Episode 3804

- "[Narrator] Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by.

- [Announcer] Over the years, some of our biggest winners actually have been in the classroom. The Tennessee Lottery proud to have awarded more than 2 million scholarships and grants. Now, that's some game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Narrator] 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. 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 week on "Tennessee Crossroads," we'll dine at an English deli on this side of the pond. We commune with our fine feathered friends at an east Tennessee bird park. We pay homage to brave soldiers in Chattanooga. And we'll tell you about a new way to enjoy "Crossroads," my favorite show. Hi, I'm Vicki Yates and we're glad you are here. Thanks to delicacies like haggis and jellied eels, British foods sometimes gets a bad rap, but a couple of Cheatham County women are working to change that. Laura Faber and our crew ventured out to jolly ol' Kingston Springs for some proper tea and crumpets and more.

- [Laura] Who knew that on a strip of land along Highway 70 in Cheatham County a bit of British magic can be found.

- [Genevieve] Fully dressed scones. And these are the traditional ones, and we only serve them with butter, jam and clotted cream because that's the best way.

- [Laura] This is The Yorkshire Deli on property called the Land, alongside roosters and hens and other businesses, and roosters and hens.

- [Genevieve] You eat with your eyes first.

- [Laura] Genevieve Neace and Lesley Mortimer-Wallace are the owners of The Yorkshire Deli, a deli that specializes in proper British food.

- [Genevieve] Everywhere you look, everything you taste, we've put every bit of our heart and soul into that one thing.

- [Lesley] True.

- [Laura] their life journey started back in 2010 when they both worked in the music industry on tour with "Guns and Roses."

- I was production assistant, so I mostly took care of the crew, getting everybody where they need go.

- Logistics.

- Yeah, logistics basically. And just taking care of the guys on the road.

- Yeah, she was mom for the crew and I was mom for the band. And so my role was more wardrobe and hospitality dressing rooms. And so all the rider stuff like the blue M&Ms only, and that kind of stuff, like that's real.

- It's a thing.

- It's a thing.

- [Laura] When Covid hit and the industry shut down, Lesley bought this property now called the Land with visions of a special destination.

- [Genevieve] She wrote me, "Do you wanna come and help me run a deli?" And I wrote back, "Yep," and that was it. And I packed my bags and moved down.

- [Lesley] We had that bond from back in 2010. Like, our energy is the same. Like, you know, we want everything to be shiny and sparkly and magical and all the things and the attention to detail of this place. We just complete each other's like-

- Sentences.

- Yeah.

- We always joke that we're the same.

- [Laura] Now, The Yorkshire Deli serves food that tastes like nostalgia for both women.

- [Lesley] British food has such a bad rap. Did.

- [Genevieve] It totally does, yeah.

- [Lesley] Did. I think the "Bake Off" show, I think "The Great British Bake Off" show has given it like a bit more street cred.

- [Genevieve] Yeah.

- [Lesley] But then Genevieve's like literally in this cupboard behind us, like as a family have kept, like they have their own family recipe book, which I don't know, like that just blew me away. Like, maybe that's more of a common thing here, but that like brings tears because we are literally using all of Genevieve's family recipes for different things like her dad's quiche.

- [Genevieve] Yeah.

- Different spreads that we do.

- It feels good to tell my family like, "We're sold out of all of your stuff."

- Yeah. Hi, Mike. Thanks for coming.

- [Laura] Open Friday through Sunday, 10:00 to 2:00, they've been gobsmacked at the response to British food, hence the line out the door. And they sell out of most things most days.

- [Genevieve] We do find ourself explaining things because people are like, "What's coronation chicken?" And, you know, "What's a fully dressed scone?" And we have to explain all those things too. But that's kind of fun and magical in its own way.

- [Lesley] The menu is seasonal. You know, I sort of always say that we're farm to table meets British tea room. We do have about 60 hens on property, so we always have a lot of egg dishes. Genny brings like some southern comfort to the menu. So there's something for everyone. We import the British sausage and the British bacon, which is completely different from American style. That's probably our number one question.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, like, what's a banger?

- [Laura] That would be a British sausage.

- [Genevieve] Sausage rolls sellout a lot.

- [Lesley] Sausage rolls, yeah, the number one seller.

- Another thing you can enjoy here at The Yorkshire Deli is a traditional, proper afternoon British tea service. Thank you, Allison. Thank you, Carina. Okay, what do we have? A three-level tower of goodness.

- [Allison] Yes, so on the bottom I have a chicken coronation, then I have an egg and watercress. And then over here I have a common cheddar and tomato sandwich. The quiche is a bacon and cheddar quiche, and it is Genny's family recipe. Then on the very top we have a traditional English scone that's sandwiched with butter, jam, and clotted cream.

