Hardware and gardening is an unlikely combination, but for Chris Ferrari and Paige Hamilton, owners of Hamilton Hardware and Hamilton Hollow Flower Company in Watertown, the pairing seems to be blossoming.
The couple fled Nashville last year after finding a bit of rural land just a few miles from Wilson County's smallest town (which has no red light).
The couple took over the local hardware store in October of last year, having already started selling cut flowers to a local florist a few months earlier. Hamilton, an accountant, handles sales, while Ferrari, who has worked with A-list artists in the entertainment industry for 23 years, manages the store and does most of the gardening.
While he was working on the farm, he noticed that the hardware store was for sale.
“We laughed and said, 'That would be fun,' and about a week later I called the guy to check it out and after some discussion we decided to buy the hardware store. We wanted to put down roots here and see what we could do,” said Ferrari, who had grown tired of the music business.
“My office is the headquarters for the hardware store. When I moved to the farm, I didn't have an office. I had a little corner in an old shipping container. I was fortunate to have the hardware store,” said Hamilton, who does bookkeeping and payroll for small businesses.
Her first impression of Watertown and the green hills and valleys that surround it?
“I've always considered myself a city girl, I was fair game. This is a small country town, nice and quiet and calm,” she said.
On taking the step of running a hardware store, she confided, “I was apprehensive. Whenever you start a business you have to think about profits. I'm an accountant so I'm always thinking about numbers. We revamped the name and put our own twist on it.”
The couple reopened their 3,000-square-foot store in mid-October. The store is located on the first floor of the Thompson-Bogle-Ashworth Masonic Building (Comer Lodge #417 F&AM), the original Princess Theatre building that opened in the late 1940s and closed around 1961. Other businesses in the building included a furniture store, a men's clothing store and Oakley Flowers. The second floor is occupied by the Masons Lodge, the organization that owns the building.
Walk into a hardware store and you'll notice a wide variety of products, including pocket knives, concrete mixes, plumbing supplies, shovels, hammers, chains, wheelbarrows, rakes, electrical supplies, trim lines for lawnmowers, rain gauges, work gloves, drills, wiper blades, locks, hinges, screws, bolts, cleaning supplies, car batteries, painting supplies, brooms, bird houses, and bird food.
Hamilton and Ferrari believe the decision to take on the business was a wise one.
“We love it here. The town is so nice. The people are great. We've been here for eight months already and we've been able to help people. There are a lot of elderly people here. We're here to help people solve their problems,” said Ferrari, whose father worked in construction when he was younger.
“People say, 'I don't want to drive to Lebanon,' because Lebanon is like 100 miles away.”
“The town would be really disappointed if we lost the hardware store. Hardware stores are the cornerstone of traditional small towns. We are exactly where we want to be and we are moving forward. We plan to open a garden center next spring.”
“For the first few weeks, customers didn't come in to shop, they asked me, 'Where do you live? Where are you from?' I grew up in a small Amish town in Pennsylvania, so I feel very comfortable. The best part of my job is just talking to customers. We're not doing anything fancy. We're just a small-town hardware store. We're trying to keep that old-fashioned, small-town hardware store feel, and we're also trying to add more inventory and update the store.”
Speaking about his music career so far, Ferrari said: “I've always been connected to music through local promoters. I worked festivals for years, did concerts here and there, and even toured with Chondra Pierce in 1999.”
A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he has worked as a tour manager, production manager, and artist manager. The father of five moved to Nashville in 2011. After working with Pierce, he got into Christian music with artists like Third Day, Mercy Me, and Michael W. Smith. He then moved to country music, assistant to SHeDAISY, Lady A, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and managed Hawaiian ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro.
A Cookeville native, Hamilton spent several semesters at Tennessee Tech University before moving to Knoxville and earning a bachelor's degree in accounting. She moved to Nashville in 2002 and worked as a waitress at Bosco's and Sunset Grill. She began her accounting career at LBMC in Brentwood.
“I always call it in-house accounting. I was a corporate bookkeeper and I was with LBMC for three years, jumping around a lot with jobs for local companies in Nashville, then I got a job with an entertainment business management company, an advertising firm in Chicago that had an office here, and I worked as a location coordinator for the TV show 'Women of the Movement,' which was filmed in Mississippi,” said Hamilton, who met Ferrari on a dating app in 2021.
Ferrari's daughter, Shannon, moved to Tennessee in May and helps out between the farm and the store.
“When I'm not around, she's like a third arm, helping me with the farm and the shop, as well as helping with social media and displays,” he said. Malachi Davis, of Watertown, also helps out.
The hardware store owner, who has an interest in gardening, said he started preparing for this year's crops in the winter.
“Everything we use, I had to take back. I planted in 2023, started a few things, found a few florists and started the business on a small scale. I've always had flower beds and I love being outdoors. I do most of the heavy lifting. I start a lot of seeds in the greenhouse and then transplant them. I do successive plantings so I can have crops over a longer period.”
This summer flower selection includes zinnias, celosia, sunflowers, coneflowers, cosmos, black-eyed susans and dahlias.
When asked about the balance of work between town and country, Ferrari said, “I think there will be more work for the shop, because that has to be done when the shop is open. Farm work has to be done in the surrounding area, so it's about 60:40.”
Last year, they sold flowers to six florists in Watertown and Lebanon.
“It's been a lot of trial and error. We're learning what they need and what they want. We plan to have it from late June to October. Ideally, we'd like to extend the season. This is a three- to five-year program,” said Ferrari, who said he hopes to one day open the garden to the public so they can pick their own flowers and enjoy them.
Seed farmers love to get their hands in the soil and have this to say about flowers: “No matter how much you try to kill them, they want to grow. Some are tiny seeds, but they grow into amazing plants. The beauty of nature in the whole thing is really fascinating. It's like the phrase, 'Stop and smell the roses.'”
Hamilton says she's not as keen on getting her hands dirty as her partner, but “we try.” The biggest challenge with their garden, she says, is “having to worry about the weather every day.” “Last year, it didn't rain for six weeks, so we had to go into town and bring water. We don't have water on the farm.” But she adds that living in the countryside “allows you to see the stars at night.”
“I like to hang out outside and relax. I like to read. I don't listen to music,” Ferrari said.
But on the wall behind the hardware store's cash register, he has some mementos hanging from his days in Music City.
“That was my old job. This is my new job,” says the hardware store owner/green man as he looks at music posters featuring acts like Lady A, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Four Voices and SHeDAISY.
Hamilton Hardware, Watertown
position: 122 E. Main St., Watertown
time: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
phone: (615) 237-0107