Episode 3738

- [Presenter] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made in Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at tntrailsandbyways.com.

- [Phil] I'm Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. Here in Cookeville, Tennessee's college town, we are bold, fearless, confident, and kind. Tech prepares students for careers by making everyone's experience personal. We call that living with wings up. Learn more at tntech.edu.

- [Presenter] Amazon, a proud supporter of programming on public television. Amazon focuses on building long-term programs that have a lasting impact in communities where employees live and work. More at aboutamazon.com.

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads", we'll visit a shop that's bringing gourmet pastries to downtown Franklin. Then travel to Woodbury to meet a nationally known horse trainer. We'll explore an unpretentious Memphis restaurant serving unparalleled steaks, and finally flashback to a trip we made to Big South Fork and the town of Rugby. All that on this edition of "Tennessee Crossroads," everyone. I'm Joe Elmore. Welcome. Our first story will be a treat in more ways than one. You see, it involves a popular bakery, and it marks the debut of our newest "Crossroads" crew member, Vicki Yates. Now, Vicki stopped at the Triple Crown Bakery in Franklin recently, and submits this story that's custom made for folks with a sweet tooth.

- [Vicki] The first sound you hear when you enter Triple Crown Bakery is the whirring of mixers. But the first aromas you smell are freshly baked pastries. On this early morning, two of the 29 ladies who happily work here at Triple Crown are preparing for the day. Taking goodies out of the oven, icing and decorating them for the soon to arrive morning rush.

- What can I get for you?

- [Vicki] Triple Crown Bakery is the brainchild of renowned pastry chef, Alena Vaughn, who is inspired to name and celebrate her business after one of the other loves of her life.

- So Triple Crown is the best of three races, and so I grew up loving horses and riding horses, and I kind of had an epiphany when I was working at a horse ranch to go to pastry school. So I kinda wanted to infiltrate the love for horses into the bakery, and so Triple Crown's the best of three, so I figured, well, we do cookies, cakes, and pastries so I'd like to say, you know, we do the best of those three.

- [Vicki] Something else Elena does very well is create atmosphere.

- Because we're in downtown Franklin, I wanted it to be, you know, homey and inviting. It definitely has a we call it grandma chic vibe to it. I'm a maximalist so I like lots of stuff around me. I collect lots of things, obviously plates, and pie servers, and little, you know, tea holders.

- [Vicki] As important as the cakes, muffins, and croissants are to customers, they're complimented by the tea room. Many customers reserve a table to enjoy high tea there.

- [Alena] Well, it's becoming really popular. We do what we call a casual tea service. So you get the pot of tea, you get the cup, we serve it with a little cookie on the side. You can get it for one or for two, and if you don't like tea, we have a coffee service, a French press service. We also have a hot chocolate service, so that's fun for the kids and people who just like homemade hot chocolate.

- [Vicki] Even though Alena admits she could use a little more room, especially for those times when the tasting room is booked, she loves the greenhouse location at 118th Fourth Avenue North in downtown Franklin. It's the former home of John M. Green who purchased the location back in the '60s. His daughter, Leonora Green-Clipper, is a steady supporter of this now sweet spot.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much.

- Have a good one.

- You too.

- My father, John M. Green, bought this house in 1962. He paid $16,500 for it. It was owner occupied dwelling. It was just a house at that period of time. He had rented a space on Main Street and they'd gone up on his rent, so he decided to buy this. He rented the back part as a house and ran his insurance business in the front for several years, and then went into real estate also.

- [Vicki] But when Triple Crown began to expand its original business, Leonora thought this house would serve the purpose being a perfect location for a unique bakery. And she was right.

- [Leonora] I feel like it's so important when you have a property like this to think about who you're going to rent it to. It can't all just be lawyers and offices if we wanna keep our downtown vibrant.

- [Vicki] And Triple Crown, which opens its doors Tuesday through Sunday, certainly attracts a steady crowd.

- Great. Here you are. And the forks are right there.

- And even though there are croissants as big as your head, and cinnamon rolls that will have you roll in your eyes with delight, there's something here for everyone. From gluten-free to dairy-free. Okay Alena, say, I wanna go whole hog and wanna eat. What should I get?

- I mean, I would get this brioche cinnamon roll. It's all butter.

- Oh my gosh. But now if I'm watching my weight, where do I go?

- I would maybe choose one of our homemade macaroons. Those are light, and airy, and naturally gluten-free, and then I would maybe stick with our pavlova, which is a baked meringue with whipped cream and berries, also naturally gluten-free.

