Honest JohN's
ABOUT
OUR PLACE
We just love Frozen Custard!
Honest John is John Deane. He and his wife, Natasha, established a second home in Granville, Tennessee in 1999 and, following retirement moved permanently to Granville in 2020. In 1998 John and Natasha bought the old Granville Marina and successfully re-branded it as Wildwood Resort & Marina.
Passion for Frozen Custard from the Age of Eight
Around the age of eight years old, John went to visit his older sister, Nancy at her home in Spotsylvania, Virginia near the town of Fredericksburg where he had his first encounter with frozen custard. Since he was old enough to hold a cone, young John Deane loved ice cream more than anything in the world.
Sister Nancy, being well acquainted with young John’s passion for ice cream, took John to visit Carl’s Frozen Custard which was a walk-up custard shoppe located in the middle of a cornfield. Founded in 1947, Carl’s continues to serve customers in Fredericksburg. John has held a passion for authentic frozen custard ever since.
Extensive Travel Fed the Frozen Custard Passion
As a health care consultant traveling throughout the United States, John made it a point to always visit the local frozen custard establishments if there was one.
Why “Honest” John?
Since he was old enough to read, John has been a huge fan of “Honest Abe Lincoln,” both the man and the President. If John’s business career taught him anything, it was the importance of honesty and integrity in all his dealings that was the foundation of his success. A self-styled moniker, John identifies with being honest and besides, the name “Honest John’s” has a nice ring to it.
New Beginnings
Gainesboro on the Rise
Following the successful launch of Wildwood Resort & Marina in Granville in the Southwest corner of Jackson County, John saw the opportunity to invest in Gainesboro, the county seat, a small town that nearly died after the Interstate highway came along and traffic patterns diverted away from the town and big box stores like Walmart, Loews, Dollar General and the internet won customers with low prices and convenience.
Fast forward to present day, John and Natasha decided to invest in Gainesboro which was beginning to show signs of life and purchased the Whittaker Building at 212 East Hull Avenue in Gainesboro, Tennessee to establish a fresh food grocery store there beginning in September 2023 which will be named “Miss Sallie’s Market,” in honor of Miss Sallie Reid, a former grocer some decades ago in Gainesboro.
“Gainesboro is having a re-birth as new restaurants and shops are becoming established around The Square,” said John. “We are bullish on Gainesboro’s future and want to be a part of it. People are seeking out small towns both to live and visit.”
Directly across the street from Miss Sallie’s Market was a modular home building and six parking spaces on the corner of Minor and East Hull Streets with a “For Sale” sign out front. Acting on his 50+ year passion for frozen custard and wanting to double down on investing in Gainesboro, John took the leap, purchased the property and undertook modifications to make it into a walk-up frozen custard shoppe now known as Honest John’s Frozen Custard.