ORLINDA, Tenn. (WTVF) — There's this new coffee spot up in Orlinda, Tennessee. The Crocker Store.
"It's a young community now," said Debbie Green. "It gives them a place just to come and talk and chat, y'know, what coffee shops do."
Dan and Debbie Green are the owners of the store.
"Wooo! We got married in 1985!" Dan Green said.
The Greens have all these books around the room. Books are pretty fitting for a place that has so many chapters. Now, if the Crocker Store story was being told in a book, this would be Chapter One.
"Mr. Henderson Crocker, in 1869, he bought several acres of land, what's Orlinda now," Dan Green said, recalling the story.
Shortly after, Crocker built the store.
"First store there!" said Danny Atchley, president of the Robertson County Historical Society. "After that, they put in a blacksmith shop. They were the only two businesses in Orlinda for years."
Crocker was key in getting people there.
"With all this property that he had, he would give away lots to encourage people to come," Dan Green said. "He said if anyone owned a lot, they could not sell any whiskey or intoxicating beverages. If they did, the property to would revert back to the family."
Now, this part would probably be Chapter 2.
"It was called HJ Crocker Store," Atchley said. "Then his son bought into it in 1873 and they called it HJ Crocker and Son."
"It was a general merchandise store," Dan Green said. "They even sold caskets!"
"Which was not unusual!" Atchley added.
A whole bunch of chapters passed in Orlinda. The building long remained a store. It was featured in a 1986 TV movie called The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James.
"Starred Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash," Dan Green said.
Sometime after that, it seemed uncertain if the building would get any more chapters. It was vacant.
"It was sad because you could see it gradually falling down," Dan Green remembered.
Then came that new chapter. Even though past additions to the building had been torn down, the original structure was still there, and the Greens bought it in 2003.
"I knew it was the oldest building in Orlinda," Dan Green nodded. "I just thought, 'well, if I could save it.'"
There were a lot of problems.
"You could drop a marble in the back, and it would end up in the front and fall through a crack in the floor," Dan Green continued. "I didn't know if I'd live long enough to see it done, to be honest with you."
However, the Greens were long the owners of the Thomas Drugs store in Cross Plains and had experience with historic buildings. It was a 23-year journey. The Crocker Store has now been open for a few weeks.
"The world is looking for simple sometimes," said Debbie Green. "It's nice and refreshing. Dan is such a believer in keeping things in posterity."
It's a return of the Crocker name at a building that began a community.
"Repurposing the old Crocker Store like Dan and Debbie Green are doing is fabulous for that community," said Atchley.
Well, you can call it repurposing or just call it adding chapters.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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