- And all of it great.

- Oh, absolutely.

- [Vicki] After all, Alena Vaughn has baked for the best, including cooking icon, Julia Child.

- A couple times I got to cook in for Julia Child. My previous boss, Zov Karamardian, she was really good friends with Julia and we would do a lot of benefits for the James Beard Foundation, which Julia really loved to support. She was the best woman. You know, everything you ever wish she would be.

- [Vicki] Stop by on the weekend and you might see a popup or two on the premises.

- So I like to encourage other women who have budding businesses because I was there as well, you know, hitting the farmer's market circuits and stuff. So I encourage my friends or friends of friends to have a little popup in our yard. We have this beautiful garden space, and it's perfect location for somebody to just, you know, on a Saturday, sell their goods, and it's really fun. The customers love it.

- [Vicki] And what's the future wish for this already successful business?

- I see us maybe having a separate event space, tea space. I do flirt with the thought of doing some mail order stuff, maybe some like boxes that come once a month with goodies in it, a subscription service of sorts. I envision us just staying strong, and in this business, we see a lot of people that aren't making it lately, and I just hope and pray that we do.

- Thanks, Vicki. Horses are a big business in Tennessee, and so is training them. In our next story, Laura Favor travels to Woodbury to meet Elizabeth Keithley. Now, she's a lady who just happens to be one of the top equestrian trainers in the whole country.

- [Laura] In the heart of Woodbury, Tennessee, on a 135 acre farm is where you can find an internationally acclaimed driving center, but it has nothing to do with automobiles and everything to do with horses and an equestrian sport called carriage driving. Since 1987, Valhalla Farm has been home to Elizabeth Keithley and her family. Keithley is world-renowned in the horse world.

- I'm very lucky. It's a passion. It's a passion that I guess has grown into my gift.

- [Laura] Elizabeth Keithley is a professional trainer for carriage horses and their drivers. All she ever wanted to be was the horse girl.

- I went to Middle Tennessee State University. I entered into the horse science program, but to be a hundred percent honest, school was very difficult for me, and I remember coming back home one afternoon and I asked my parents and begged and pleaded with my parents actually, if I could just make it in the horse world, that I would do everything I could.

- [Coach] Go, Elizabeth!

- I used to be a rider. I did the hunter jumpers and I loved it. The horse is actually just what's always kept me going. So I have been going ever since. There we go.

- [Laura] On this day, Elizabeth is working with two clients getting ready to compete in the Middle Tennessee Carriage Driving Club Derby. Brenda Rocker is from College Grove, and competes with the stunning 15-year-old Morgan named Bunny. The perfect age for a carriage pony. Carol Grimsley of Chattanooga drives a pair of Welsh ponies named Max and Lucas.

- She's wonderful with horses, but she's better with me than anyone I've ever worked with.

- [Laura] She's been training with Elizabeth for five years. This form of driving takes tremendous skill and strength. The horses are absolutely athletes.

- [Elizabeth] With a good driving horse, you want a good brain, you want a good heart. It doesn't have to be the fanciest horse.

- [Laura] Elizabeth is getting Brenda and Bunny ready to compete in the pleasure ring. Carol and her ponies are training for a driving event. There are three phases in combined driving. Dressage, cross country marathon, and an obstacle cone course. This sport is similar to figure skating in that it's all about form and style.

- [Elizabeth] Good boy.

- [Laura] And sometimes, speed.

- The marathon course is similar to roads and tracks. So we have a particular distance that we have to do, and it's all timed. So you get penalized if you come in too early and get penalized if you come in too late. So there's an actual time window that you want to come into. And then some of your bigger shows, you'll have like a section A, and then you'll have a walk section, and then you'll have section B, and that's where the obstacles come into play. So not only do we have our overall time that we have to finish, but then we have our obstacles. You do not have to make the turn. I enjoy the training aspect, but I really love going to the show to see how my training's working out 'cause going to a horse show, you'll find out your flaws.

- [Laura] Elizabeth is no stranger to competition herself. Carriage driving in internationally recognized equestrian sports since 1970 basically changed her life. Rows and rows of ribbons in her carriage house speak volumes about how successful she was, but it was one horse and one cone competition that made her a national champion.

- I've had my mare bred when I've raised a couple of babies, and I've been very lucky. I have a pony in the barn rolling with Bay Knot that I have taken as a foal all the way to the advanced level. There's nothing more rewarding. That particular pony was in my pair and we made the Reserve National Championship with a pony that I raised. That's the passion.

