Cameron Stone installing the new floor joists at the former Hobnob Corner Restaurant building. photo by Jack E. Harden
Change at the Corner of Main
~ by Bob Gustin
If all goes according to plan, later this summer a new restaurant will open in the heart of Nashville at 17 W. Main St., a location known for almost 50 years as the Hobnob Corner.
It will be a combination of the old and the new: Painstaking effort to preserve the history of the building while making it a safe and modern operation, and a fresh approach to serving patrons, something the new restaurant owners call“ elevated comfort food.”
Tyra and Lance Miller tentatively plan to call it Bird’ s Nest on Main, expanding on the theme of their current Nashville restaurant on Franklin Street, but with a“ diner vibe,” including a soda fountain and a lunch counter. The Millers call it“ progress through preservation.”“ The historic building takes the forefront,” Lance 16 Our Brown County May / June 2026 said,“ and we work with it and around it.”
Tyra said the new restaurant will have most of the dishes now offered at the Franklin Street location, with the addition of a lunch counter menu and soda fountain options, and more desserts. An old general store bakery case from the early 1900s might be added near the front door.
While there is no firm opening date for the Main Street location, the Millers estimate work on it is about 50 percent done, and they hope to open it this summer.
Renovation of the oldest commercial building in Brown County – once a general store, then a pharmacy, and later the Hobnob Corner Restaurant – has been going on since the restaurant closed in November 2025.