nation. Over the years, chefs, celebrities, sports heroes, and even royals became advocates. Elvis Presley himself would order crates of slab bacon every fall.
“Business goes where it’s wanted and stays where it’s treated well,” Erskine was known to say. And stay it has, surviving through the Great Depression, World War II, and the other trials and tribulations of a nation and region over the course of a century.
In 1990, when he was ready to retire, he sold the business to Burton Craige, whose roots in the Spring Hill area ran back generations. Craige became the founding publisher of Coastal Living magazine, and was instrumental in the success of Southern Living’s specialty programs. With a soft spot for nostalgia and a keen eye for design and marketing, Craige and his wife Leslie took Early’s into the modern era, before the Gibbs family took ownership in 2011.
Curt Gibbs had already purchased the Early’s campus when the business became available, and he’d always loved the reflective, wholesome aspects of what the brand represented. Together with his son Curtis, who now operates the company, they recognized the value of the oldest retail business in Williamson County.
“My dad’s always loved antique stuff, worked on old cars, and I guess that rubbed off on me,” Curtis says. “It was a great brand with an incredible history, and we didn’t want to see it go by the wayside. There aren’t many businesses that survive for 100 years.”
Walking into the store today, the foyer is something of a museum, with period photos, artifacts and mementos that punctuate the timeline on the wall. But it’s the smells that may best define a visit to Early’s, the soft smokiness of a hanging ham, or the sweet apple cider. Samples of a range of honeys, cheeses and other selections are always available, and on the first Saturday of the month, you’ll find the staff cooking up slices of bacon and country sausage.
The Gibbs have steadily expanded the offerings beyond their signature Southern delights to include other regional specialties, as well as mixes, seasonings and body care items. As they have for decades, the gift boxes draw the most attention, with curated selections designed to fit the tastes of anyone who loves the flavors of Middle Tennessee.
“We take great pride in our product, and we’ve stayed true to what Erskine always intended this to be: a showcase for Southern food, cooked and created the old-fashioned way,” Curtis says. “Our meats are smoked and cured through natural methods that have been used for hundreds of years. We never clarify or filter any of our honey.”
Their website, Earlys.com, is a trove of recipes, interesting history, and of course products to explore for mail-order purchase. But the best way to experience Early’s Honey Stand is to take a drive down Main Street in Spring Hill, just as thousands of others have for the past century. The stand is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