- Everything about this sport is special. From the connection between driver and horse, the costumes worn in competition, to the carriages themselves. In Elizabeth's 30 year career of competitive carriage driving, she has accumulated a museum's worth of carriages. In fact, this one was the very first carriage she competed in in 1991. Elizabeth's dad also competed. He used to use this carriage from 1890. A Hackney show cart. What made Elizabeth the fierce competitor has also made her a world-class horse and driver trainer in an industry dominated by men. She has an extraordinary ability to connect with these animals.

- Every horse will teach you. I'm shy by nature and the horses, they can speak to you if you just kinda stop and listen, and I felt like I understood the horse because they speak to you in different ways.

- [Laura] Whatever language Elizabeth and her horses speak, it's working. Both of her clients, Brenda and Carol, went on to have a successful competition after their training with Elizabeth. Brenda and Bunny placed third in their event. Carol and her ponies, Max and Lucas, won their class and were named overall preliminary champion.

- [Elizabeth] I have no plans to retire. I absolutely love what I do. I am loving right now taking care of my students and their horses. This is something that I wanted, this is something that I picked, I worked hard for. This is what I do, this is all I know, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

- [Laura] Just a girl with a gift. Elizabeth Keithley is the horse girl.

- Thank you, Laura. Now, when you're hungry for a good steak, there seems to be a lot of high-end options these days. Some that might require a second mortgage on your home. Well, fear not. Danielle Allen found an unpretentious spot in Memphis that serves juicy steaks in a relaxed setting. It's called the Side Porch Steakhouse.

- [Danielle] The Mid-South may be known for its barbecue, but where do you go for a juicy steak? You head to the heart of Bartlett and stop at the Side Porch Steakhouse.

- This is a steakhouse that is not too fancy, not too casual. You can come however you want, and we've got a great variety of steaks using the same recipes that we've been using, they've been using since 1976 since it opened. And it's just a good place to be.

- [Danielle] If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Side Porch Steakhouse, it's the business manager, Emily Cook. She says the friendly atmosphere keeps people coming back, and of course, the menu does too.

- [Emily] Our grilled chicken breast is really good, and you can get that plain or with bacon and cheese 'cause bacon and cheese makes everything better. We have pork chops, and we have fried and grilled shrimp, we have salmon, and Mahi-mahi.

- [Danielle] And the steaks, well, there's a secret ingredient for that.

- [Emily] We have a proprietary marinade that we put on our steaks, and our chicken, and our pork chops, but people really love it and we get asked for the recipe a lot and we don't share.

- Of course, everyone comes here for the steaks, but that's not the only reason they're walking through the door. It's also the croutons.

- [Emily] It's not a hard crispy crouton like you'd have in a salad. It's about this big. It's a slice of a roll, and they're toasted with butter and garlic salt and they're pretty tasty.

- [Danielle] And who's responsible for this yummy goodness? That would be Mr. Gary, also known as the Crouton King. He makes sure every batch is just as mouthwatering as the last one.

- What I rub 'em down with, you know, it's a mixture of butter and garlic powder, and I have to cut these here at a certain length, or should I say size, because we want them to be about like that. We don't want 'em to be huge or too small. They ready to go in the oven. About eight minutes and that's it. That's Side Porch croutons.

- [Danielle] With beloved items like the croutons, the Side Porch Steakhouse stays busy, but Emily doesn't manage it alone. She owns the business with five others. They're all friends who raise their kids together, and they're all passionate about the restaurant. That's why they jumped into action when they found out it was closing in 2021.

- [Emily] It happened kind of in a strange way. One of the owners texted out that, "Gosh, you know, I'd really love to buy Side Porch. I hear that it's for sale." And then another couple said, "How much?" And another one said, "Are you serious?" And within a week, they had walked through and we I guess made an offer on it pretty fast, and it was just to save it. This is an icon in Bartlett, and it's a special thing to the people of Bartlett, and we wanted to save it.

- [Danielle] The first step was buying the Side Porch Steak House. Next, it was time for renovations. The group did extensive work to the building while also honoring its long history.

- The house was actually built as a single family residence in 1936 and it went through lots of owners, but at one point, the telegraph operator lived here and this was the telegraph office. And the mayor was here with his family for a while, and it converted from a single family residence to Side Porch in 1976.

- [Danielle] When the restaurant reopened with the new look and the same cherished menu, the community was overjoyed, including Rebecca Lane. This was her family's home when she was a child.

- Oh, my mother, my mother would be shocked to know that there is a bar in our house. Where the bar is was my sister's and I's bedroom. We had two twin beds and a little half bath up there, and then the side porch was not there. It was a carport.

