The Days Gone By Museum in Portland, Tenn., is a great place to see antique tractors, trucks, toys, farm implements – and even racecars. If collectors are looking for a well-rounded museum, look no further.

 

Even better, this is the site of a yearly antique tractor show, this year from Oct. 5-6. “During the show we have a sawmill, threshing and make molasses,” Joey Collins said. Joey, who co-owns the museum with Kathleen, grew up on a farm. “I like old equipment and I have been collecting for 33 years. A Farmall was my first tractor. I started tinkering with that one thing, then another, and it went from there,” he said.

 

When he first started collecting, John Deere green was his color. “I had on green blinders, for about 10 years. I passed a lot of stuff up, and now I haven’t bought a Deere in about 10 years.” Since 2002, Joey has been busy filling the former Old Davis cabinet factory with his finds. After the Collins family, who owns a huge construction company, purchased the land in part for business, his dad, Larry, met him at the building one day and said, “You need to get all your stuff in one place.”

 

Before the building, Joey explained, “I had buildings on the farm, they were all full.” He now has all his equipment in the museum building and noted “everything but six pieces will crank and run. I go through them and roll them over.” When setting aside the building for his collection, he also secured 12 acres for a show grounds because he said, “There are collectors in the area, but there is no show.” He never planned on creating a museum; the building was originally just a place to store his large collection. But he said people wanted to start coming by to see the museum either in conjunction with the show, or just to see what he has on hand. Today, visitors come for the tractors and farm implements used in – well, “days gone by.”

 

Joey has been profiled on “Tennessee Crossroads” and in The Portland Leader. Local tourism boards have started promoting his wonderful collection. In May 2012 they had a grand opening of the museum.

 

When he first started collecting, he restored everything, but in the last few years he has come to appreciate tractors – and found that others also seem to appreciate some equipment – in what he calls “their work clothes,” so he is leaving more machinery in its original state. Some of the highlights of Joey’s collection include a beautiful Keck steam engine. One of the benefits of the Keck Engine Co., he said, is that like Deere it has a registry where if the owner has the serial number they can learn a piece of equipment’s history.

 

After he picked up the Keck in Indiana, a little digging came up with interestinglocal history and family connections. “This Keck first was sent to Orlinda, Tennessee, just 14 miles from here. The original buyers were L.C. and D.C. Lane. My sister is a Lane, and her great-uncle ran a sawmill and his son ran an engine,” Joey explained.

 

It appears to be the same one, and Joey said the Lane grandsons remember their grandfather running this engine: “They came to a show and had a family reunion. They were 79 and 80.

 

“There are 10 more steam engines. We are getting to be the biggest steam engine show in the South,” Joey claimed.

 

Along with tractors and steam engines, Joey has an amazing collection of trucks, including a 1912 International and a 1918 FA Chevy that was converted to a snow truck. Half of the museum is taken up mainly with cars and old trucks and such, and the other half is filled with tractors and an array of brands like Algier and Lanz German tractors. Joey’s collection includes a number of different brands and hard-to-find tractors. In his collection is a 1939 Sears Economy tractor that came from Memphis. One of the most unusual tractors at the museum is an experimental Rumely Do-All. The tractor is model No. 1 of only five built.

 

If you’re planning a visit to Tennessee this summer and want to drop by, it’s easy to know you are at the right place because you will see a DC3 plane that has a story of its own. Originally bought to sell the motors, Joey’s dad kind of likes hearing it run – so its fate remains to be seen.

 

Check their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Days-Gone-By-Tractor-Show-Threshing-138279226909 for more information about this wonderful place.