Episode 3925

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

- [Announcer Two] 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 Three] 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 tnvacation.com.

- [Announcer Four] 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 visit a relaxing resort, meet a master craftsman with the sharpest skills around, and learn about an organization saving wildlife near Joelton. Stick with us for the next half hour. You'll be glad you did. I'm Ketch Secor welcoming you to "Tennessee Crossroads." Is the daily grind of the nine to five world getting you down? If so, Vicki Yates may have found the answer. She found a spot to rest and relax not too far from Nashville, called the Wildwood Resort.

- [Vicki] It's just a tad more than 65 miles outside of Nashville, just a little longer than an hour's drive. It's where the Cordell Hull Lake meets the Cumberland River, it is the Wildwood Resort and Marina in Granville, Tennessee. It's a 32 acre property that was originally built in the 1920s to be a country club development, but today it's a popular location for fun, relaxation, and even special occasions. Owner John Dean purchased the property in 2018.

- Well, my wife and I had a healthcare career. She was a cancer research scientist at Vanderbilt University. I was working as a healthcare consultant. And just about three miles up the road, we bought some property, built a second home, and this is where we came to rest, recreate, and to connect.

- If you like peace and tranquility, the Wildwood Resort is for you, but there's so much more. If you love the Cumberland River, you've also got Airstreams, cabins, and bocce ball. Depending on your preference, you'll have a great selection of lodging to choose from and that's half the fun. But when John and his wife Natasha first purchased the property, then known as the Granville Marina, the location didn't have as much to offer.

- At that time, it was four of these cabins, which were built in 1972, and about four or five hotel style in rooms over here that were pretty shabby. And 120 boat with a mix of some new slips that the previous owner put in and some oldies but goodies, and then a campground with 18 campground spots. And we had a vision to transform that into a boutique destination resort that would be desirable for folks from out of town to come and visit us for several days. And as a part of that vision, we thought about attracting folks for weekend getaways, family reunions and weddings, but also during the week, corporate retreats.

- [Vicki] At the end of one property, you can select Saltbox lake home. There are two of them and this model is called the Warbler. Let's take a look inside. And right across the way are the village cabins named after Nashville's finest male country singers, a fire pit sits in front for those upcoming cool evenings when s'mores can hit the spot. Just take a look at the Elvis. When you've eaten your share of s'mores, you can walk several feet and work it off with a competitive game of bocce ball. Now take a look at this. Who can forget the talented female songbirds? Many who over the years spent time touring in an Airstream, but you don't have to be an entertainer to feel like one. Check this out. This one celebrates, guess who? Miss Reba McEntire and it sleeps too comfortably. There are also Airstreams named for Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Emmylou Harris, June Carter Cash, and Patsy Cline. And if you decide to walk near the lake, you'll be walking along the state of Tennessee's longest boardwalk. The wood walkway is over a quarter of a mile long. There are five Wildwood lodge rooms with one queen bed. And if you feel like being rocked asleep by the gentle waves of the lake, there are three floating cottages to choose from. And believe it or not, many visitors maneuver their own boats to Wildwood docks.

- It's important to know that Cumberland River is navigable water, and so we have actually attracted boat traffic from Minnesota, St. Louis, New Orleans, and New York even, who are coming in through the inland waterways and wanna spend a few days with us along the way.

- [Vicki] And if that's still not enough to get your attention, Wildwood is a showcase for many local singers and entertainers, and the food at the popular lakeside restaurant has customers coming back for more. The Wildwood Marina is a great stop and the staff will do their best to make you feel relaxed and right at home.

- Well folks, we're joined again by none other than the producer of that story, Vicki Yates, she's back for the second installment in our Keep Crossroads Traveling campaign of 2026.

- That's right, Ketch. Travel and production costs keep rising, and this is the one time of the year when we ask for your support. Now we're off to a good start, but we have a long way to go to hit our goal of 550 pledges at any level. I know we can get there with your help. This is the time for you to put a value on your love for "Tennessee Crossroads" and help us share the best places to experience our great state. Call the number on your screen or pledge anytime online to help us reach our goal. We also want to tell you about the ways we have to say thank you for your support.

- You can help keep Crossroads traveling with a financial gift that is just right for you. At the $60 level or $5 a month, you can show your support with this polyester blend short sleeve T-shirt. For $96 a year or just $8 per month, you'll receive a 12 ounce bag of Traveler's Brew Coffee. It's a whole bean custom blend by Bongo Java that's made exclusively for "Tennessee Crossroads." With a pledge at the $156 level or $13 a month, you can enjoy both the coffee and the T-shirt. Thank you for your loyal support that keeps us on the road.

- We know we have the best fans around and we're proud to bring you "Tennessee Crossroads" each week. Thanks to you, it's been on the road for 39 years. I have no doubt we can reach our goal, but we need to hear from you. Call the number on your screen or visit us online to pitch in. Thank you. We also want to invite you to a special event coming soon to Nashville PBS.