- [Danielle] But no matter the changes over the years, the feeling remains the same.

- I tell you, I was so thrilled that they... Of course it was, you know, someone else owned it before. This group bought it, but I was so thrilled that they didn't tear it down. I mean, it's just my home. I'm sorry. It really means a lot to me, yeah.

- [Emily] We've been humbled by the community supporting us and continuing to come out. We have customers who are here every week, and it's been fun to do it and to do this business with our friends, and we really have a community atmosphere here and it's just been nice to continue the legacy.

- Thanks, Danielle. Well finally, we're gonna flash back about 30 years with a "Crossroads" combo of nature and history. First, a visit to Big South Fork, and then to the once utopian town of Rugby.

- [Joe] This is a lesser known treasure of the famous Cumberland Plateau. Big South Fork river and recreation area covers more than 120,000 acres just northeast of Jamestown. It's a wilderness wonderland, whether you hike it or see it on horseback. I decided to see a popular portion of it by foot, and chief interpreter, Steve Seven, volunteered to be the guide. There are 150 miles of hiking trails in the area. They range from one mile to 50 miles, so you can make a few hours of it or spend several days. Now, it's only a short height to the twin arches in Big South Fork with a big payoff once you arrive. It's a spectacular creation of natural erosion, and well worth the short hike it takes to see it.

- This is one of the two twin arches and, you know, it's seven tenths of a mile in. It's such an easy hike and so spectacular to look at. It's hard to rate what's the prettiest thing in the park, but this would have to be up in the top one or two. The big boulders laying around here, or for that matter, even the sand that we're standing on used to be part of the rocks that formed the bluff here. And as they fell, the arch got bigger and bigger and bigger.

- [Joe] While the North Arch is about 62 feet tall, the South Arch reaches 102 feet at one point. There's even a small passageway in the middle of this one that we found irresistible.

- Can watch the ranger trip and fall as it comes over too.

- Tight squeeze in there. As we continue on, we head to the bottom of the hill and the conclusion of this 1.8 mile trail. Well, here we are at the bottom of the valley in the end of the trail in a place called Charit Creek Lodge. Now it's only accessible by hiking or horseback so if you're looking for peace and quiet, this is your kind of place. Charit Creek Lodge was first a homestead in the early 1800s, and later, a hunting camp. It became a full service rustic lodge a few years ago. Of course, there's no electricity even in the dining area, but you can take a warm shower thanks to solar heating. Manager Tim Lyon says the new lodge is attracting a broad range of visitors.

- Basically, they hike in or ride horseback in, and we serve dinner the night they get here and breakfast the next morning, and then they can enjoy the trails or do whatever they like to do. We have volleyball and horseshoes. I think it appeals to a lot of different people that just wanna get away for a day or two, and get out the city, and get out on the trails.

- [Joe] At the southern edge of Big South Fork, you can visit Victorian England in the Tennessee Cumberlands. Historic Rugby has been called one of the most authentically preserved old villages in America. Now, as you may know, Rugby was founded by British author and statesman Thomas Hughes in 1880. His dream was a cooperative class-free society built by young British gentry. A community built with hard work and high religious standards. His plan failed, but the remains offer a fascinating journey back into time for visitors. Eileen Hurt is director of education.

- To me, it's a wonderful slice of Tennessee history. That's what's so interesting. And to learn about planned communities of lots of them in the 19th century, and just get an understanding of how people did want to plan and get a different kind of life.

- Nowadays, you can spend the night where colonists stayed in the restored Newbury house, or in the same pioneer cottage where Thomas Hughes spent his first night in Rugby back in 1880. See you there, mate. So whether you take in a English adventure here in historic Rugby, or something more rugged and American north of here, the big South Fork area is a Tennessee retreat full of interesting sight and surprises.

- Well, that was fun, but here back in the present day, it's time to say goodbye after a reminder to check in on our website from time to time. Tennesseecrossroads.org, a place where you can download that PBS app. We'll see you next week.

- [Presenter] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made in Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at tntrailsandbyways.com.

- [Phil] I'm Tennessee tech President Phil Oldham. Here in Cookeville, Tennessee's college town, we are bold, fearless, confident, and kind. Tech prepares students for careers by making everyone's experience personal. We call that living with wings up. Learn more at tntech.edu.

- [Presenter] Amazon, a proud supporter of programming on public television. Amazon focuses on building long-term programs that have a lasting impact in communities where employees live and work. More at aboutamazon.com.