- Yum. Cheers. With Union Jack hanging above their heads and magnets from their world travels all over the walls, they operate in a tiny kitchen with a 1950s oven. The rest, whimsy and all things British. Dining happens outside year round. Blankets and campfires keep you cozy. It is easy to appreciate the authenticity.

- I'm half English, so it was just, I was blown away actually how good it was. Oh yeah, the best crumpets I've had in the US at least.

- But I drink tea maybe four or five times a day. But this is a nice treat. It feels like, apart from the traffic noise, and the American accents, it feels like we're in a British pub garden.

- [Genevieve] And that's so important for us is that everybody feels like they had the magical experience, because if you're gonna drive all the way out here, like every single thing needs to be special.

- [Laura] Genevieve and Lesley are amazed and proud of what they've created.

- [Genevieve] The thing that makes me emotional the most is we have all girls on our team. So we have like showed these girls how to do these, what we have spent our whole lifetimes learning, all those little attention to details. And watching them shine, watching them get involved to feel like they can add their creativity to it, and with all that magic, it makes us like even more magical.

- [Lesley] Spending that time with my best friend, with like other friends that, you know, like we hired these people because we needed the help, but truly they have become that comradeship, and that I've only ever felt that comradeship on the road.

- Thank you, Laura. We all know that Tennessee is very popular with tourists as a hot vacation spot. Well, in our next story, Miranda Cohen explains that people aren't the only visitors who are flocking to the Volunteer State year after year, as she found out at the Seven Islands State Birding Park.

- [Miranda] For Clare Dattilo and Stephanie Mueller, their days start early, their morning commute is quite spectacular, and their office is all 416 glorious acres of the Seven Islands State Birding Park. In her third year as a park ranger, Stephanie Mueller is still in awe of her workplace.

- I love that every day is different out here. I come to work, and I don't know 100% how my day is going to go. I love that expect the unexpected kind of thing.

- [Miranda] But what Mueller and the parks interpretive specialist Clare Dattilo have come to expect is people flocking from all over the country to see the magnificent wildlife that call this glorious forest at the foot of the Smokies home, in particular the birds.

- [Clare] So we're the only state birding park with that in our title.

- [Miranda] Sure, you can watch our feathered friends at other places, but the Seven Islands Estate Birding Park is the only park with birding actually in their name. And you would be hard pressed to find more beautiful species all in one location.

- There have been over 220 species found in the park. It's because we have different habitats for different types of birds.

- [Miranda] Land and structures once owned by private families and used for farming, now, they have all been donated, and they are all being put to very good use.

- We have three barns that are original to the farmland that was here. We have the bluebird barn at the entrance to the park, and the maintenance barn, which is also known as the swallows of the window barn, and then the maple leaf barn at the end of the road. They're all named after the barn quilts that are on them. The birds do use them though. We're one of the few places in Knox County that you can somewhat regularly see barn owls in the barn.

- [Miranda] Don't be surprised if you see five types of owls, bobwhite quails, even endangered gray bats, plus many others.

- [Clare] We have woodland areas, we have the grassland areas, we have wetlands, we have the river. And so you can just see a good variety. Most of our park focuses on grassland habitat and ground nesting birds. And that's because the ground nesting birds are some of the most quickly declining species in North America.

- [Miranda] Today is a special day for the rangers, staff, and volunteers. They call it bird banding.

- [Ranger] 3-6-5-2.

- [Clare] And we do bird banding out here spring through fall for the most part. And we basically catch the birds in mist net. So they're a really fine mesh soft net that the birds fly into.

- [Miranda] A tiny metal band will be placed around the bird's leg and they will be carefully examined to determine health and migratory habits.

- [Stephanie] This is a male indigo bunting. Very pretty iridescent feathers.

- [Clare] We take measurements on their wing, their tails length, their weight. We determine whether it's a male or a female, and we determine how old the birds are based on their molt and their plumage.

- The rangers here at the Seven Islands State Birding Park will band these birds to find out a lot of information such as age, weight, health, and longevity. And once they're done, these beauties are ready to go. And once the birds are off, they don't go very far. They seem to love it here too. Through the information collected from the bands, the rangers can tell some of these birds have been vacationing in Tennessee for years. And who could blame them? The park offers an array of fun things to do.

- [Clare] Probably the biggest attraction is walking down our paved ADA trail to the bridge on the French Broad River. We have a pedestrian bridge that crosses the French Broad River over to Newman Island, which is one of the islands that is part of the park. It's just a beautiful walk. And along the way you see all sorts of different habitats.

- [Stephanie] It's a nice quiet spot where they can come, it's peaceful and serene, and they can kind of recharge their batteries and just take a break, and there's so much to see and do here. You can walk, you can do birding, you can go on a guided hike. We have biking allowed on our paved trails. There's just so much to see and do here.

