Billy Tripp's Mindfield

Brownsville, Tennessee, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A large metal sculpture by artist Billy Tripp in Brownsville, Tennessee, begun in 1989 from beams of a burned auto parts store. A September 2026 Daily Memphian caption gives its height as 127 feet.

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Billy Tripp's Mindfield

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Approximate location · 35.594° N, 89.263° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Billy Tripp has been welding the Mindfield since 1989, and Tennessee Home and Farm says he plans to keep adding to it.

According to Haywood County’s tourism site, the work began when a local auto parts store burned down and Tripp, already a welder, painter, sculptor and wood carver, saw the potential in the remaining beams. It now includes a water tower, the frame of a drive-in movie screen, tank treads and a tugboat. Tennessee Home and Farm says the water tower came from a defunct factory in Kentucky. A silver canoe hung high in the structure was donated by the author William Least Heat-Moon, who had corresponded with Tripp for some years.

Tripp told the county site that he developed several themes as he went, first “an outdoor church”, and that the structure holds memorials to his parents, with a dedication to his family worked into it. He has said he plans to be buried there.

Sizes are reported differently: Tennessee Home and Farm gives about an acre and 125 feet at the highest point; a Daily Memphian caption of September 2026 gives 127 feet; Roadside America reported 130 feet in 2012. Haywood County calls it America’s largest metal sculpture, and Tennessee Home and Farm calls it the largest outdoor sculpture in Tennessee; both are the outlets’ own claims.

It stands between two local businesses, according to the Daily Memphian, Roadside America noted a fence and viewing from the street in 2012, and a 2024 blog said the structure could be seen only from the parking lot.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A tall structure of salvaged steel with a water tower, canoe and drive-in screen frame, beside working businesses. Roadside America (2012) noted a fence and viewing from the street, and a 2024 blog said it could be seen only from the parking lot.

ACCESS

In Brownsville, Tennessee, just outside the town square, between two local businesses. Roadside America (2012) noted a fence and viewing from the street; a 2024 blog said it could be seen only from the parking lot.

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