Mr. Hay’s 79 years of business adventures included operating R. G. Hay Livery, Feed and Sale Stable in Eagleville for 21 years as well as “Little Green Hay’s Big Hardware Store for approximately 58 years. This doesn’t take into account the years he ran a horse drawn well drilling machine. He started in business at a very early age and remained in the hardware business until his death. The large two-story hardware store was on Main Street where Joyce’s Beauty Shop is presently located. A large part of Eagleville’s history has been lost as the older buildings were torn down. This happens to most small communities in time.

As a child, I remember going to “Little Green Hay’s Big Hardware Store” but like a lot of people, I remember Mr. Green Hay and his derby hat more than the store. The derby hat was his trademark. He remarked in an interview that he had worn out at least 50 of them during his lifetime. He sensed the derby was going out of style, so he bought four more to last him.

Green Hay and Tom Floyd

In an interview in 1948 with a Nashville paper, Mr. Hay claimed that a customer had never asked for anything in the hardware line that “Little Green Hay’s Big Hardware Store” could not supply. His store was described as having two aisles, like narrow canyons, cut through the stacks, shelves and racks of hardware which touch the ceiling of the store and Mr. Hay was described as a small, sprightly man, pattering up and down the aisles like a amiable magpie and wouldn’t weigh more than 100 pounds soaking wet. He would more than likely have a chew of tobacco in his mouth. He stated he had probably chewed about 4000 pounds since the age of 6 when he first started chewing. “I get up early most every morning, get me a drink of water, take a chew of tobacco and go back to bed for awhile,” he stated.

Little Green Hay's Big Hardware Store

One of Mr. Hay’s favorite stories was about the time he sold a pulpit. A Nashville hardware salesman bet a friend there wasn’t anything he couldn’t get in this store. The friend came out to Eagleville to see. He asked Mr. Hay about buying a pulpit. Mr. Hay replied, “Sure, I’ve got a pulpit. Come over to my barn and I’ll let you look at it.” The friend couldn’t believe his ears and lost the bet. Mr. Hay said the pulpit had belonged to a country church that had blown down in a high wind. The church folks stored it in his barn and gave it to him when they rebuilt and decided on a new pulpit.

Another story Mr. Hay liked to tell was about a man in Detroit, Michigan who was having difficulty finding exactly the logging chain he wanted. Not a store in Detroit had one. Somebody from Tennessee told him about Green Hay’s and he call a friend in Nashville to investigate. “We had the chain, and it cost him fifty dollars to do all that calling around though,” stated Mr. Hay.

R. G. Hay Livery, Feed and Sale Stable - Eagleville

Mr. Tom Floyd, Mr. Hay’s nephew by marriage helped him in the store. Mr. Floyd stated in the newspaper article “during the war we sold half a dozen sets of buggy harness, but haven’t moved any of them in 20 years, but we have them”. He stated that Mr. Hay’s idea is that if he doesn’t have it, he’ll get it for you and then keep it in stock on the theory that somebody else might want it too.

I’m sure there are many, many items sold in Little Green Hay’s Big Hardware Store that aren’t used in the present day but I’m also sure there are items bought in this store that are still being used in Eagleville and surrounding communities homes today.