Minnie Pearl's House (former)

Sarah Cannon hollered “How-dee” as Minnie Pearl on the Grand Ole Opry for 50 years, a $1.98 price tag on her hat. In 1975 she became the Country Music Hall of Fame's first comedian.

She married pilot Henry Cannon in 1947, and the couple eventually settled on Curtiswood Lane, next door to the Tennessee governor's residence.

The mansion next door went up in 1931 as Far Hills, home of National Life founder William Ridley Wills. The state bought the 10-acre Georgian estate in 1949 as its governors' official residence.

Minnie played her last public show on June 15, 1991, in Joliet, Illinois. A stroke that year ended her career; she died in Nashville in 1996.

Scott and Nan Smith bought the place in 1999, remodeled it, and added on. They sold in 2007 to Tom Oreck, president of the Oreck vacuum company and son of its founder.

A June 2020 county deed passed the 5-acre tract to guitarist Richard Bennett and his wife, Cassie. Richard spent 17 years touring with Neil Diamond and has backed Mark Knopfler since 1994.

Her real name outlived the character. After treatment at a Nashville cancer center she lent it to the cause, and HCA's Sarah Cannon Research Institute still carries it.