Episode 3324

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads" we discover the works of Lebanon artist Charlene Owens. Then have some lunch at a Nashville home of burgers and fries, and finally travel to east Tennessee to explore historic Fort Loudoun. Hi everyone, I'm Joe Elmore. Welcome again to "Tennessee Crossroads". We're very privileged to meet many talented folks on our trips throughout Tennessee. Some are multi-talented, as is the case with Lebanon artist Charlene Owens. Ed Jones recently traveled to her workshop where she transforms some simple items into intricate art.

- When Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel he had an apprentice that would draw on paper and had holes in the paper and he would dust those holes with the charcoal dust, and that's how he got his patterns up on the ceiling. And I said, well, if Michelangelo can do it, I can do it too.

- [Ed] If Charlene Owens says she can do something, you can take that to the bank. Just ask anyone who's seen her marvelous creations.

- Well I think I've always dabbled in art. I just love to draw.

- [Ed] And she draws beautifully. For most artists, that would be enough. But not Charlene. Listing her talents quickly turns into a cable commercial.

- The sculpture that I done up here.

- [Ed] But wait, there's more.

- That's an oil painting.

- [Ed] But wait, there's more.

- [Charlene] I've been doing the gourds for about five or six years now.

- [Ed] But wait, there's more.

- [Charlene] This is wood burnin'.

- [Ed] But wait, there's more.

- I've had a lot of luck with the hot air balloons.

- [Ed] Okay, now you're just showing off.

- You just turn a gourd upside down and it takes the shape of a balloon and I even take the little figurines, they're not very big. They're Christmas ornaments. The little girls will have little cheerleader outfits on. It's just dabblin' in a little bit of everything, try it all.

- [Ed] Charlene has even incorporated sound into some of her art. Ever heard of a thunder drum?

- [Charlene] You shake it and it sounds like thunder in the distance, but this one's got babies on it, all animal babies. It's a baby chimpanzee, a baby tiger and then a baby giraffe. It just come out so good. I was really proud of that. That's one of my favorites.

- [Ed] Charlene's quick to point out her favorites. Understandably, most involve fond family memories.

- [Charlene] That one is my favorite, it's my granddaughter and I just guess it turned out better because I knew her personality a little bit and I was really proud of that. I call it "The Embrace" because it's man at his lowest and then he's got this guardian angel to help him through it. When I started that, I was gonna do a chambered nautilus, but when I started chiseling on it and hammering on it, it just evolved. I didn't have any control over it, you know, it just happened. My dad was so proud of that. He carried that to two family reunions and it just happened. I really didn't have a whole lot to do with it, it just happened.

- [Ed] While she loves all her art forms, Charlene spends most of her time on gourds.

- It's very unusual. You don't see that much art in gourds and my sister and I, we saw one and she said, "You can do that", and she convinced me to get into it and I did and I really love doin' it. The baby over here in the acorn, I just thought that looked so sweet and then I had put on it, "mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow" and I thought, well, that bein' a baby, it'll grow up to be a great man, you know.

- [Ed] Charlene's grown as well. Retired from a career in the wallpaper business, she transformed into a full-time artist, who's still finding new ways to showcase her talents.

- This is the first time I've ever seen tile inside a gourd. I have started puttin' tile inside these and then you put the grout in it and it really makes for a pretty bowl. That was kind of a, to see if I could do it. I just get my inspiration from different things.

- [Ed] One inspiration comes in the form of accolades from fellow artists.

- [Charlene] I've won Best of Show at the Wilson County Fair twice. I think I entered 10 different things last year and got nine blue ribbons and I was really surprised that I had that many ribbons last year, but it was a good day.

- [Ed] More important than ribbons are the compliments from happy customers, which Charlene treasures the most.

- [Charlene] I want 'em to be pleased with it. Just seein' the reaction of people's faces when they really see something they like, to me, that's my pay. If I get a good compliment, I'd rather have that any time, and that stays with you.

- [Ed] Which encourages Charlene to stay with it, tirelessly making magic in her studio no matter what.

- I've had some health issues and that slowed me down a lot, but here lately that's all I wanna do. I'm out here in the mornin' and sometimes it's way after dark when I get through. But it's something I thoroughly enjoy doin'. I know it's a God given talent and I don't wanna waste it.

- Thanks Ed. Well, I'm joined again by my friend and NPT colleague, Will Pedigo as we enter week three of our Keep Crossroads Traveling campaign. Now the countdown begins. If you haven't called the number on your screen or clicked at tennesseecrossroads.org/donate, well I hope we can encourage you to do so now.

