WATERTOWN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Watertown in Wilson County is known as a charming place to many, located right along a rail line and featuring a beautiful town square.
Now, one neighbor is hoping to bring in a new railroad museum and event space to help boost tourism in the area.
Chris Ferrari's path to becoming a hardware store owner in Watertown followed an unconventional track.
After years of working in country music, he settled down in Watertown.
"I was on the road a lot. Did tour manage for artists and things like that," said Chris Ferrari, co-owner of Hamilton Hardware of Watertown.
Now, in addition to standard hardware fare, his shop offers many clues into his next passion project.
He founded a nonprofit to build the Watertown Railroad Museum in an old building along the railroad and expand beyond that.
"We want to have a railroad museum, some kind of event space opportunity to where we can host the train riders and guests when they're here for the excursion trains, and include some kind of restaurant space, something like that," Ferrari said.
Ferrari said excursion trains bring tourists into the small town for an afternoon of shopping and sightseeing about 18 Saturdays per year. He said the money spent by all those visitors is an important economic driver for the city.
"Approximately 500 people. So you know, that alone adds 10,000 people or so, to our local economy, downtown every year," Ferrari said.
The city has also received grant funding to build up its infrastructure near where the museum would go.
The plans include a railway park with a turntable and a railway yard.
I stopped by the Tarmhouse Coffee Shop on the town square to hear from worker Anna Pemberton about what it is like when the crowds roll in.
"We normally have lines out the door, trying to get people served and the food out as quick as we can," Pemberton said.
The effort to build the museum, like any train ride, may take a while to reach the final stop.
"Ideally in the next five or so years, if the entire project could be done, that would be kind of the goal," Ferrari said. "I think Watertown is a special place because it's a just a small community, everybody knows everybody, and it's got that small town Tennessee feel.”
Click here for more information about the Watertown Railroad Museum.
This story was reported on-air by Robb Coles and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Coles verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
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