Published for the 652,374 family members of the Tennessee Farm Bureau
Rustic Barn: Southern Cooking in Unusual Atmosphere
Published Jan 04, 2010
A hearty, home-cooked meal is the last thing you’d expect to find in an old tobacco barn. That is, unless it happens to be The Rustic Barn in rural Blount County.
Established by husband-and-wife team Tom and Barbara Hatmaker, The Rustic Barn is a 70-year-old structure the couple converted into a restaurant that specializes in down-home Southern cooking.
“People don’t come all the way out here to eat a hamburger,” says Barbara, a seasoned cook who prepares all the food. “They come for chicken and dumplings, real mashed potatoes, pinto beans, meatloaf and Southern fried chicken. We make it all ourselves – our gravies and soups are handmade, and so are our desserts. I make chocolate pie, lemon pie, coconut cream pie, German chocolate cake, pumpkin pie ... whatever I feel like making on any particular day.”
For Hatmaker and the many hungry patrons who pass through the restaurant’s doors, The Rustic Barn is a little piece of heaven. It sits on three acres – part of Hatmaker’s farm – and is surrounded by flower gardens and goldfish ponds. Murals of mountain scenes decorate the walls, the handiwork of the restaurant’s one employee, 83-year-old Ruth Sunday.
“It’s just a cute little old place, and there’s an awesome view of the mountains,” Hatmaker says. “There’s nothing quite like it. It’s its own beautiful little paradise out in the middle of nowhere.”
When the Hatmakers started the business eight years ago, however, they were far from living in paradise. “My husband had lost his job and was diagnosed with cancer, and we had just bought this farm,” Hatmaker says. “Cancer turns your world upside down, and fixing up this barn was good therapy. It gave us something to concentrate on other than the seemingly bad things around us.”
Over the years, her husband, Tom, helped to transform the old tobacco barn into a restaurant and saw their dream of opening The Rustic Barn come to fruition – and become established and well loved by locals and tourists alike – before he passed away in September 2009.
The eatery has continued to grow in popularity, despite of – or thanks to – its off-the-beaten-path location.
“We’re out here in the middle of nowhere, 10 miles from Maryville. There’s no Walmart, only churches,” Hatmaker says. “But it’s been amazing – people find us from all over the world and as far as Belgium. We’ve served rich people, poor people, ex-governors, football players and everyday people.”
The Rustic Barn serves food family-style, with a choice of three meats and five side dishes daily. Favorite sides are garlic cheese potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole and Hatmaker’s cornbread salad.
“People tell me I need to do a recipe book, but I can’t because I never measure,” she says. “I just do a pinch of this or that.”
The atmosphere inside The Rustic Barn is warm and friendly. “We play gospel music all the time, and people can sing if they want to,” Hatmaker says with a laugh. “I tell people, this is a barn. You can speak loudly if you want – just don’t be throwing food back and forth.”
Hatmaker is building another dining room that will be connected to the barn by a covered breezeway so they can accommodate large groups and weddings. When complete, the dining room will bring The Rustic Barn’s capacity to a total of 80, plus outdoor seating in the summertime.
“We’ll have swings and gliders on the porch,” Hatmaker says, “and plan to put a craft and antique shop in the upstairs of the new dining room.” She says she’s not sure when it will be done but adds that she hopes the addition is completed by the end of 2010.
Hatmaker admits the restaurant has been an overwhelming amount of work, but it’s work that she enjoys.
“It’s been an awesome journey that has increased my faith and trust in God,” she says. “I enjoy serving people and making them laugh. I thank God for this barn every day. It’s a labor of love.”
Story by Jessica Mozo
Photo by Jeff Adkins
Feel like taking a drive to enjoy the scenic mountains and some down-home cooking? The Rustic Barn is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and from 4 p.m. until the food runs out for dinner and is located at 2828 Ellejoy Road in Walland (Blount County). Please call ahead for reservations at (865) 379-4276, especially before driving long distances – the barn only seats about 30 people, and they have been overwhelmed by the phenomenal response from Home & Farm readers.
New servers and cooks have been hired to keep up with all the new customers, and Hatmaker apologizes for any cold food or slow service that some of you experienced the first weekend after the magazine came out. She says she is now better prepared for large crowds but still requests you call ahead for reservations. If not, you may have to wait – or end up sitting at a larger table where strangers become new friends! Hatmaker also is deeply sorry for the one day they were unable to serve dessert and says that’s all the more reason to come back and try them out again.
Here at Home & Farm, we’re very sorry to hear about any bad experiences, but we’re very happy to pass the message along to business owners if you haven’t done so yourself – so keep the feedback coming, whether it’s positive or negative. And we always recommend calling a business or event before driving a long distance, just to be sure. Thanks!
