Gatesville Country Store

The regulars just come in and pour themselves a cup of coffee. Coffee costs $1.29 a cup. I've been stopping by this mom and pop local nugget for years. You might think you're in the back woods of Indiana, but copies of recent Scientific American and Smithsonian fill the reading rack. A collection of Midwest minerals and fossils stand in an old cabinet. Wares by a few local artisans are offered. It's not fancy, six assorted tables. The breakfast menu fills a white board. I order eggs, hash brown casserole and a biscuit. The breakfast is ready in 10 or so minutes and served on syrofoam plates. The eggs are cooked perfectly, the hash browns stick to your ribs and the biscuit with delicious apple butter is filling. You can camp out back for $15 (primitive) $30 (electric) and pan for gold or collect rocks in the creek. It's not upscale or trendy. They might look at you funny if you ask for a latte. But these are the nicest people on earth and serve up a hearty breakfast on a cold day.

With our annual visits to the area, we've taken to be curious about neighborhood diners on the outskirts of Nashville. With our usual under renovation, we decided to go out of our way to drop by at the Gatesville Country Store on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. before they closed at 3 p.m. They still had a number of customers and a trio of motorbikers came in afterwards. We picked from their specials which were a bean and ham stew with cornbread, bbq pork sandwich with home fries & onions, along with cherry cobbler. Picked our drinks from the cooler and sat out in the sunny porch table and enjoyed the 60+ degree weather after a 40 degree morning while Robin prepared our food. Friendly conversation with other customers and warm sun (and cold drinks) made it easy on the wait. (there are dining tables inside and under a covered porch too).Yes, the food is served on foam plates with plasticware, but the taste is home cooking with care. Crispy home fries with caramelized onions (can't resist with ketchup) and soft moist cornbread with whipped butter (not in package) that were perfect companion to the bean and ham stew. Though I prefer cherries that are more tart in cobbler/pie, the homemade crust made up for it. Snagged a brownie to take home since we couldn't resist. Altogether it was $23 and credit cards are accepted (whew!) Left wallet at home and we were scraping together cash and coins before we saw the credit card sticker on the door and added desserts to our order.A 15 minute country drive from Nashville which certainly would have been at least that long a wait finding a spot on a Sunday afternoon in Nashville.

Homemade ham n beans & j as lapeno cheese cornbread. Yummy. Nice people; fun location away from activity. Quiet and pleasant

I brought my Boy Scout troop there to pan for gold. Robin and her husband were extremely accommodating to our little group. They told us the best places to go and how to pan, and we were off on our adventure! Merely saying they were nice is like saying Lake Michigan is a pond.After we had bled the stream dry of all gold (okay, maybe I'm stretching the truth by a few miles) we headed back to the Gatesville Country Store and had lunch. It was DELICIOUS! My burger was outstanding, and I had a slice of pizza and it was the best pizza I've had in years! And this is from a country store! Everybody that was with us raved about their food. They all told me that we need to go back and eat again, well they did mention something about panning for gold too.We will go back! Thank you Robin!

Best breakfast in Brown County! Served Saturday and Sunday until 1! So delicious and cute!

Hey, I gotta tell you something. Brown County, Indiana is a mecca for midwest motorcycle mania. When the weather gets good and the trees turn green, man and women rev 'em up and head for the twisties in Brown County. If you are a bit more adventurous, and you wanna take your horse off the beaten path, you can find some real gems out in the woods of Hoosier central. I'm not just talking the gold panning and rock hunting that is popular, but there's also a handful of places where you can drop the kickstand and get some honest-to-goodness, homestyle eats. Gatesville General Store is one of those diamonds in the rough. It's a little log cabin on a gravel road that is a welcome oasis for those who putt around the back forty. Good for an omelette, a burger, or a little home cookin', the folks at the store are going to hook you up on the cheap. Seein' as I like to grab a patty when I'm on the road, I got fixed up with their burger. Granted, this place ain't goin' on the Michelin list, but they know a spatula. If you just happen to be rollin' through, they got a bit of convenience store to 'em, so you can grab a bottle and douse that drought.Here's the skinny... these are simple folks livin' out in the middle of God's Country. If they gotta roll in to town, it's gonna cost 'em an extra greenback. I just saved you a couple bones by sending you here instead of the expensive joints in the bog town. Who's going to give you the straight story? Yours truly. Let up on the money clip and let an extra big chief slip onto the table. If they get the job done, put some gas in the tank for 'em. They keep these fires burning for the weary. While you are in the area, and especially if you are a stranger passin' through, check out Nashville, Indiana. A lot of good shops and a real pretty town. The Bean Blossom covered bridge is nearby, as well as, Lake Monroe and Brown County State Park. For a classy sunrise excursion, take your wheels over to Cordry/Sweetwater lakes, about 20 minutes away.Most importantly! If you ride, brothers and sisters, keep those horses upright and your pants in the saddle. There's a lot of nutty cagers on those twisties. Be safe! Be awesome!

I've been going there for over 10 years now, Robin and her hubby are truly great people.She is a great cook as well and I've never had any I did not love. The creeks got good gold for the mid-west and if you like geodes you will have all you can carry. The Southern Indiana GPAA gold club meets there every 2nd Saturday and the Central Chapter meets there every so often. I know people that come from Wisconsin and the like to just pan for gold and eat Robins cooking. They are not open late night so you have mornings, lunch and later meals but not to late. they are the only thing in the area really but it is a great area to be in. The parking is limited to maybe 15 cars or 30 bikes with room for a few horses if your a rider.

The Gatesville Country Store is a no frills store/restaurant/DNR game checkpoint/and a wealth of information for gold panners and amateur rock hounds. Robin does it all! While the home cooked meals are actually pretty good, my husband and I go for the gold panning(him) and geode collecting(me). We are new at this and since Robin is a geologist she obviously is a wealth of information and loves to share what she knows. There is a creek on the property that she allows people to pan and hunt for fossils and geodes for free. Inside the store is a very nice collection of rocks that have been found in Brown County. The best part about the Gatesville Country Store is Robin herself and her employees. They don't know a stranger and will welcome you with a GENUINE smile and greeting when you walk in the door. Go have lunch there if you are in the area!

We drove out In the country and thank goodness for gps we found it. They are very nice people and we had breakfast . We enjoyed it and their company .

Had the breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs were good with cheese and ham and peppers. Hash brown casserole was great. Sausage gravy and biscuits good as well. Had other things on the buffet as well.