Miller’s Ice Cream House

New Owners, Anthony & Allex Dobbs

~ story and photos by Jeff Tryon

When Anthony Dobbs decided to follow in the footsteps of his Nashville shop-owning family, he reached back to one of the most pleasant memories of his youth—and he bought an ice cream shop.

And not just any ice cream shop, but the venerable Miller’s Ice Cream House, which has been serving home-made ice cream from its location on South Main Street, at the Village Green Building, since 1977.

The motto down at Miller’s Ice Cream House is “Yes, we really do make it ourselves!”

“We make the waffle cones fresh every day,” Dobbs said. “The smell is overwhelming. A lot of times people come in because they smell that wonderful smell of fresh-made waffle cones.”

And it isn’t just the cones—all of Miller’s Ice Cream House’s sixteen flavors are made in a back room of the store in wooden tub freezers with rock salt, ice, and flavorings.

“We still make everything just the way that it’s always been made here, with quality ingredients, just the way you would make it at home in an old- fashioned wooden ice cream freezer, except on a much larger scale,” Dobbs said.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Regular menu flavors include many nature or Brown County-inspired tastes like blackberry, persimmon, sassafras, black walnut, maple nut, and pumpkin. There’s also a flavor called “brown county campfire,” which mimics that classic camping treat, s’mores.

Along with the store, the Dobbs’ obtained all of the recipes from nearly 50 years of the ice cream trade in Nashville. Of those, about a dozen are permanent, and the rest can rotate through by season or whim.

Surprisingly, the number one seller of all the flavors is the classic vanilla. Another current favorite is apple butter ice cream, made with apple butter from a neighboring shop, The Harvest Preserve.

Dobbs said that along with his life-long favorite flavor, cookie dough cream, he is also partial to the blueberry custard flavor.

Owning a shop in Nashville must be in the genetic code for Dobbs, whose grandmother, Gloria, owned Pit Bull Leather for years. He grew up around his father

Mike Dobbs’ Little Rascals Toy Shop, just across the street from the ice cream shop.

“I learned how to run a cash register before I was ten years old,” he said. “I remember when I was a kid, coming over here to get an ice cream cone.”

“Cookie dough cream, still my favorite!”

Dobbs and his wife, Allex, stay on top of things day-to-day, but when summer heat brings in hordes of tourists seeking the sweet, cold concoction, as many as seven people are called upon to dip the tasty treats into the shop’s signature homemade waffle cones.

“We are hiring,” he said.

Sometimes those crowds lead to long lines and a bit of a wait for the ultimate summer treat, but, Dobbs assures, “It’s worth the wait.”

On sultry summer days, the cool, air-conditioned parlor is welcome and inviting. Happy families crowd around the old-fashioned ice cream parlor chairs and tables. In the lobby, a player piano plinks out old familiar tunes.

In addition to the classic cone, Miller’s offers sundaes, including brownie fudge, banana split, caramel apple, tin roof, turtle, strawberry, Oreo heaven and “choco-holic heaven.” Also, a waffle cone sundae and a “teeny tiny sundae.”

Dobbs, 25, graduated from Brown County High School in 2016, and has been running the shop with his wife for about three years.

He said he is grateful to Alan Miller and the Miller family for the great opportunity to buy the town’s most established ice cream shop.

While the shop consumes a lot of his time, in his spare time he does the yardwork and upkeep on the couple’s home just outside of town.

Of course, the ice cream trade tends to be a seasonal business. When the summer temperatures are scorching, the air-conditioned ice cream shop is packed with visitors. But during late December to mid-March, the store is closed, and the Dobbs get an opportunity to vacation or just have some time off.

If you are feeling the completely understandable urge to experience for yourself the delight of old-fashioned, home-made ice cream, you need look no further than the giant ice cream cone hanging from the corner of the Village Green Building at 61 West Main Street.

There, just as it has been for nearly 50 years, you will find this classic summer treat, made just as it always was.

Miller’s Ice Cream House is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 6 p.m. on Friday’s.