Comments
By Peg McPherson Caudill on 19 02 2010
By james crull on 19 02 2010
I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU RAN AN ARTICLE ABOUT THIS PLACE. WE HAD LUNCH THERE IT IS ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. ALL THE FOOD WAS COLD AND TASTELESS. THE DESSERT PIES TASTED LIKE FLOUR PASTE. I AM WILLING TO BET UNLESS HER BROTHER IS THE HEALTH INSPECTOR THIS PLACE HAS NEVER BEEN INSPECTED AND IF IT HAS MY FORTY YEARS IN RESTAURANT BUSINESS I WAS MADE A FOOL OUT OF BY THE HEALTH DEPT. I AM CALLING STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.
By Sharyn Kay Graham on 20 02 2010
I absolutely LOVED this place and have recommended it to many many of my friends coming into the PF/Gatlinburg area.
My mom, myself, and 2 friends heard about this place from someone at Walmart and had to go check it out, just for the experience.
When we arrived I was like “What???"… but it didn’t take but just a moment to fall in love with the Hatmaker’s and their quaint little restaurant. Barbara Hatmaker was the most gracious host EVER, even offering up fresh slices of tomato and onions to go with our food… that she even offered us second and third helpings!! (and the food was CRAZY DELICIOUS!!).
She was very accomodating while we ate, but when we finished our meal, she came out and began telling us her story and how the little restaurant had come to be… and then she sang for us a sweet little set of gospel tunes.
DEFINITELY an experience I WILL repeat when we go back to Pigeon Forge in 2 weeks! Loved it.. loved the Hatmaker’s… loved the food and atmosphere!!!
By The Wilsons on 20 02 2010
whow...we loved this place. It was an experience and so fasinating to see all the collections of bears and other trinkets that had been collected. She sang to us and cooked for us,,,it was just great. When we got there we thought we had pulled up in someones back yard..we had..but it was the right place. the sign on the door said “ if we an’t here, just come over to the house and let us know you are hungry and we’ll be right over...so thats what we did. again...we loved it.
By Kennie on 21 02 2010
For the sack of saying we have been is all you can really say. Food was cold along with the room. I really do not wan,t to say bad things but the person who wrote this article should really investigate there info instead of writing and article for a friend. The place was overwhelmed with just a hand full of people. If you know that your are going to be open be prepared the day before. The menu is a tree by four dry erase board they bring to your table to hold. I will never go buy an article again from these magazine sent to our home with out checking info on my own. And friends of the owner needs to stop posting good articles for this place before someone from out of state drives here with there family.
By Jessy Yancey on 22 02 2010
We apologize to all who had a bad experience, and we’ve called the owner to let her know. We want to remain a trusted source for our readers, so we are deeply sorry about the negative response, but we have had some positive responses as well, including from when our representative went. In the future, we will try to re-visit restaurants closer to time of publication, and we did inform the owner so hopefully her new guests have a much more pleasant visit.
Jessy Yancey
thaf@jnlcom.com
By kennie on 24 02 2010
didn’t want to many negative comments, i noticed that to along with a new good review. There is no way that anyone could not tell the truth if they had gone to the place. I should not have to defined my self for my comment, but there is no way a good comment could be posted if you went to this place. I wasted a half of a day with my wife to go here.
By Sharyn Kay Graham on 02 03 2010
Just to make it perfectly clear to y’all… I was not a “friend” of the owner when I went there. I learned about this place from a Walmart worker at 2 AM when I was looking for throat spray. I am a gospel singer from Phenix City, Alabama and was in town to perform at the Country Tonight Theater… so, sorry “Kennie No-Last-Name"… Mrs Hatmaker wasn’t a friend to me when I arrived… but upon my departure from the Rustic Barn, I felt blessed to call her and her husband my friends.
By Ann Derryberry on 28 07 2010
My husband and I visited your restaurant after reading about it in a magazine. We were very disappointed in the service and the food. There were only three other couples in the restaurant and it took about 10 minutes for our waitress to take our orders. I ordered sauerkraut and wieners, mashed potatoes, and cornbread salad and cornbread. The cornbread salad was awful, and I never did get my cornbread. My husband ordered a steak medium rare, green beans and fried potatoes. The steak was so done and dry it was like shoe leather--the green beans were obviously from a can. He also had to ask again for his biscuits and when they brought them they were cold. During our visit, a lady from some publication was there interviewing the owner (I guess), so we were pretty much ignored!! The cost of our meals was far too much for the quality we received. We also had a piece of coconut pie which was o.k.--not great. The Rustic Barn needs to clean up their restaurant and outside area (it was not inviting at all) and they need to improve GREATLY on their food!!
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What a surprise to see the article on the Rustic Barn and realize it was about someone I had known. Tom Hatmaker and my brother were friends as small boys. More surprising in the photo with the article was a portrait of Lucy, Libby and Tom Hatmaker. Lucy was the older sister and Libby is my age. In fact, she was the matron of honor in my wedding in 1963. I was also in her wedding in 1958. I tried to look the photo up online, but it was too blurry to be visible. I will forward her my copy of the magazine. I am sure she will get a smile out of seeing her portrait in the issue.