Episode 3918

- [Announcer 1] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by...

- [Announcer 2] 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.

- [Announcer 3] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways, where adventure, cuisine, and history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Announcer 4] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer 5] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.

- This week we'll go pearl hunting on the Tennessee River, dine at a jolly old deli in Kingston Springs, see dancing lights in Lebanon, and meet an artist who works with coal. Got a little something for everyone, folks! Howdy, I'm Ketch Secor, welcoming you to "Tennessee Crossroads". If you watch any pirate movies, you know that the sea holds many treasures. But you don't have to get salty to get rich. Cindy Carter finds gems from the Tennessee River in this pearl of a story.

- [Cindy] These beautiful pearls didn't grow and mature in the depths of the ocean. Instead, they were formed in the flowing waters of the Tennessee River and its tributaries.

- It's just something different that Tennessee can put its hands on. Like Music City, Jack, Dolly, Elvis, and then there's the mussel, the pearl.

- [Cindy] Bob Keast is the enthusiastic owner and operator of the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Farm, Museum, and Tour, located in Camden, the only freshwater pearl culturing farm operation in North America.

- So our farm has PVC water pipe, and three inches in diameter. And on these pipe are hundreds and hundreds of nets, and thousands of nets. And each net holds 18 to 24 mussels. And each mussel has been implanted to grow a pearl.

- [Cindy] The farm and museum are situated in the Birdsong Marina along the banks of Kentucky Lake. Though this aquaculture outfit seems modest, the responsibility of educating the public while producing Tennessee's official state gem is enormous, and Bob uses his "mussel" memory to make that happen.

- The mussels are living in our waters, and this is fresh water. So the difference between fresh water and salt water, naturally, is salt. And the mussels are on the bottom of the Tennessee River and other rivers in Tennessee. They can actually reproduce themselves 1 million times in one year from the age three to the age 100.

- [Cindy] That plentiful supply is the foundation for every precious pearl harvested from Tennessee's waters.

- As soon as my hand bumps into that, I know what it is, whether it's a rock, a stick, or a shell.

- [Cindy] That's Chuck, the diver. It's his job to feel his way through murky waters, and determine which shells might grow the best pearls.

- So we grade 'em, and then pick out our specimens. Then we take those specimens to the lab and implant 'em, then put 'em in the nets, then take 'em out to the floating farm. And God is doing His best to grow beautiful pearls under the water.

- It's a secretive process, both in the offsite lab, and back at the marina, that allows the farm to develop pearls of specific sizes and shapes. So how long does it take to grow a pearl? Well, that depends on the size you want. Smaller ones, maybe two years. Larger ones, six to eight. The longer the pearl remains inside the mussel, the more nacre that surrounds it, and makes it bigger. This isn't a large-scale commercial venture. Here, pearls are harvested for curious visitors who take the museum's guided tour, and like us, hope to see a pearl emerge from a little shell shucking.

- [Bob] Here, here. Look, stop!

- [Chuck] Oh, there's one.

- [Cindy] Bob says the 132 species of mussels found in Tennessee's waters have inner shells that come in a variety of colors often used for inlays. In addition to plucking pearls for visitors, the farm also harvests pearls and shells for local artisans who create one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry.

- Some famous people like Elizabeth Taylor, her pearls came from right here in the waters of the Tennessee River.

- [Cindy] Bob is referencing the famous La Peregrina pearl. Discovered off the coast of Panama in the 1500s, the gem has a Spanish and English royal history. Elizabeth Taylor's husband, Richard Burton, bought it for her in the 1960s. And Taylor commissioned Cartier to redesign the necklace.

- And they needed some pearls to go to address the necklace, and those pearls came from the waters of the Tennessee River. We have groups and groups and groups of travelers, tourists, coming from all over the world to come here, and to look at our pearls, our farm, and to buy jewelry.

- [Cindy] So here's a true pearl of wisdom: Don't miss out on the free Freshwater Pearl Museum, Farm, and Tour. It's a true Tennessee gem.

