Worlds Most Beautiful Beans Museum Has Finally Reopened
To familiarise people with food and its history, one of Americas oldest and best-selling baked bean brands, Bushs, recently launched a museum about beans
In a world where wonder never ceases, heres what we have got. A bean museum. Yes, you have read it right! To familiarise people with food and its history, one of Americas oldest and best-selling baked bean brands, Bushs, recently launched a museum about beans. They spent the last five months renovating and reworking, and finally, it is here.
According to media reports, Bush recently opened its Visitor Center Museum in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee. They claim the museum to be a one-stop shop to learn everything about beans and the worlds most beautiful museum. Initially, the museum was opened in 2010. The museum needed some renovation, and they had to shut it down this year on January 13. Now, the museum is back with quirky games with the help of technology. The site of the museum dates back to the early 1900s when it was just Bushs general store.
All of this is free of charge! According to media reports, the brand wrote, “Whether you want to explore Bush’s wide range of products on the digital shelf set, take a deep dive into Bush’s history, or get a close look at how these beautiful beans are made, all your foodie questions will be answered at the Bush’s Beans Visitor Center Museum.”
The ‘world’s Most Beautiful Bean Museum’ Is Now Open At Bush’s New Visitor Center
Courtesy of Bush’s Beans
Food museums can be a tough sell. Eating a delicious slice of pizza is a lot different than learning about a delicious slice of pizza. But one of America’s oldest and best-selling baked bean brands, Bush’s, has just spent over five months remodeling a destination they think will really get people excited a museum about beans.
The Bush’s Visitor Center in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, has recently renovated and reopened its Visitor Center Museum, billed as “a one-stop destination for all things beans” and “the world’s most beautiful bean museum!” The museum originally opened in 2010, housed at the site of the original Bush’s general store which dates back to the early 1900s. But Bush’s made the call to temporarily shutter the museum on January 31 of this year for a refurb. As of July 12, it’s back, promising “the familiar, historical feel now with new innovative, digital experiences.”
Courtesy of Bush’s Beans
“Whether you want to explore Bush’s wide range of products on the digital shelf set, take a deep dive into Bush’s history, or get a close look at how these beautiful beans are made, all your foodie questions will be answered at the Bush’s Beans Visitor Center Museum,” the brand wrote. And, bonus, it’s all free!
Courtesy of Bush’s Beans
Courtesy of Bush’s Beans
The Bush’s Baked Beans Museum You Never Knew Existed
The Louvre, the Smithsonian, the Guggenheim, the Met. They are priceless resources to teach present and future generations about art, history, and science.
Here’s one we bet you haven’t bean, er, been to — or even knew existed. So, allow us to spill the beans.
Newly renovated and recently reopened, the bean-centric Bush’s Visitor Center has the best of both worlds: digital, interactive exhibits in a cozy and quaint building, plus the original A.J. Bush and Company general store, founded in 1897 . The museum, which opened originally in 2010, is part of the Bush Brothers and Company Visitor Center in Chestnut Hill, TN, which also features the Bush’s Family Café.
Museum highlights include a bean scale, where visitors can stand on the scale and get their weight in beans and find out how much Bush’s Best spokesdog Duke, canine protector of Bush’s secret baked bean recipe, weighs in comparison. You can also take a virtual video tour of the bean plant, which details the company’s manufacturing process. As Duke and Jay Bush say, “Roll that beautiful bean footage.”
If you think you’re well-versed in Bush’s 114-year history? You may find you don’t know beans. The little legumes had been cultivated for thousands of years when Jay Bush’s great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Bush, started his canning company in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in 1908.
You May Like: Baked Beans With Jimmy Dean Sausage
James Beard Award: Chai Pani An Indian Street Food Restaurant Wins America’s Most Outstanding Restaurant
Visitors can check out their weight, which will be shown in beans, theatre plays about the process and a new digital plant which will show the manufacturing process. There will be an interactive digital shelf where customers can pick any Bushs product and learn about its origin, recipe, etc.
The Visitor Center includes a general store, which houses Bushs swag and products, and the Bush Family Café.
The Bushs Visitor Center Museum is open all seven days from 9 AM to 4 PM.
Visit Bushs Visitor Center In Tennessee
Wanna know a secret? Okay, so maybe we cant tell you the secret family recipe behind Bushs baked beans. But we can tell you where to find out so much more about them: Bushs Visitor Center just outside of Pigeon Forge!
Bushs Visitor Center is located in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, which is 19 miles or about a half-hour drive from Pigeon Forge. At the Visitor Centerwhich is housed in the original A.J. Bush & Company General Store, founded in 1897youll get to tour the museum, watch a film on the history of the company, and even try a new family recipe, like their Pinto Bean Pie. Once inside, we think youll agree that this unique attraction was worth the drive during your next visit to Pigeon Forge.
