Hey Guys!
For Mother’s Day, my sweet hubby surprised me with a weekend getaway to Wildwood Resort & Marina.
He had booked the trip for the weekend of Memorial Day.
We have stayed at the Wildwood Resort & Marina several times before as we only live 1.5 hrs away from the resort.
We started coming here in 2018 before they did all of the renovations and when it was more of a hidden gem but now it’s not so “hidden” anymore.
You can read my previous posts about this place here, here, here & here
We started our morning with breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants called Milo’s.
We have eaten here many times before and it is always very good!
After looking over the menu, I decided on the pineapple pancakes with a side of bacon and the hubby ordered the pancakes & bacon with a side of potatoes.
As usual, the food was delicious!
We also love their coffee…we both ordered the honey lavender lattes and they were so good!
After breakfast, we headed to the small town of Granville.
Granville is located one mile from the Wildwood Resort.
They were holding their annual “Heritage Day’ event so we wanted to go check it out.
Tip: The town holds many events throughout the year….click here and then click on events at the top of the page to see their event calendar
It was crazy busy but they had plenty of places to park….some places were charging $5 to park or you could park and take the shuttle for free.
After getting parked, we headed to the antique car show.
The antique car show is part of their Heritage Day event.
They had all kinds of cool old cars at the event.
Sadly, due to the chance of severe weather, they only had around 100 cars show up versus 300 at last year’s show.
My hubby loves antique vehicles so he really enjoyed this part of the festival.
After checking out the cars, we walked across the street to look at the old tractors.
We then headed towards the historic main street to check out all of the vendors that were set up.
Granville is known as the “Mayberry Town” because it’s a very small town that takes you back in time.
Read about the history of Granville here
Like I mentioned before, we have been here several times but we had never checked out the I Love Lucy Museum.
Tip: You will need to purchase a ticket before entering into the museums…they are $7 pp and the cost covers all of the museums and attractions.
The museum is located in an old historic building that houses other “museums” as well as a gift shop…so, depending on what door you enter, will determine what you will see first.
We entered through a door that led us to the gift shop. The gift shop was full of home decor and souvenirs.
All of the “museums” are connected so you can enter through one door and see them all.
After checking out the gift shop, we continued through the building to the Andy Griffith Show museum.
They have rooms that are set up that feature the different characters of the show.
There is also tons of memorabilia from the show!
Last year, during the I Love Lucy Days event, Andy Griffith’s daughter showed up and donated one of his guitars to the museum!
Don Knott’s daughter was also a guest at the event as well as Dennis Rush, who played Howie Pruitt on The Andy Griffith Show, and Keith Thibodeaux, who played Johnny Paul Jason on Andy Griffith and also played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy.
I believe Keith and Andy Griffith’s daughter shows up every year to the I Love Lucy festival!
A recreation of Otis in jail
The museum has several autographed pictures of the actors hanging on the walls.
I loved this painting of Andy and Opie fishing by artist Thad Cox.
A few more shots of the Andy Griffith show museum.
We then entered into the I Love Lucy museum.
The museum has tons of autographed pictures, character dolls, plates, paper dolls, TV Guides, trading cards, stamps and more.
After the Lucy Museum, we checked out the whiskey decanter museum…it’s in the same building as the other museums.
There are approximately 5000 decanters showcased in this museum.
They were donated by two different families…one being from Cookeville and the other from Watertown.
Jim Beam Distillery began filling their whiskey into ornamental bottles in 1955 with the creation of a bowling pin and a porcelain ash tray.
They became so popular that Jim Beam decided to produce more decanters in 15 categories that included Wheels, Clubs and Conventions, Casino, Centennial, Organizations Customer, Executive, Foreign, People, Opera, Political, Regal China, Sports, States, Trophy, Glass and the Collectors’ Edition.
In this museum all categories are represented.
They are so unique it’s hard to believe that some of them are decanters!
Believe it or not, this is the “World’s Largest Limited Edition” decanter museum in the US!!
After this museum, we headed outside to continue our walk through the historic little town.
They had this cool mural painted on the side of one of the buildings.
From about 1831 until 1920, Granville was a thriving riverboat town. After riverboat travel ceased, the community was a successful farming area.