- [Bob] We're here for demonstrations. We're here for explanations. We interpret this industry, because it's new and fresh to some people.

- Well, thanks to delicacies like haggis and jellied eels, British food sometimes gets a bad rap. But a couple of Cheatham County women are working to change all 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. Did.

- It totally does. Yeah.

- [Lesley] 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. 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 U.S. 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.

- 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.

- Thanks, Laura. You know the holidays are just around the corner, and most of us are starting to think about decking the halls. Next, we'll head to Lebanon to meet a family who prepares for the Yuletide season all year long with breathtaking results.

- First thing that was in the back of a trailer.

- [Miranda] Michael Scaff and his dedicated team are hard at work on this late summer day.

- There you go.

- [Miranda] And their efforts will soon transform the Wilson County fairgrounds into a holiday wonderland.

- Most of my staff is family and close friends, and most of us travel from Bristol where we live.

- [Miranda] Michael, his wife Melissa, and their daughter Addie will work all year attending to every detail of what many have come to know as a magical holiday memory.

- We design all the displays and custom build them all. We don't buy things, we build them all. So that's what we do in the summer. We work on new music, we work on new displays, of course, repair things that need repaired from previous years.

- [Worker] Lift up on it. There you go.

- It may not look like a Christmas wonderland now, but that is about to change. All thanks to the very hardworking Scaff family and about seven employees working 10 hours a day, seven days a week for about six weeks. This will turn into this.

- [Family] Merry Christmas!

- [Miranda] Welcome to "The Dancing Lights of Christmas."

- [Michael] The show itself covers about 40 acres, and then we don't know how many lights, we were 2.5 million, but we kind of quit counting after we got to that point, so.

- Look at that between.

- [Michael] It's a drive-through event. The whole entire event's drive-through unless you want to get out and visit with Santa. So you just pull in, you tune your radio to a specific channel that we broadcast on, and the music and the lights are completely synchronized. They're synchronized down to the 10th of a second. So as you drive through, all 2 million lights will be going with the music exactly to the beat of the music the entire time.

- [Miranda] The Scaff family has been making these 40 acres merry and bright for almost a decade, and it is bigger and better than ever.

- As you drive around, if you're on the left side of a display, it may be doing one thing. By the time you circle around to the other side, the songs change. So that same tree, for example, will be doing something totally different. So it's pretty neat. And then every year, we also add something new. We always try to add one large new thing and then several small things. So to kind of keep it fresh and different.

- [Miranda] If you plan to drive through, you'll be in good company, or you can always soar high above in a helicopter.

- [Michael] He comes in, sets up his helicopter, operates out of Santa's village, and he will fly you above the lights. So you get to see the light show from the air, and then you can see, of course, all the cars, people waiting, and fly over the village and stuff. So that's a really unique way to see it.

- [Miranda] "The Dancing Lights of Christmas" is one of the largest synchronized displays in the country, and one of the only shows that offer the bird's eye view. The extravaganza ends right in the heart of Santa's village, complete with bounce houses, horses, hot chocolate, and even the man himself.

- Oh, we love him. This is a yearly tradition for us to see what's new and different. There's always something that we find that they didn't have the last year, and it gets bigger every year.

- [Miranda] Everyone has a favorite part, from the singing snowmen to the twinkling trees, to the perfectly timed tunnels. And there is always a nod to the red, white, and blue.

- All the veterans of this country and the current military and everyone who's ever served in a uniform, if they didn't do what they do, we couldn't do what we do. So we try to always remember that and honor that.

- [Miranda] Each year, the Scaff family holds special events for veterans and donates the proceeds to projects like the Wounded Warrior Project, the Second Harvest Food Bank, the Ronald McDonald House, and many more.

- [Michael] We've been able to do a lot of good with the show thanks to Middle Tennessee's participation in coming out to the show.

- [Miranda] All 2 million lights will be twinkling from mid-November until early January. An unforgettable experience for both the visitors and for the family who makes all of the magic happen.