- That's right, now we've set a goal of 350 contributions from viewers like you, so we can keep Crossroads traveling throughout 2020 and beyond. And we have until Sunday, February 10th to get there. If we can make it, we'll keep "Tennessee Crossroads" on the air throughout our March pledge here at Nashville Public Television and I have to say I've seen the schedules, we are bankin' on making that goal, so we need to hear from you. Call the number on your screen or make a contribution at tennesseecrossroads.org/donate.

- Well, we're two weeks in and already have 143 folks who've stepped up and joined the "Tennessee Crossroads" family here at Nashville Public Television. But now it's your turn to pitch in. 350 contributions of any amount helps us reach our goal and helps "Tennessee Crossroads" kick off another great year, serving our mission to bring you the best stories we can find each week.

- That's right. Now Nashville Public Television is the home of "Tennessee Crossroads" and we know how much this show means to the fans because we see the loyalty of the viewers who watch each week and make "Tennessee Crossroads" one of the most-watched locally produced public television shows in the country. That's a big deal and that mission that Joe talked about really fits in with what we do here at NPT; try to bring you great stories that are focused on the lives of our community. You're a huge part of what we do and we need to hear from you now. We know that not everybody's gonna contribute, we know that, but folks who do, make this service possible for everyone so make a gift to your community by supporting the work of NPT, Joe and the Crossroads crew. Call the number on your screen or pledge online at tennesseecrossroads.org/donate. Whatever is most convenient for you. And to thank you for your pledge of support we have some great ways to say thanks. Joe, do you wanna do the honors?

- I'd be happy to. You can help keep Crossroads traveling with a financial gift that's just right for you. Donate at any amount and you'll receive a "Tennessee Crossroads" official travel sticker. At $60 a year or $5 a month, we'll thank you with this brand new "Tennessee Crossroads" baseball cap. At the $72 level, or $6 per month, you can show your support and keep Crossroads traveling with this polyester blend short sleeved tee-shirt. A new way we have of saying thanks for an $84 annual gift, or $7 per month, is this 16 ounce glass tumbler with the Crossroads logo. You can choose both the "Tennessee Crossroads" tee-shirt and the pint glass for an annual gift of $144, that's $12 monthly. Or you don't have to choose at all. You can get all three of our "Tennessee Crossroads" thank you gifts at the $204 level, or $17 a month.

- You know, these gifts are our way of saying thanks to you all for watching and making "Tennessee Crossroads" what it is today. With your stories, your willingness to join Joe and the "Tennessee Crossroads" crew on adventures each week, your contribution to the station makes it all happen here at Nashville Public Television.

- Help us meet our goal of 350 supporters at any level. We have until Sunday, February 10th to get there. Well, call in the number below or you can also contribute online, anytime, at tennesseecrossroads.org/donate.

- And we do have something fun that we're gonna do again this year to celebrate reaching that goal. This week, after we wrap up this mission to keep Crossroads traveling, Joe and I will be raising those Crossroads pint glasses, celebrating everything you love on Nashville Public Television. Join us from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. for NPT day at the Ranch Taproom of Jackalope Brewing Company on Sunday, February 16th. Let the folks know at the door that you're coming to support NPT and 20% of all purchases made during the event will go to NPT, the station that produces "Tennessee Crossroads" and all of the local shows that you love.

- It's gonna be a great time. And hopefully, together, we can celebrate reaching our "Tennessee Crossroads" goal of 350 contributions and kick off another great year of "Tennessee Crossroads" on the air here at NPT.

- You know, Joe, I've been thinking about all the ways that "Tennessee Crossroads" affects our viewers and realized that the show also has a tremendous impact on local businesses and people sort of featured in the show, and just like we saw in that first story.

- That's true. Time and time again we get emails from folks that say that they saw a big jump in visitors because of a story that ran on "Tennessee Crossroads". I always get a good feeling about folks getting their hard work recognized, but it's also a sign of how much people value the show and the stories we share, which is something I'm kind of proud of.

- You know, it's true, and it's always good to see folks, not only watch the show, but also rely on it as a guide for new places to explore or people to meet, new artists, that sort of thing.

- Definitely and I love that we get to help local businesses and artists tell their stories. There's so many of 'em. We choose places on the show that are family run or contribute to the culture and community of our state. But I'll tell you, the success of the show is really because of you, our viewers. You're the ones that make a difference. You're the ones that make the story and the show what it is. Whether your story ideas, loyal viewership or the fact that folks really use the show to find great places to visit.

