Category Archives: 2017 Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey

This is the virtual tour that will imagine what it would be like to visit every North American drive-in theater in 2017 by visiting one or two every day. While the drive-ins, restaurants, and hotels are real, all the events in this section are fiction. But it’s fun to dream!

Mar. 24: Stardust Drive In Theatre, Watertown TN

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It’s Day 83 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It only needed a short trip north to get from Woodbury TN to the Stardust Drive In Theatre in Watertown TN. It was so great to be back at a drive-in fired up for a Friday night.

The Stardust is another of those new drive-ins. According to a great article in Wilson Living Magazine, Stardust owners Barry and Dawn Floyd came up with the idea while watching the final weekend of the Gallatin’s Sumner Drive-In, which closed in 1999. They learned the technical aspects of the business, then ran into Not-In-My-Backyard resistance at a couple of sites. The TV reports reached the mayor of Watertown, who realized what an asset a new drive-in would be for the town. The Stardust opened in 2003 and added a second screen the following year.

The Stardust holds an annual Retro Classics Weekend when one of the screens gets a double feature typically from the 80s. That must be a really fun time!

It sounds like a small thing, but I really appreciate the popcorn prices at the Stardust. A small box is $2, and the sizes go up to the unreasonably huge tub at just $5. As I continued by sampling of all unusual concession stand fare, I also had a grilled ham and swiss Big Jim sandwich and some fried pickles.

Miles Today / Total:  25 / 9758 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Beauty and the Beast / 44

Nearby Restaurant: I had read an article about the place, so I made sure to stop for lunch at the Nona Lisa Pizzeria. The pizza is great, but there are plenty of places to find great pizza. I don’t know anywhere else that serves Nona Bread, an appetizer of a folded crust with garlic, butter and cheese. That description doesn’t do it justice.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There’s a bed and breakfast but not any hotels in Watertown. The closest ones to the Stardust are about 10 miles away in Lebanon. I picked the Comfort Suites for a comfortable stay in a large room, followed by a breakfast with real eggs and hot multigrain waffles.

Only in Watertown: The Tennessee Central Railway Museum in Nashville runs several excursion trains annually to Watertown. The next two are the Easter Bunny Trip on April 15, followed by the town’s Spring Mile Long Yard Sale on April 22. Maybe that’s how Justin Bieber found the place; he shot his 2009 music video for One Less Lonely Girl at the Watertown square.

Next Stop: Pink Cadillac Drive In, Centerville TN.

Mar. 23: Moonlite Drive-In, Woodbury TN

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It’s Day 82 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It took just about an hour for me to drive from the Sparta Drive-In in Sparta to the Moonlite Drive-In in Woodbury TN.

The Moonlite is one of the newest drive-ins in Tennessee, built from scratch in 2005. The Murfreesboro Post had an excellent long article in 2013 that was all about how the Moonlite came to be.

According to the Post, Jimmy Higgins, then 62 years old, was inspired to open the drive-in after going to the Sparta with his wife. “We came home, and I started looking around at other drive-ins,” he said. “We drew our blueprint on a napkin and that’s how we built it, with no specs or nothing.” He erected the two screens (70- and 60-feet wide) with just the help of his sons to save expenses, and hired a couple of local carpenters to build the concession stand.

The Moonlite’s web page says it’ll be ready to open for the season next Friday. So this was another Thuirsday night of looking for something interesting on the hotel TV.

Miles Today / Total:  43 / 9733 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 43

Nearby Restaurant: It’s not a fancy place, but DJ’s Pizza & Steak House will serve you some very fine, you know, pizza and steak. It had been long enough since I’d had a good pizza with a homemade crust that I was glad that I stopped at DJ’s.

Where I Virtually Stayed: They say that if you’re staying in Woodbury, you’ve got to stay at the Cannon Inn. It’s a charming little place, but big enough to get its name and logo on those mini shampoo bottles in the bathroom. The Cannon Inn also just happens to be directly across the highway from the Moonlite.

Only in Woodbury: The town, incorporated in 1838, was named for Levi Woodbury, who was US Treasury Secretary at the time. Woodbury later became a US Senator (from New Hampshire) and an associate US Supreme Court justice, becoming one of three Senators to have also served in both of the other branches of government. Woodbury was also the first Supreme Court justice to have had attended law school.

Next Stop: Stardust Drive In Theatre, Watertown TN.

Mar. 22: Sparta Drive-In, Sparta TN

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Sparta Drive-In marquee with screen, ticket booth and tree

photo from the Sparta Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 81 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. II drove two hours’ worth of twisty highways from the Parkway Drive-In Theatre in Maryville TN to the Sparta Drive-In in Sparta.

The Sparta is one of the oldest operating drive-ins, but how old? Back in 2013, ABC News had a quote from Tommy Brown, who owned the place, saying the Sparta was built in 1943, so that’s probably the answer. It operated until at least the mid-1980s, and then it closed. I wonder when that was; when I asked, they told me “the early 1980s.” That’s why DriveInMovie.com wrote in 2000 that “For years, the only feature visible here had been the often seen Ravages of Neglect.” The Sparta was heavily renovated and reopened in 2002.

The Sparta has been getting lots of maintenance and care since then. In a 2013 USA Today article, Brown said he was worried about the cost of converting to digital projection, but by the following February, the new projector had arrived. Just last month, they were repainting the marquee sign.

The good news is the Sparta is open for the season, but the bad news is that it’s only showing movies on weekends. So this was another Wednesday night of looking for something interesting on the hotel TV.

Miles Today / Total:  90 / 9690 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 43

Nearby Restaurant: They told me that Yanni’s Grille was the best restaurant in Sparta, and maybe they’re right. I hadn’t expect to find such nice Greek cuisine in a small town in Tennessee, but Yanni’s Grecian Shish-Kabob was worth searching out.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Nudged away from Sparta by some TripAdvisor reviews, I investigated Cookeville just up the road. That’s where I tried the Country Inn & Suites, which was a great stay at a great price. Everything was clean, and the breakfast was overflowing with good choices.

Only in Sparta: The Sparta Rock House State Historic Site is an 1830s stone building that once served as a rest stop and tollhouse on a wagon road between Knoxville and Nashville. Andrew Jackson often stopped by on trips to Washington. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 for its architecture and its historical role as an important rest stop.

Next Stop: Moonlite Drive-In, Woodbury TN.