- [Miranda] As you may have guessed, education and conservation is a huge part of what the staff and the feathered ambassadors do here at the park. A guided tour with a ranger can show you how you can greatly help the environment and maybe even create your own little wildlife oasis.

- [Clare] We have in the front of our park, we have the Wild Yards Garden and the whole purpose of that area is to teach people about the importance of native plants and how to attract wildlife to your yard and basically do what we are doing out here. But on a smaller scale, in a landscaping way, to benefit wildlife in your own yard.

- [Stephanie] I think it is a great place for people to come and get away from the hustle and bustle of society. Sometimes you just need some outdoor therapy, some nature therapy. You can tell people and teach people about it all the time in a classroom or read a book. But when they actually see it and experience firsthand, they develop a more compassion for it. And then by developing that compassion, by doing it, they are then more likely to be conservationists themselves and have a reason to want to save the environment or help save the birds.

- Thanks, Miranda. Did you note that Chattanooga is birthplace of the National Medal of Honor? The tradition started there in 1863. So it stands to reason the Tennessee city would become home to a one-of-a-kind museum, one that shares the history of our nation's top military award for valor.

- America has heroes. They don't wear capes and tights. They wear a medal with a blue ribbon.

- [Joe] That's Keith Hardison, executive director of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, named in honor of Charles Coolidge, who earned his medal for service in World War II. The Heritage Center is an immersive experience where you practically walk in the boots of heroes as their stories come to life. The story of the medal itself goes back to 1862 as a way to honor exceptional union soldiers.

- And quite frankly, when it was created, the union side of things wasn't going particularly well. So this became also a morale booster.

- The main exhibit hall tells stories of heroes like Andrew's Raiders, a group of 24 volunteers who hijacked a Confederate locomotive, then headed toward Chattanooga destroying rails along the way. For their bravery, 19 Raiders received the country's first Medals of Honor. The only woman to receive the medal was Dr. Mary Walker. She was dispatched to Chattanooga to establish a field hospital where she would oversee the care of sick and wounded soldiers.

- [Keith] Mary Walker's was rescinded, not technically because she was a woman, but because she was a civilian contractor to the army as opposed to being in the military. They notified her that this was being stricken from the record, and she should send the medal back. She made some comment about her cold dead hands. And indeed when her body was placed in its coffin, the medal was on it.

- [Joe] The exhibit figures here are remarkable pieces of work. This one represents George Jordan, a former slave from Williamson County, who received the Medal of Honor for action during the Indian Wars.

- Literally, we had things made throughout the United States by people who had various specialties to make sure that these could be the most authentic possible. In other words, Alvin York looks like Alvin York. Charles Coolidge looks like Charles Coolidge, not a department store type mannequin.

- Now, this exhibit honors World War I veteran Joseph Atkinson, a Tennessee native who charged a German machine gun nest, capturing weapons and three German soldiers. No veteran of the Great War was more acclaimed than Sergeant Alvin York. He received the Medal of Honor for an attack on another German machine gun nest, gathering 35 machine guns, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers, and capturing 132. The World War II section features a parachuting Paul Huff. Huff was the first paratrooper in history to win the Medal of Honor. Then there's Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who never fired a weapon. What he did do was rescue 75 soldiers one by one down the treacherous cliffs of Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa. And, of course, there's Chattanooga's own Charles Coolidge who won his top honor by single handedly taking on a German Panzer tank.

- We get to teach, but we also get to listen and learn. I had a gentleman come in, he was a veteran of World War II, 101 years old. We introduced ourselves and I said, "Thank you for saving the world." And he looked at me and he said, "I didn't do anything except my job." But I said, "You are one of the 16 million Americans who wore the uniform, the greatest generation who defeated totalitarianism."

- [Joe] The Heritage Center staff hopes visitors of all ages will find their visit educational and inspiring. That people leave with a renewed sense of heritage and a profound respect for the six character traits shared by all those who earned the medal of honor.

- If they did this, how can I be a more patriotic citizen? Courage is courage, whether it's on the battlefield, a playground, or in a boardroom.

- Thank you, Joe. Beginning this month, there's a whole new way to enjoy "Crossroads." You'll see brand new bite-sized stories online. Here's what you can expect from "Tennessee Crossroads: Jaunts."

- Now, the definition of a jaunt is a usually short journey or excursion undertaken, especially for pleasure. And that's basically what you'll see on this "Tennessee Crossroads" series that's optimized for social media. Unlike our TV show where we use the latest in broadcast technology. Hi, Armondo. All of the "Jaunts" videos will be shot using a smartphone, and not horizontal rather vertical. Meg Grisolano, NPT producer and a creator for "Jaunts" tells us more about what we can expect to see in these vertical videos that will be under a minute.