They have lots of “Mayberry” inspired decorations scattered throughout the town.
We headed to the food vendors to see what all they had.
There were several food trucks set up 
Since we had eaten a big breakfast, we settled on a small cup of pineapple dole whip.
I just love this place…it really does take you back in time.
One of the main attractions here is the T.B. Sutton’s General Store.
Built-in 1800’s, this country store has continuously served the families in this area.
In 2017, Country Living Magazine listed this store as one of the thirteen most charming country stores. Southern Living Magazine recommended T.B. Sutton General Store as the number one store to visit during the summer of 2018.
The original building has many of the same interior fixtures it had at the turn of the 20th century. The store is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The store serves ice cream, hamburgers, hotdogs and sodas…..country cooking is served Wed – Sat.
They also have live music every Sat night….tickets are $5 pp for the show and $25 pp for the dinner and the show.
Tip: The store is closed Sun – Tues
We didn’t go into the store this time as we’ve been several times before but I definitely recommend you check it out if you’ve never visited Granville before!
There are several historic buildings that have been turned into museums.
As we were walking around, we spotted several vendors set up along the sidewalks so we decided to check them out.
We came across a vendor called Royal Monarch Farm that was selling organic, homemade sourdough bread so we decided to buy a loaf.
Note: We ate this after we got home and it was delicious!
We walked over to the Antique Car Museum to check out the old cars that were on display.
The automobiles exhibited will range from the 1920’s through the 1970’s with vehicles on display changing constantly. The three automobiles owned by Ben Sutton during his life in Granville are featured in the display.
We then walked over to the Pioneer Village where they feature an old log cabin and booths that feature blacksmiths, basket weavers, quilting and more.
Pioneer Village offers other rare historical items for viewing, such as a John Deere corn stalk cutter, a horse-powered hay baler, a tobacco setter, and more.
We stood and watched this gentleman making pottery….so neat!
There’s just so much to see here!!
We spotted this cool motorized carriage that you could ride! 
After spending several hours here, we decided to head to the resort to check into our room.
As we were walking to our car, we passed Aunt Bee’s Farmhouse but decided not to go in….we didn’t want to be tempted by the baked goods!
Tip: Click here for accommodations in/near Granville
After arriving to the marina and checking in, we headed to our cabin.
There are many different types of accommodations to choose from here….my hubby had chosen one of the lakeside cabins.
There are only two cabins at the marina that you can rent….the rest of the accommodations consist of a lodge, an Inn, air streams, tiny homes, and houseboats.
The last time we stayed in the cabins was back in 2018 and they were nice but a bit dated.
This time, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they had renovated the cabin!
They had more of a modern feel to them….very nice!
The cabin had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, full bathroom and a nice size living room.
Views from the front porch
The cabin had a Keurig and they provided coffee, creamer, sweetener and tea bags.
They also provided two free cans of water.
They also provide super nice, plush bathrobes!
After getting settled into our room, we walked around the property.
The marina has a lot to offer such as boat rentals, boat excursions, canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals, a hiking trail, a spa, a restaurant, a general store, and more!
They also have several fire pits scattered throughout the property and provide each guest with a smore’s package.
We decided to take a walk on the boardwalk.
The wooden walkway stretches out into the lake for over a quarter of a mile. It is Tennessee’s longest waterfront boardwalk.
This is one of our favorite things to do at the marina…..it’s so peaceful!
Unfortunately, this area had gotten a lot of rain lately so the water was really muddy looking!
After relaxing on the boardwalk for a while, we decided to head to the lakeside restaurant to have dinner.
After being seated outside by the water, we spent a few minutes looking over the menu.
We decided on the pretzel bites for an appetizer.
For my main course, I ordered the hot honey chicken sliders with potato salad and the hubby ordered the fish and chips.
The food was delicious as usual!
After dinner, we headed back to our cabin to watch the sunset from our front porch.
We have seen some incredible sunsets here!
After watching from our front porch, we decided to head back to the boardwalk in hopes of better views.
However, by the time we got there, the sun had already set behind the trees but it was still beautiful!
After watching the sunset, we headed back to our room and relaxed on the front porch.
Later, we called it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 2!
Click here to see links to all of my blog posts since 2018 and Click here to follow me on YouTube