Quarry Now Knocks on Castalian Springs’ Door

By Mike Towle

The TENNESSEAN

June 29, 2011

It was too good an offer to pass up. In pouring rain locals call a "frog strangler," I jumped into the front passenger seat of the minivan and buckled up. Sitting next to me was the driver and one of Sumner County's most entertaining raconteurs, Gallatin historian and furniture maker extraordinaire John Garrot.

The occasion was a guided tour of that part of Castalian Springs concentrated with some of Middle Tennessee’s most historical landmarks and hallowed grounds. Some of this, such as Wynnewood and Bledsoe's Fort Historic Park, I knew about; other gems such as the Bate House, log-cabin homes tucked into newer structures, and ancient Indian burial grounds, well, let's just say I was among the historically malnourished. Garrott cured me of that. 

One of the contemporary homes we passed belongs to John and Allyson Simons. About a year ago they invested their life savings to buy 10 serene acres off Corum Hill Road and move here from Virginia, unwitting to the life-changing pile of rocks now apparently on the verge of landing at their front doorstep. More on the Simons in a minute. 

While Garrott provided the play-by-play during our one-hour tour, "the Lick" resident Tom Neal added color commentary from the back. Garrott and Neal showed me the now-tranquil area in proximity to Bledsoe Creek and overflowing with Irish-green pastureland. All this history and beauty resides next door to what might soon be the newest addition to Sumner's burgeoning business-development community – a rock quarry.

Where have we heard this before? A year ago the city of Gallatin passed an ordinance removing "mining and quarrying extractive activities" from areas zoned for agricultural use within the city's planning zone. That doesn’t cover nearby Castalian Springs, however. 

Neal and neighbors soon could be eye and ear witness to quarry operations slated to chew on hundreds of acres of pristine countryside. The plans include asphalt and concrete plants, a process plant, material stockpile, several ponds, the quarry area itself and a large chunk of land dedicated to "quarry spoils." That's according to the Sumner County site layout plans filed with the county by an LLC that goes by the name Western Farm Products. 

It's a safe guess that Western Farm Products isn’t here to sell agribusiness niceties like tractors, horsefeed and fenceposts. Western Farm, which locals say is the front for Hoover Inc., a crushed-stone company based in LaVergne, Tenn., bought up a lot of rich Castalian Springs pastureland. Included in the expensive land grab are 350 acres purchased for the sum of $2 million from the Charles Haynes family, who insist they had no idea they were selling to a quarry company. 

If ever there was a business capable of waking up the dead – and I'm not sure I would want to come face to face with an angry resurrected Maj. Gen. William Bate or an unforgiving Native-American warrior in no mood to take prisoners – this might be it. Sights and sounds that come to mind are dynamite detonations, rumbling trucks ferrying tons of crushed stone, rock-crushing racket, and whatever else you can dream up before being jolted awake from a nice nap or sound sleep.

John and Allyson Simons live a "stone's throw" (her words, not mine) from the plotted quarry operations. Retirees – she from the FBI, he from the Environmental Protection Agency (I am not making this up) – picked this garden spot of rural America out of several nationwide they checked out. The Simons moved here from Yorktown, Va., itself a historical spot where the deciding battle of the Revolutionary War was fought. And now they are fighting mad. 

“I was completely devastated when I heard this,” Allyson Simons said of the revelation of who the mystery buyer was. “We came here to have a nice peaceful area to enjoy our two horses. If this goes through, we’ll be financially ruined.” 

A similar fate awaits the other 50-plus homeowners whose property is near or even abuts the roughly rectangular-shaped land now owned by Western Farm/Hoover. The residents will soon get to face their new neighbor. At 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, at the Sumner County Administration Building in Gallatin, a representative of the quarry company will meet with members of the Castalian Springs community to address their concerns. 

The next date to circle on the calendar is July 14. That’s when Western Farm or whatever they want to be known by then goes before the county board of zoning appeals to seek approval for their planned use of the land. So, is the fix in? It’s hard to believe that Western Farm would have spent $2 million-plus on the real estate, without a contingency, if they had any doubt about getting approval. 

“I retired from the U.S. Department of Justice,” Allyson Simons said, “but there’s  no justice here.”