This pavilion stands in an otherwise open field by a giant oak at the corner of Spring and Church Streets in the town of Mineral Springs, a half dozen miles south of Nashville on highway 27. If you wanted the mineral water from Mineral Springs, that's where you used to get it. No longer, though. This spring has been sealed off for many many years and the pavilion is used only for picnics.

The famous water is still available though. The flow of this spring was diverted into the city water supply. It's all from the same aquifer, which runs close to the surface in this town and seeps into the daylight all over the place. So just haul your jugs about a hundred yards up the hill to this city park next to the water tower. There's a spigot mounted in a cement pedestal where visitors can fill containers with mineral water. I guess it's just a presentation preference. The water probably isn't degraded by being stored in that tank on the tower, but somehow a roadside springhouse makes it seem more authentic.

The town (formerly Greenville) was renamed "Mineral Springs" in 1879 as a way of popularizing the area's plentiful springwater, which was purported to have curative properties. In 1993, another company began bottling and selling the local water, but went under only two years later.

RTJ--10/5/97

In the Neighborhood: Howard Count Museum