West Tennessee Treasures – Dunbar Store
For many years, the Dunbar Store was once the heart of town, serving as a general store, a post office, and even a bar where whiskey was available by the drink. “People all over West Tennessee know about how the country stores affect the rural life of of West Tennessee, and this was just one of them,” said Tim Keeton. His grandfather once ran the store under the name, Keeton Store. The Civil War took most of the community’s men, and the bar shut down, resulting in it’s name – Dunbar; “Done – Bar”. During that time, it is said that Nathan B. Forrest and his troops passed through the area. “They crossed the River at Clifton, Tennessee on boats that they had made and got here and camped for the night, and the ladies of the community fed them a meal,” said Keeton. That was over a century ago. Since then, the store has been renovated. “We had to completely take the building down, all the way to the ground, poured four concrete piers to start back with,” said Keeton. “We sawed part of the timber ourselves – it was cued and sawed to go back in it.” It took nearly two years and the help of neighbors and friends, but Keeton says he’s glad to see the building as a historic landmark and the center point of the community once again. “You see a lot of people stop and read the sign and you see them at town, and they talk about it,” said Keeton. “They seem to be very glad of it.”