- And I should point out, we all take the responsibility of this show really seriously. No on pays to be in the show, it's all based on word of mouth and that gut check of what makes a good story, well, it's something that the folks here at NPT talk a lot about.

- That's true. It's a total team effort.

- Well, we need you as a part of that team to help Crossroads travel in 2020 and beyond, so pick a gift or an amount to contribute that's right for you and reach out by calling the number on your screen or going online any time, tennesseecrossroads.org/donate. And consider being a sustaining member of Nashville Public Television. What that means is you pick an amount that's comfortable on a monthly basis, $5 a month, $10 a month, whatever works for you, and then that donation continues until you change it. You know you don't have to worry about whether you've made a contribution or are you providing NPT a firm foundation to go out and bring you great stories like we do on "Tennessee Crossroads". When you're a sustaining member you are making that happen.

- And don't forget, "Tennessee Crossroads" is also available online at our website, tennesseecrossroads.org. We have episodes and stories available. You can also see all the thank you gifts we have for your support of the show. Also, feel free to reach out to us on our Facebook page at tncrossroads, where you can always find out where we're headed next on the show and share your own story ideas. You know, your support makes it all possible, so call the number on your screen or online, any time, tennesseecrossroads.org/donate.

- While you're at the show's website, tennesseecrossroads.org, check out some of your favorite stories and episodes, and remember, any pledge over $60, or just $5 a month, gets you the NPT Passport member benefit, which grants deeper online access to local NPT shows, including "Tennessee Crossroads" and all your favorites. So, give us a call, make a pledge, gain a deeper connection to "Tennessee Crossroads" online and you've still got time to reach out, but Joe, it's time for us to hit the road. Where we headin' next?

- Well, our next stop is an out of the way Nashville landmark of sorts, one that's enjoying a second life as a haven for hungry diners. Now for the owner, Doug Havron, Gabby's Burgers and Fries is also the answer to a question: how do I please my customers and spend quality time with my family? If this little building looks familiar, well, it should. For almost 40 years it was home of Hap Townes, a legend among Nashville meet and greets.

- Mister Townes was so helpful, so kind, so supportive, just an amazing man. Are you hungry?

- [Joe] Doug Havron, who spent his whole life in the restaurant business, bought the place in 2009 and renamed it Gabby's Burgers and Fries.

- [Doug] We don't really go for one specific segment of the community and I think that's probably one of the qualities of a burger, a hamburger, I know it sounds really bizarre, but it goes across all social, economic ladders. You know, everybody really likes a good burger.

- I think it's the best burger in Nashville. Yeah, it's just really good, really simple, delicious ingredients, it's just a great burger place.

- I have eaten here about a dozen times and every time it is scrumptious.

- [Joe] And they obviously love Gabby's burgers, from construction workers to politicians, they pile into this cozy, lunch-only restaurant six days a week, and the key to success? Well, locally grass fed beef for one, and a whole lot more.

- [Doug] Well my feeling is first of all you're gonna get amazing service and then you've gotta have a great product. And then everything else will take care of itself. My employees are amazing, they work hard, they don't need me to babysit them. They take just as much pride in what we serve as I do and so that means that they're gonna put out quality food.

- [Joe] Fries are part of the name and part of the fame. Regular fries and sweet potato fries, which Doug describes as a mixed blessing.

- [Doug] Just really labor intensive. We've got to bake 'em first then we hand cut 'em and then you blanch 'em, then we actually cook 'em, season 'em, so it's not as simple as regular fries, but it's worth it, and I don't even like sweet potatoes, and I love 'em.

- [Joe] While Doug has several employees who are proficient on the all-important grill, he often takes a turn to turn back the clock a little bit.

- Reason I'm a little bit older and slower, but I was raised cooking at Bonanza when I was 17 years old, and so whenever I get on the grill I kind of feel like I'm comin' home. It's my favorite place to be in the restaurant. I love bein' on the grill. It's fun to me, which I know is kind of warped. That's just the way it is. Bam! Somebody show me some food!

- [Joe] A lot of Music City restaurants put star photos on their walls. Here at Gabby's the stars are the customers.

- [Doug] And so all the people on the wall are famous people to us. Everybody up on the wall, we know their name, they come in on a regular basis, usually when they walk in the door we know, okay, this guy's gonna have chicken, no cheese, or this guy's gonna have a hot dog or this girl, she likes bacon but she always forgets to tell us to put the bacon on it, so we just know we need to put the bacon on it. Matthew! What's goin' on, man?

- [Joe] Right away you discover Doug likes to add a little humor to the place. From the Mr. Potato Head collection on one wall, to this wall, full of real celebrities who've been here. Well, like Frank Sinatra and Jim Thorpe? Really?

