"Down in his basement for 20 or 30 years he was replicating the city of Mt. Juliet," Parks and Recreation director Rocky Lee told Tennessee Town & City when the display went public. "Everybody had heard about this for years."
He was talking about N.C. Hibbett, the first mayor Mt. Juliet ever elected, and the working model railroad Hibbett built of the town. Today it runs in a room at the Mt. Juliet Community Center in Charlie Daniels Park. The city calls that room Hibbett Hall.
Mt. Juliet's 2026 Christmas calendar splits between two addresses: the park on Charlie Daniels Parkway, and the old crossroads at N. Mt. Juliet Road and Division Street. Hibbett's model is a miniature of that crossroads, and it sits inside the park. The museum opens on four Saturdays between now and Christmas, so you can see the old town at model scale in the afternoon and stand on the real corner when the tree is lit.
What Hibbett built in the basement
Lee told Tennessee Town & City the display is about 25 feet long and 12 feet wide, with dual tracks. "It's a running, functioning train track," he said.
Hibbett built 75 buildings along two main train lines, showing Mt. Juliet and West Wilson County as they looked from the 1920s to the 1930s. Many of them were reconstructed from surviving photographs and his own memory. The layout includes:
- the Bank of Mt. Juliet Building, with John Carver's store to its left. The two buildings are part of the oldest surviving commercial complex in the city
- the old Mt. Juliet Post Office, which was later moved; modern railroad tracks now sit where it stood
- the old Mt. Juliet High School
- churches, stores and the homes of several well-known residents of the period
The person who built it explains why the detail runs so deep. Neland Carver "N.C." Hibbett graduated from Mt. Juliet High School, served in the U.S. Army, then came back to teach history, science and health there. He also coached football, boys' basketball and boys' track. After the city incorporated in 1973, he became its first elected mayor. He served on the City Council from 1975 to 1977 and later as the city's historian. His wife, Jenny Bess Hibbett, later became Mt. Juliet's first female mayor.
Railroads were his other lifelong interest. Hibbett served on the Nashville Eastern Railroad Board of Authority and worked with the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum. When his family went looking for a public home for the layout, the city offered a meeting room. "We call it Hibbett Hall," Lee said, "and it's become a little museum because of this train."
The city lists it as the N.C. Hibbett Hall Train & History Museum, established in 2023. Along with the trains, it has exhibits on how the city came to incorporate, and admission was free on the city's 2025 listing.
The corner on the model is the corner where the tree goes up
Tennessee Town & City describes the display as the community in the 1930s, built around "the two rail lines that are still centered near the intersection of North Mt. Juliet Road and Division Street, the historic heart of the city."
Mt. Juliet's two biggest public holiday events happen on those same two streets:
- Tree lighting, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 5 to 7 p.m. It's at Veterans Park by the clock tower, 22 E. Division St., with pictures with Santa from 5 to 6 p.m.
- Christmas parade, Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. It runs on N. Mt. Juliet Road, with a rain date of Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m.
Tennessee Town & City opened its story with an image that ties the two together: as the WeGo Star leaves the Mt. Juliet station for Nashville, "another, smaller train is making its way around the bend" inside the community center. The real tracks still pass through the corner Hibbett modeled. On Nov. 17, the tree lighting happens a short walk from them.
If you see the model first, the corner looks different. The bank building and Carver's store are among the oldest commercial buildings still in the city, and a post office once stood where the newer track runs now. On the layout you see that block as it looked about 90 years ago. On Division Street you see what replaced it.
The four Saturdays Hibbett Hall is open
For the holidays, the museum opens on set dates. Mount Juliet Today's holiday roundup, updated Nov. 3, lists these openings at the city's model train museum:
- Saturday, Nov. 14. No hours are listed for this date.
- Saturday, Nov. 28, 2 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 2 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 19, 2 to 4 p.m.
Each of those Saturdays lines up with something else at the park.
Nov. 14 falls on Home for the Holidays. The 14th annual market runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1110 Charlie Daniels Parkway, according to Wilson County Source. It has artisan, handmade and small-batch baked goods vendors, music from Amy Lechner's Voice Studio students all day, and free photos with Santa on your own phone. MtJuliet.com counted 48 confirmed vendors in October. The museum is also open that Saturday, so you can fit both into one trip.
Nov. 28 is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. For out-of-town family, an afternoon with a working train set of the town as it looked in the 1930s gives them a reason to get out of the house for a couple of hours.
Dec. 5 and Dec. 19 come after the tree trail opens. From Dec. 1, the walking trail outside the community center is part of the holiday display. You can see the trains from 2 to 4 p.m. and be on the trail as the light goes.
The tree trail outside, in its second year
Christmas in the Park started in 2025. This season, the city's calendar lists it from Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026, through Jan. 4, 2027, open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Charlie Daniels Park, 1075 Charlie Daniels Pkwy. Local businesses and individuals sponsor Christmas trees and decorate them along the park's walking trail. A tree costs $100, and the money goes to the charity the sponsor chooses.
In the first year, Wilson County Source reported that the trail had no electricity and suggested solar or battery lights for the trees.
A second tree display opens the same day in another part of town. Christmas on Main Street sets up trees along Main Street at Circle P Ranch, 563 E. Main St., decorated by businesses, groups, schools and residents. Trees go up Nov. 23 to 30. Sponsorship is $100, and proceeds go to the sponsor's choice of Big Brothers of Mt. Juliet or Give A Little Christmas. Prizes are $200 for the best family tree, $200 for the best business tree and $500 for best of the best.
A December that moves between the park and the old corner
Put together, the season has a clear shape. The park has the market, the museum and the tree trail. Division Street and N. Mt. Juliet Road have the tree lighting and the parade. Hibbett Hall connects the two.
Mt. Juliet's own 2026 dates, in order
- Sat., Nov. 14: Home for the Holidays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Hibbett Hall opens
- Tue., Nov. 17: Tree lighting at Veterans Park, 5 to 7 p.m.
- Sat., Nov. 28: Hibbett Hall, 2 to 4 p.m.
- Tue., Dec. 1: Christmas in the Park and Christmas on Main Street open
- Sat., Dec. 5: Hibbett Hall, 2 to 4 p.m.
- Sat., Dec. 12: Christmas parade on N. Mt. Juliet Road, 11 a.m.
- Sat., Dec. 19: Hibbett Hall, 2 to 4 p.m.
- Mon., Jan. 4: Last day of Christmas in the Park
If you can only make one museum Saturday before the tree lighting, it's this one, Nov. 14. If you miss it, Dec. 5 gives you the trains, the tree trail in its first week and the parade a week later. For questions about any of the city events, Mt. Juliet Parks and Recreation is at 615-758-6522.
MtJuliet.com notes that the park is named for Charlie Daniels, the late country-rock fiddler and longtime Mt. Juliet neighbor.
Hibbett spent decades getting the old Division Street corner right, one building at a time. That kind of block-by-block knowledge is what Brad Fowler brings to Wilson County and Mt. Juliet. If you'd like to talk about what your home on these streets is worth today, start with a home valuation or reach out. Let's Connect.
