Escapees January-February 2024

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Bush Beans Visitor Center “Roll that beautiful bean footage…”

it less of a drive to acquire goods. He later opened a tomato cannery and joined forces with Stokley. Four years later, it was so pro fi table, he bought out Stokley. They canned other vegetables before narrowing their focus on beans and hominy. Kathleen Bush made the tastiest baked beans from a secret recipe she wouldn’t share with anyone. Whether it was a special occasion or just a family gathering, she would always serve her famous baked beans. In the late 1960’s, Condon, one of the Bush sons, asked a few co-workers to help him test and fi nd the secret recipe. They cooked most of the night before deciding the last pot was the one. It grew to a “beans in a can” business around 1969, with Duke (the family dog) and the phrase “secret family recipe” mentioned in the commercial. The beans come from North Dakota and Michigan. They are cooked, seasoned and packed on site at Chestnut Hill, Tennessee and Augusta, Wisconsin. What you may not know is that they also have a cattle farm. They use the waste water from the bean plant to water the pastures that feed the grass-fed cattle. In 1993, they dumped all other products except beans. In 1995, the fi rst “Duke” commercial aired and despite Duke’s best attempts to sell the recipe, it remains a secret. Five years later, Bush had 80 percent of the US baked-bean market.

Most people have no idea this place even exists. The Bush Bake Bean Visitor Cen ter is in the foot hills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Chestnut Hill, Tennessee. A stone’s throw away from Pigeon Forge and well worth the drive. It is a fun, free half a day adventure. T his is a remodeled version of the original AJ Bush and Company General Store. The store has a great gift shop with Southern-themed gifts, old-fashion candy, Duke, Bush souvenirs and of course beans . Any fl avor they make. If you enjoy walking down memory lane, you will enjoy the artifacts, tools, dress patterns, children’s toys etc. Inside is a great museum featuring a movie about the Bush beginnings. You will learn the history of the Bush family; the beginnings of the business and how the beans are manu factured and shipped. There are no tours in the plant itself but you can see different clips of how it works. Beside the theater there are a lot of push-button exhibits with video clips from the Bush family. It began in 1897 when AJ Bush founded a general store basically to serve the local community and make

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ESCAPEES Magazine January/February 2024