History of Bush Brothers & Co.
For more than 100 years now, Bush Brothers & Co. has been a family-owned company dedicated to serving only the best when it comes to their beans. But, interestingly, they didnt get their start with their baked bean recipe.
Instead, A.J. Bush, the founder of the company, opened a tomato cannery in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, where the Visitor Center stands today. With Americans quickly warming up to the convenience of canned foods, this business quickly ripened into selling other canned ingredients including, you guessed it, beans.
About the Visitor Center
Don’t Miss: Bake Me A Wish Cake Reviews
A Secret Recipe A Talking Dog
In the summer of 1995, a new ad paired Jay up with a mischievous, talking golden retriever named Duke, modeled after Jays golden retriever of the same name. Bush Brothers witnessed a remarkable surge in baked bean sales.
The Jay and Duke duo became celebrities, and sales of the companys beans increased to a whopping 80 percent national market share. The popularity of the commercials also inspired the company to publish a childrens book, Duke Finds a Home, published in 2006.
In 2010, the Bushs Visitor Center opened in Chestnut Hill, partially in response to customer and regional tourism agencies. Located inside a remodeled version of the original A.J. Bush & Company General Store, the center features a museum, café and gift shop. Inside the museum, guests can trace the history of the company, learn how the beans are manufactured and shipped, get a peek inside Dukes doghouse, and enjoy several interactive exhibits.
The gift shop offers a variety of Southern-themed gifts, Duke and Bushs souvenirs and, of course, a wide selection of Bushs Best Beans. Outside the center, visitors can pose with cutouts of Jay and Duke at a vintage 1940 Ford truck that was in one of the iconic commercials. The Bushs Family Café, next door to the museum, specializes in home-cooked Southern fare. We have a lot of made-from-scratch food and homemade pies, which includes a signature pinto bean pie, said Schroeder, the general manager.
Spilling The Beans On The Bush Brothers
Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, a tiny community in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, is home to one of the nations most iconic businesses. It started in 1897, when local teacher and businessman A.J. Bush founded a general store and, later, a tomato cannery. Bush Brothers & Company grew from one generation of the family to the next, developing its signature baked beans along the way. Bushs Best Baked Beans eventually became a nationally known brand celebrated by its famous canine spokesdog, Duke.
Andrew Jackson A.J. Bush was born in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, on October 27, 1867, where he lived for most of his life, leaving only to attend nearby Carson-Newman College. In 1891, he married Sarah Sallie Ketner and they had four boys and two girls. Both had a deep interest in their community, where Sallie acted as a midwife and A.J. had been a schoolteacher and an elected school board representative.
Looking for ways to help residents further, A.J. developed an interest in the trade business. He decided to serve both by establishing the A.J. Bush & Company General Store, which provided a convenient location for the barter of goods that were not locally produced, while ensuring a livelihood.
Don’t Miss: Honey Baked Ham Mesquite Tx
Attraction Celebrates All Things Beans
I am proud to see my familys legacy of spreading bean goodness portrayed in a fun and interactive way at the new Bushs visitor center museum, said Drew Everett, Bushs chairman and fourth-generation member of the Bush family.
As a family-owned business, we are thrilled to be able to share our history and welcome our visitors to Chestnut Hill to experience bean goodness first-hand.
Admission to the museum is included in the price of entry to the visitor center, which is home to a general store and the Bushs Family Café. Here, guests can enjoy southern comfort food, such as the famous pinto bean pie.
Guy Fieri, the chef, restaurateur and TV host, recently launched a food-focused family entertainment centre in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee called Guy Fieris Downtown Flavortown.
Images: Bushs Beans
Maintaining A Green Footprint
The company also operates a successful cattle farm that it says creates an environmentally sustainable and profitable business arm by employing bean waste and processed water from the manufacturing plant. All wastewater is recovered and piped to an on-site processing facility, where all the solid materialprimarily bean pulp and skinsis filtered out to become methane. The methane fuels the boilers to provide steam to heat the plant. The remaining water is further cleaned, piped out and used to irrigate pasture land.
In 2003, Bush Brothers completed a $160 million renovation and expansion project at the Chestnut Hill plant, tripling production and including a 38,000-square-foot office building. The facility provides administrative space, a new employee training area, locker rooms, and showers to ensure sanitary conditions before employees enter the workplace. Nine-story-tall hydrostatic cookers enable Bush Brothers to produce products more efficiently.
In 2015, fourth-generation family member Drew Everett succeeded Jim Ethier as chairman. Schroeder said Bush Beans is still family owned and is committed to remaining family owned for generations to come.
Meanwhile, Duke is still scheming to get his paws on the secret family recipe to sell to the highest bidder.
You May Like: Baked And Wired Gift Card