- I would say that Jaunts has the heart of "Tennessee Crossroads," but a different formatting. So we are shooting vertically on our phones because mostly people are watching reels and shorts. And so if you don't wanna have to look real itty bitty on your phone, then you want it to be this way, because most of us are holding our phone like this. So we're just trying to make it easy. Give people that bite-sized content that we think that they're interested in to help them figure out fun things to do that maybe they haven't tried. Vinyl Tap, this place in east Nashville is one of my favorites. I'm not sure if I'd call it a record shop with a bar or a bar with a record shop. They have 24 rotating craft beers on tap, and were the winners of the best beer selection in the Nashville Scenes readers poll.

- [Laura] Joe Elmore was actually the one to interview the "Jaunts" creators in April. And as you might expect, he had the best analogy to help us put this new series into perspective.

- [Joe] Well, is it fair to say it's kind of a little cousin of "Crossroads"?

- Oh, "Jaunts" is definitely "Crossroads's" little cousin for sure. We're out there trying to do the same things, but just in a slightly different way. The team and I noticed, hey, there's people out there doing "Crossroads-y" things, why don't we collaborate more with them? And so we have some local creators that we're working with. Right now for this pilot program, we are working with Stuart Deming and Anas Saba.

- So I think what's really interesting about the "Jaunts" and we're kind of already doing this with the brand XPLR.NASH, it's utilizing social media and the reach that can happen on a platform to be able to engage and then showcase these small businesses and towns around Tennessee. This is the new destination for hiking in the southeast United States. Along the Cumberland Mountains that separate east and middle Tennessee, the Cumberland Trail is a long distance hiking trail that spans over 300 miles from the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park to the Tennessee River Gorge near Chattanooga. Most of the trails reside in an area known as the Cumberland Plateau, which many would argue is the best land to see and hike through as an outdoor enthusiast.

- I went to college here at Belmont. A lot of my friends were coming from bigger cities and just more cosmopolitan parts of the country. And they would start to say things like, you know, "You can't find this type of food here, you can't find this here." And just growing up in Nashville, I knew we had, you know, very vibrant international community and I knew it existed. You just have to look for it a little bit. So I started taking my friends to, you know, different areas of town like Nolensville Pike, south Nashville. And I started taking so many friends there, I was basically doing a food tour anyways, so I eventually actually started a food tour of south Nashville called "Nashville Hidden Gems." And that's what led to the Instagram page. Getting people to try something that they wouldn't have tried before, I think that's probably the one of the things that I get the most joy out of doing this sort of work. If you ask me, these are the best kebabs in Nashville. We're at Albasha on Nolensville Pike for another episode of "Jaunts," a collaboration with Nashville Public Television to show you some off the beaten path restaurants in Music City. At Albasha, they're at style kebabs are cooked over charcoal, creating a kebab that's juicy, tender, and full of smoky flavor. The kebabs get a nice sprinkle of sumach and are served with bread alongside tomato and onion. They have other options on their menu like lamb shanks, shwarma, and grilled chicken. But, to me, the star of the show will always be their kebobs.

- [Laura] There are a few things the three creators are looking forward to with the "Jaunts" 20 episode pilot season.

- [Anas] I'm really excited to be part of a team. You know, sometimes doing this on my own, it can get lonely sometimes, so it'll be fun to kind of have some people to collaborate with.

- I love history and so I'm really looking forward to presenting history through the "Jaunts." Some of the videos that we have, for example, is the history of a bush whacker in Nashville.

- [Meg] And thinking about "Jaunts" as "Tennessee Crossroads" little cousin, both of them have this one thing in common that I think is super important and unique that folks may not realize. Like, we're not getting sponsorships from any of these businesses or any payments to talk about how wonderful they are. We're going out because we really truly think these places have something special to offer. And we wanna share those stories and just celebrate all things local.

- [Laura] Now, that your interest is peaked, you may be wondering where you can go to watch "Jaunts," and there are quite a few ways.

- [Meg] So viewers can find "Jaunts" first on broadcast television, so still on channel 8. So they'll see it as little spots between programs, but they can also go specifically to our social media platform. So you can go to "Tennessee Crossroads" YouTube channel, "Tennessee Crossroads" Facebook page, and NPT's Instagram. And what I really want is for folks to just show us that hey, yeah, we do like this additional content. And so if they could please watch, like, comment if there's something that they have to say. And then that will help us continue this and make a case for support so that this is more than just a pilot of 20 episodes. And we can keep this going so we can uplift local businesses, uplift our creators, and just uplift this region.

- You can check out our "Jaunts" segments on our Facebook and YouTube pages or learn more at tennesseecrossroads.org/jaunts. Until next time, thanks for joining us.

- [Narrator] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by.

- [Announcer] Some of our biggest checks have also made the biggest difference. The Tennessee Lottery, proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education. Now, that's some game changing, life-changing fun.

- [Narrator] 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. 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.