- You are invited to "Tennessee Crossroads" 4th Annual Whiskey Tasting Saturday, February 28th, 2026, showcasing some of the best whiskey producers from Tennessee and Kentucky. Each distillery will feature two to three products with many of them hard to find. Tickets are $75 for general admission or 200 for the VIP package. For details, use your phone to scan the QR code on your screen or go to wnpt.org/events. Thanks for helping to keep Crossroads traveling.

- I hope you'll pick a membership level that is right for you and help support our crew. It takes a team to keep Crossroads traveling and no team member is more important than you. We're counting on our loyal viewers to get the job done. Help us keep the stories coming in 2026. We can't do it without you. Please take this moment to make a pledge and help us reach our goal to keep Crossroads traveling throughout the year. Call the number on your screen or pledge online. Thank you. Before we get to our next story, let's take another look at the thank you gifts we have for your pledge.

- You can help keep Crossroads traveling with a financial gift that is just right for you. At the $60 level or $5 a month, you can show your support with this polyester blend short sleeve T-shirt. For $96 a year or just $8 per month, you'll receive a 12 ounce bag of Travelers Brew Coffee. It's a whole bean custom blend by Bongo Java that's made exclusively for "Tennessee Crossroads." With a pledge at the $156 level or $13 a month, you can enjoy both the coffee and the T-shirt. Thank you for your loyal support that keeps us on the road.

- Ketch, it's time to get back on the road, where are we heading?

- Vicki, we're heading east. If you've ever tried to do a household chore, you know having just the right tool can make the task a lot easier. Well, making a great meal is no exception. And in our next story, Miranda Cohen found a true master craftsman in Knoxville, who is sharpening his skills by making exquisite works of culinary art.

- [Miranda] John Phillips, the founder of Phillips Forged in Knoxville, has always loved working with his hands. With a degree in fine arts from the University of Tennessee, he learned his passion was working with metal. As his natural talent grew larger, his works grew smaller.

- I've always had a love for things that you can hold in your hand and you can look at and see the small details in. And so it felt really good to be able to take all the skills I learned from blacksmithing and from making big sculptures, and big piece of furniture, and just kind of shrink all that down and take all those details and just compress 'em in the one object that you can hold in your hand.

- [Miranda] As an artist, John started funding his dreams by working as a line cook in the food industry, and suddenly he had three real interests and found a way to forge them all together.

- A certain point I decided I wanted to combine the woodwork, the metalwork, the love of food, and make my own knife. And I had these chefs that worked with me that would bring in these knife rolls with all these knives that they'd collected through their careers. I thought it was so cool that they had these like magic tools that they would come and unveil and they would never let anyone else touch.

- [Miranda] Now celebrity chefs and culinary stars from places like the exclusive Blackberry Farm are taking notice of him, using his blades in their kitchens and featuring his knives in their catalog.

- [John] So I make big chef's knives that are traditional kind of rolled belly knives. I make long slicing knives. I make bread knives with serrated edges. I make pairing knives, I make meat cleavers.

- [Miranda] Each one of Philip's edgy creations is a masterpiece of style and function. He has perfected the meticulous craft of forging the finest steel into precise blades and carving native wood into ergonomically designed handles. Philip starts each knife with raw steel cut on a band saw.

- [John] Next thing we do is we take all those pieces of metal and we clean them up and stack them together in the vice.

- [Miranda] Each metal brings its own metallurgical content.

- So I'll just put this in and let it cook.

- [Miranda] Then he will place the steel in this custom designed machine where 84,000 pounds of pressure on this hydraulic press at 2000 degrees will weld the metals together.

- [John] So we just keep on reducing it down to about an eighth of an inch.

- [Miranda] Next is hammering, grinding, and dipping into an acid to reveal the mixed metal's natural beauty.

- You see that pattern already starting to pop out there. Those layers are starting to pop out.

- [Miranda] Then will come sanding, sharpening, and adding the custom made wooden handles.

- All the handles I make from a special piece of wood where I select special woods that have beautiful burrows or spalting which is a fungus that can form in the wood that creates really beautiful patterns. So I try to always find woods that are gonna compliment the steel that they're going along with.

- Each will take anywhere from 10 to 40 hours to create and no two pieces are ever alike. One of the most important things to John is that his beautiful works of art not be hidden away or put in a drawer. In fact, he would love for them to be used in the kitchen every day.

- [John] Usually the first thing that people tell me is that they're too beautiful to use, which I take as a compliment, but I hope that people do use them as much as possible. Most of the knives that I make are a combination of European style and Japanese style, and I'm pretty much making knife to take care of any chore in the kitchen.

- [Miranda] Guided by the master's hand, the metal and wood come together to create something much more than a culinary tool. It is said that steel sharpens steel, meaning people make other people better. John Phillips is trying to do just that.

- [John] So I specialize in just making culinary knives. I don't really have much interest in making weapons or making anything used for destruction. Instead, to me, knives are things that can create beautiful works of art. I'm more interested in creating a piece of art to create more art, and to kind of keep this cycle of inspiration going.