- [Michael] It's pretty special. You know, we celebrate Christmas obviously in a different way than most people because we're here working. But to be part of literally tens of thousands of families' Christmas tradition, it's a pretty good feeling. We've literally seen these people's families grow up, and including our family in their Christmas tradition. So it's just pretty neat to kind of feel included in so many people's Christmas.

- Merry Christmas.

- Merry Christmas.

- Thank you, Miranda. Portraiture is an art form whose roots go back thousands of years. Today, portraits are created mostly with paint or photography. Well, a few years back, Joe Elmore met a portrait artist whose medium is just plain and simple charcoal.

- [Joe] Portraiture is undoubtedly the most predominant genre in painting. It's also one of the most challenging. The artist must capture a precise representation of the human form, while emphasizing their physical, mental, and even spiritual characteristics. The origins go back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, and for many decades before the invention of photography, a painted or drawn portrait was about the only way to record the appearance of someone. Da Vinci's portrait of the Mona Lisa, painted in 1503, is perhaps the most famous portrait in the world. A few famous artists, such as Rembrandt, were even known for their self-portrait works. Everyone knows this famous portrait, but does Grant Wood's "American Gothic" depict the artist and his daughter, or his wife? Well, neither. The models are his daughter and his dentist. In the 19th century, photography made its indelible mark in the world of portraiture, and for many years, the medium has been used to capture famous faces of the modern world. Then there's Rita Maggart. For this Nashville artist, the medium of choice is plain and simple: charcoal.

- I love charcoal because it takes away the color. It allows you to just focus on the essence of a drawing. Charcoal is forgiving. It allows you to put down a mark and then readjust it, erase it, smear it, smudge it, move it around. It's the most forgiving art medium I've ever worked in.

- [Joe] Rita hones her skills at Warehouse 521, a gathering place for artists to learn, create, and be a part of a community full of creative comradery.

- Working from life is the best way to draw, it's all there. You don't have to guess, you don't have to wonder the angle of her ear, or what their eyes look like. Nothing has to be invented when you can work from life. So June Perry's with us today, the models work hard, just sitting. They come in about 9:30 in the morning, and the day is until from 9:30 to 3:30 with an hour for lunch. They sit for 20 minutes, they're off for five minutes, and so it's a long, hard day just holding a pose that long. The lighting is so important, and the staging, and getting you comfortable.

- [Joe] Rita is also a creative writer who composes poems that complement many of her works. Her latest book is called "Portraits, Poems, and Prayers." Here's a poem and portrait she calls "Poetic Artistry."

- Faces are fascinating, and the human form is beautiful. When art is finely tuned, we experience poetic artistry. For me, the writings and the drawings can come together, and, sometimes, I never know which is gonna be first, whether I'll do a drawing and then go look for something that I've written that seems to just fit, or if something I've written calls me to draw in a certain way. And every face, and every person, is so different and so interesting. I find myself looking now at people's ears, and the back of their head, and to just see what their eyes are saying, if their eyes are alive. I've noticed that when there's a little catch light in the eye, then you know that person is alive.

- [Joe] Since many artists are commissioned to create portraits for money, I was surprised to learn that Rita avoids all that. But if somebody like myself said, "Rita, would you draw me? I'll pay you."

- Well, I will probably say, "Let's talk about it."

- [Joe] For now, Rita Maggart is content to create more and more portraits of real people, capturing faces, emotions, and stories using her simple yet powerful tools. In fact, her feelings could be summed up in this excerpt from a poem she calls, "Something to Say."

- But I'm most concerned with the emotion of the art. Does the viewer linger for a moment and look deeper? Or does the viewer take a quick glance and move on? Does the art say, "Look at me, I have something to say"?

- Well, that'll do it for this week. Make sure you check out our website at tennesseecrossroads.org. Follow us on Facebook and meet us back here next week. See you then.

- [Announcer 1] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by:

- [Announcer 2] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over $7.5 billion we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery: game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Announcer 3] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways, where adventure, cuisine, and history come together. With 16 scenic driving trails, you can discover why Tennessee sounds perfect. Trips can be planned at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Announcer 4] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer 5] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.