Lunchspot 5. Winstead Hill Monument

Up on a little tree-crowned hill off of 31 is a monument in memoriam a bunch of confederate soldiers who fought and died bravely here one day at 4 p.m. in the afternoon. Thanks to them, and some thoughtful members of the SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans) visitors can enjoy learning a little while they lunch, bask in the shady setting and take in the wide view (at the top of the path). There are sanctioned seating facilities (i.e. picnic benches) by the gravel parking, but the hilltop gets you the view and a quieter lunch, farther from the sometimes noisy Columbia pike. After lunch, take a stroll around the surprisingly serene walking paths. If you're lucky, you may spot an increasingly rarer bluebird, thanks to a local eagle scout's final project of installing "bluebird boxes".


This lunchspot features Trees, View, Seating, and Noise.

Lunchspot 4. TS Park Stage Bleachers

Go down the park road. Pass the future-truckers' sandbox (so full of tonka's you can't see the sand). Pass also the picnic area, the unofficial turf of the TS anorexic mothers gang patrolling their picnic area circumference, wary of any living thing that might by any stretch of the imagination be a malicious pederast. A little further stands the Thompson's Station Park Stage. The best theater doesn't happen on the stage, but on the opposite side of the bleachers. Scramble up onto the highest plank and dangle your legs to the tree-side. Trash-cans are located nearby for your convenience.


This lunchspot features View and Trees.

Lunchspot 3. Ridge at Main St. & Buckner Rd.

Situated on a ridge, this elevated lunchspot, nicknamed "Station Heights," offers a nice alta vista of the SH/TS area, including the Columbia - Buckner Rd. intersection, the nearby high school, and the hills beyond. It also has a variety of low-visibility picnic potentials provided by bulldozed embankments. The property is for sale but currently unattended. Pass by the gravel drives and patches of dirt and head for the shade of the trees. Sit on the concrete curb (you're likely to find an empty 20 oz. or two here in brown bags) and have a sandwich, or maybe some pasta salad you made last night. After you eat, give a hoot and help the bums with their bottles, too. The Shell station is just down the slope and has trash cans outside, as well as picnic benches for the less adventurous. The Daily's may well serve for emergency lunch supplements such as water.

Figure 1. Lunchspot in Map View showing access road.


This lunchspot features Shade, View and Improvised Seating

Figure 2. Showing lunchspot in hybrid view. Recent development has cleared some of the tree cover.

Lunchspot 2. Red Rail Car

Across from the glassy front of the Thompson's Station Grill (and adjacent Town Hall, or "Town hole"?) and the glassy stares of its overstuffed patrons, the bright red rail car sits just waiting for eager lunchers to dine on its not-quite-comfortable grating. Sit on the side opposite the Grill and enjoy the view of a nearby farm stretching out, and on a distant hill, the lone dark tree in the middle of a field. Contemplate the similarities and differences between yourself and the lonely tree as you munch on cheese, prosciutto and melon. Wash it down with a cool pilsner. Don't forget to pack out your trash!


This lunchspot features View and Improvised Seating

Lunchspot 1. United Methodist Parking Lot, Picnic Benches

Under the sprawling shady boughs of an old tree across from the Old School Cafe, find a couple benches huddling together, simply anxious to be lunched upon. Sit a spell, escape the noonday sun and spread out your lunch as cars crunch across the gravel parking lot in front of the Cafe. Ham and cheese. Potato chips. Sun drop. A cloth napkin. Ahhhh...


This lunchspot features Sanctioned Seating

First Things

As we slowly and laboriously gather and post the data on our lunches heretofore, I thought it would be useful in the meantime to provide further tactical info on our current theater of lunch, Spring Hill / Thompson Station (henceforth "SH/TS"):

As you can see, the SH/TS area is a manageable, if unexciting, theater encompassing a little less than the sum area of 17.7 + 14.7 square miles respectively, or a little less than 32.4 square miles.


Here are shown the locations of 25 major food service facilities in SH/TS.

Lunchland Launchpad

We hereby institute Lunchland, the official weblog of the Spring Hill, Tennessee lunch club.

We're not so much sick of your pimple-faced burger-hacks and orange linoleum as we are desirous to be the masters of our own manducatory mores — as Man was meant to be. We reclaim the midday refreshment al fresco, the fast-fading Déjeuner sur l'herbe that feeds not only the belly, but nourishes the soul with the purity of Sun and Air. Here is Man in his native Element and engaged in his instinctual Activity — the best that he is or can be, for here he knows that he can be no better than to take repast in Nature's pasture.