- [Miranda] A true passion, creating unique, custom made culinary tools that will carve out their own legacy.

- It's a lot of work. Like I don't hide the fact that I really sweat and bleed over these things, but I really love it and really enjoy it. And there's something really rewarding about like all the process and all these small steps. And then at the end you have this thing that's gonna outlast all of us.

- Well, thanks, Miranda. You know, every year more and more people are discovering our great state and moving here. Good news for our economy, not so good for our native wildlife. Laura Faber gives us a behind the scenes look at a rare wildlife resource in the mid-state, and it's all about helping our native species thrive and survive.

- [Laura] Behind every adorable photo of a baby animal, there is a story of a good deed, rehabilitation and survival.

- Hi.

- [Participant] Hi, Ruth. Did you find the...

- We found a sibling.

- Every day, one after the other, kindhearted Tennesseans bring all kinds of injured and orphaned animals to a place called Walden's Puddle. Located in Joelton, this professionally staffed wildlife rehabilitation center serves 39 Tennessee counties. Carolyn Pendarvis is the operations manager.

- We're one of the largest wildlife rehabilitators here. We bring in orphaned, ill, and animals that are in need of care that cannot survive on their own without medical care. We bring those back into the wildlife center. We give them the food, the medicine, the nutrition that they need. They may be with us 24 hours or they may be with us for six weeks. Whatever that care is, we provide 100% of that back to that animal so that they can be released back into the wild where they belong.

- [Laura] Walden's Puddle started in 1989 by a backyard rehabber named Vicki Carter with a mission to help native species, the need grew and the organization transformed. Now led by musician and animal lover Lane Brody, it meets incredibly high standards and licensing requirements.

- Although we're not deemed as sanctuary, we think of ourselves as a sanctuary. All of our animals here they're in a rehabilitation mode, so we require quiet. We don't have animal viewings here. We're not a zoo, so you can't just kind of walk the grounds.

- [Laura] Drop-offs are by appointment only. An animal care technician, Rebecca Garner says only trained staff and volunteers handle the animals.

- [Rebecca] We provide a service for the public in Middle Tennessee to take care of any injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife so that they can bring it here, we can rehabilitate it, and then we can release it back where it was found.

- [Laura] There are a handful of non releasable animals that live at Walden's Puddle, like graded the grackle, an intelligent bird.

- He was attacked by a cat when he was the fledgling, so when he was learning to fly. So unfortunately he ended up with some neurological issues and he unfortunately can't fly anymore. So he gets to spend his days here.

- This is Nagini. She's an albino corn snake, an educational ambassador for Walden's puddle for 13 years, and she's never bitten anyone yet.

- [Laura] King Arthur, a gorgeous red-tailed hawk is actually a she.

- [Rebecca] She was hit by a vehicle and that impaired her ability to fly. And she also has some visual issues as well.

- [Laura] But the main focus is doing whatever it takes to return animals to the wild.

- We get over 2000 animals every year, so we have a wide range of, we have to tube feed and syringe feed our babies. For our foxes, we get a lot with mange, so we have to treat the mange and then we have to get them back up to weight, so we have to feed them. We have to make sure that they are having clean bedding and nutrition while they're here so they can grow. We also have to do wound care on anything that's been attacked by something and has an open wound. And we have to treat any eye infections, we have to give fluids, medications, and we have to do this for a wide range of species.

- [Laura] Human interaction is kept to a minimum. Animals stay from three weeks to a year. Once stabilized, they are moved to a pre-release enclosure with more space to build up strength, then tested to be sure they are exhibiting the proper behavior to survive. And finally, it's release day. Today, a pair of red foxes that came from the back of Sylvia Herzog's property. She first saw them on her security footage.

- I noticed that the male started to come out during the day, which is very unusual, and he was looking for food. He was very thin and his eyes were almost shut. He was almost blind. And so I knew he couldn't hunt because of his eyes.

- [Laura] Both had mange a huge skin problem with the species, but now are healthy. The male darts out, but the female, well, not all releases go as planned and the crate is dismantled. Finally she runs.

- [Narrator] Never seen that happen ever.

- Only for NPT.

- I think we're very fortunate and we have so much building in Nashville. A lot of the habitats are shrinking and so that puts stress on the environment. And so we're seeing a lot more wild animals because of that. So it's great that we have Walden's Puddle to take care of our wildlife. The gift to the town, really.

- [Laura] A gift indeed. Walden's Puddle does not accept state or federal funding, it relies on donations of which 92% go directly to animal care. A rare and wonderful thing.

- [Carolyn] Every time we pick up the telephone, we remind ourself that it's all for the animals and that these people care. Oh my goodness, Laura, they really, really care about what's going on here.

- Well, thanks, Laura. Folks, that brings us to the end of another show, but please check out our website at tennesseecrossroads.org. And thank you for keeping Crossroads traveling. See you all next week.

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

- 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 fund.

- [Announcer Three] 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 tnvacation.com.