Lavender Country: A vibe that’s worth the drive
At Little Mount Lavender, about a mile off the outlet mall exit in Simpsonville, Kentucky, both owners, both named Jason, own what they say is the largest year-round lavender store on the Eastern seaboard.
Both Jasons are also in love: Jason Woodlief married Jason Walker, who subsequently became Walker-Woodlief, in 2014, with an officiant and a wit- ness in New York City, a year before the Supreme Court legalized same- sex marriage. Three years later, the couple bought property in Taylorsville, moved their horses and their dog Hank out of South Carolina, where Woodlief grew up, and started planting what would become ten thousand plants of Lavandula intermedia Phenomenal, a French lavender hybrid.
“Neither of us knew anything about lavender,” said Walker-Woodlief, over coffee and sweet tea in the store’s cafe. But they started researching a long- term, alternative crop. At first they just sold directly from their fields, tying the lavender into bundles and hanging them from their barn ceiling along tobacco sticks. But then, he said,“It got out of control.”
photo by Anthony Munger
“I made him rent the store before the lavender was even blooming yet,” said Woodlief. The store was 300-square-feet in Shelbyville.
Quickly outgrowing the space, they expanded into a downtown store- front over tenfold the size of their original shop, adding a bakery (Walker-Woodlief is a trained pastry chef) and a manufacturing hub for their mind-numbing supply of lavender merch. They produced lotions, soaps, candles, teas, diffusers, and then packaged it all together into gift sets.
“Loyalty was key,” said Woodlief of their customers. His husband, wearing trademark overalls, filmed videos of the farm and the lavender to engage with them.“They became committed to us because we were so involved.”
Woodlief and Walker-Woodlief chose lavender because it was a perennial, it was hardy, and it had an ever-expanding array of uses. Lavender has been used for its medical properties since the middle ages – with its antibacterial, antifungal, and antimicrobial properties, lavender is a common ingredient in herbal medicines, along with cosmetics, food, and aromatherapy.
With all the merchandising potential, their nascent business stretched further. In 2021, they moved the shop about seven miles west on Shelbyville Road and into the Old Stone Inn, an 1811 renovated tavern that takes the mantle as the oldest stone residence in Shelby County.
Before they took it over, the building, most recently a restaurant, was abandoned like in an apocalypse movie. Food soured in the kitchen. Squirrels left nuts on the staircases. The spouses used 75 gallons of white paint to rehab the space, hired ten associates, and turned the upstairs rooms into production. They’d previously visited lavender shops in California, and Woodlief thought, “We can do as good or better,” than those shops.
Now, with faux-crystal chandeliers, clean walls, and gleaming wood floors,Walker said the vibe of the shop was “French glitter.” Woodlief, who got his start at Walmart and Amazon, continued expanding the store as he discovered more products. Now, the Old Stone Inn, with its astronomical amount of lavender and lavender-adjacent products, is sort of like a Bucee’s, but more purple and more gay (and closer to Louisville than Lexington). In a commercial, Walker-Woodlief calls his store,“A vibe that’s worth the drive.”
That vibe appears the minute I walk through the shop’s front door where a 40-foot lavender carpet unrolls. Along the hallway are bamboo charcoal toothbrushes, bamboo soap dishes, all-natural hand towels, wool dryer balls, and organic bath bombs. Through a doorway, there is an entire wall of soy candles and another of eco-friendly dishcloths. There are long-stemmed matches with lilac tips, lavender sachets, bundles of dried lavender, soft fleece lavender throws, and lavender silicone pot lids. In another of the shop’s five rooms, there are throw pillows, oven mitts, aprons, and mugs. There are wheat straw dining sets, car cup holder coasters and car cup holder coaster sets. There are wooden bow ties and there are shelves upon shelves of crystals. Some crystals advertise forgiveness while others are “all about opening your Heart and mind to your True Self!”
At the back, there is a bakery, and in the bakery are fresh-baked French baguettes, lavender creme brûlée and lavender lemon cake, lavender dark chocolate cookies and lavender coconut cookies. There is lavender-infused olive oil, lavender-infused balsamic vinegar, and lavender-based seasoning mixes.
Outside the cafe, where comfort food like soup, pasta, and shepherd’s pie is served, are twelve rows of lavender in a sloping lawn bordering the roadside. Here, school groups visit, as do local churches and community groups. Beyond their wares, another vibe is different in Simpsonville than in Shelbyville, says the husbands. In Shelbyville, four months after opening, they were interviewed for an article in the town’s local paper, The Sentinel-News. Before it ran, the paper mentioned it would leave out the detail that Woodlief and Walker-Woodlief were married.
“Then don’t print the story,” Walker-Woodlief told them.While he said he felt the editor was trying to be sensitive to both his readership and their business, Walker-Woodlief said that if their identity bothered a potential customer, “They were probably not our customer.” The reporter added their marriage back into the story, and came to the store in person to apologize.
The couple said their sexuality never seemed to be a problem in either town, but since opening, the shop has typically been a place for women to come meet friends, says Woodlief. Around 11a.m., two women come giggling into the cafe, one in a light purple cardigan, and they order cocktails in lavender hues.While they sit chatting in the corner of the cafe, Walker-Woodlief notes that this is their typical customer – female and over 40. But lately, they’ve noticed more women bringing their husbands and boyfriends.
“Self-care is more normalized, and it’s trendier for men to take care of them- selves,” says Walker-Wood- lief. So their product line is moving towards wellness.
They experiment at home with new ideas before sell- ing items in the store. Right now, they’re beta testing face masks and snail mucin, a moisturizer made from the tiny slime trails of tiny snails.Their shop, he adds, and how the couple interacts with their community, is part of breaking the hard habit of toxic masculinity.
After the coffee, back in my car, I couldn’t help but play the title track of the 1973 album Lavender Country, what’s widely considered the first openly gay country album. As I pulled out of the parking lot, on the title track, singer-song- writer Patrick Haggerty crooned,
“There’s nothing left but holes In your weary sexist roles…
You all come out, come out, my dears To Lavender Country”
So, come out: Little Mount Lavender is open Monday through Saturday from 10am-6pm, with lunch served in the cafe from 10am-4pm.
Little Mount Lavender 6905 Shelbyville Rd, Simpsonville, KY
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