Take a trip back through town and you can find a massive metal sculpture, three stories high and 50 yards wide, crafted by Brownsville artist Billy Tripp. He calls it “The Mindfield,” and is perpetually adding to it. Visitors come from across the country to see it, tall and shiny in all its glory, sitting right next to the Food Giant.
Another Brownsville fact is its ties to Tina Turner, who grew up there in the reaches of Haywood County. She is honored in Brownsville’s Delta Heritage Center. Located off the interstate to be more accessible to visitors, the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center honors Turner by presenting the one-room schoolhouse she attended and shares some of her life history and connection to Brownsville.
The center also honors the late blues legend Sleepy John Estes, another Brownsville native who lived and died in this tiny town, by presenting his house and hosting live shows with newer blues artists on his front porch. Fisherman Bill Dance and blues musician Hammie Nixon are also honored there, as they too are Brownsville natives.