- I've had more than enough people come in and go, oh my gosh, I can't believe Clint Eastwood has eaten here and there's actually been someone who was like, oh my gosh, Jim Thorpe. You know, probably passed away 50 years ago or something, I don't know, probably more than that.

- [Joe] After years of long, seven day work weeks in the restaurant industry, Doug loves the shorter hours here, which means more time with his wife, Corinne, and their two kids, who both have burgers named after them. That's son Seamus who masters the potato cutter, and daughter Gabrielle, or Gabby, who's the only kid in her class with a restaurant that bears her name.

- They say, can we get, like, a discount or free burgers.

- Between the two of 'em, they make it all worthwhile.

- [Joe] So you got both of their names involved somehow.

- Oh yeah, and the wife, too. The Corinne burger is a veggie burger and I'm gonna give you a tip on marriage right here: never start a restaurant and name a food item after your wife and not make sure it's really good.

- Order up.

- I've been trying to get here for a while and finally made it happen today.

- [Joe] Worth the wait, huh?

- Absolutely, it was.

- [Joe] It's comments like that that make Doug Havron smile. And before we left he recalled a conversation he had with an elderly customer sitting alone at the bar.

- I said, well how's your burger? How's everything going for you today? And he goes, it's goin' great. I really wanna say thank you very much. And I said, well no, thank you. And I knew he had something else to say and so I kind of kept on engaging him and, you know, whatcha doin' today? He said, well, my wife passed away six months ago and this is my first day out and I heard about this restaurant and I decided today was the day to get a life again. And I said, well how was your day? And he said, I've laughed again. And that's the reason why restaurants have value. And yes, it's about food, and yes, it's about service, but it's about giving more.

- Historic locations may be lost to progress but they can be recreated to remind us of the events that took place there, as well as the people who were at the center of those events. Rob Wilds recently went to Loudon County in east Tennessee to see two such sites. One is an historic fort and the other a museum remembering a world famous linguist.

- [Rob] Meet Will Kinton.

- I'm one of the park rangers here at Fort Loudoun, a Park Ranger II, officially.

- [Rob] I'd have to say the park ranger uniforms have changed since the last one I was at. Whadda you got on today?

- Well, at your cultural areas, your historic parks, we do a lot of livin' history interpretation so today I'm dressed as a soldier would've been here at Fort Loudoun 250 years ago.

- Fire!

- [Rob] Back when the enemy the walls were meant to keep out was the French.

- Fort Loudoun was in use from 1756 through 1760. It was the first English-speaking settlement west of Allegheny mountains. First one in what would one day be Tennessee. The people come here and built this fort because of the military might of the Cherokee. They had to have that alliance.

- [Rob] So, out marched British soldiers from South Carolina to build the fort. And the alliance with the Cherokee, well, it lasted for a while.

- Large, powerful Cherokee Nation. Our enemies aren't comin' through this valley unless the Cherokee let them. And so in so many respects Fort Loudoun is the testament of the military might of the Cherokee Nation. Even down to the way it fell. And when Fort Loudoun fell to the Cherokee in August of 1760 it was the only British fort in North America to fall to a force made up solely of American Indians.

- [Rob] The Cherokee burned the original fort and later the creation of Tellico Lake flooded the area. But a replica was built on this site, sticking close to the original plans.

- Here at Fort Loudoun they had sawyers as part of their construction crew. And it was their job to rip the boards and make these clapboard buildings. That's barracks row that you see steppin' down the hill. In the early stages of construction the design had for there to be one chimney connecting each two buildings. Captain Demere saw the work the masons was doin', was not impressed and had the chimneys pulled down, thinkin' those were goin' to fall and kill his troops, so they went instead with the chimneys bein' on the back side, the west side, of those buildings. But the buildings you see here today are built on the footprints of originals. The ground's been raised up 17 feet to get the lower part of the Fort above the high water mark, but we've got the archeological data, we've even got the diagrams, the drawings written up in the early days of Fort Loudoun, to base those on.

- [Rob] So visitors come from around the world to see what used to be.

- Present! Fire! In one of those ironies that history so often presents us, the Cherokee destroyed the fort, then much later, the lake destroyed much of Cherokee history.

- The nearest Cherokee town of Tuskegee, birthplace of Sequoyah was just beyond that building. It's now flooded, so a huge piece of world history is underneath the water just beyond that house, but that town of Tuskegee sprung up outside the new Fort Loudoun to be close to the British fort. Just a short distance further up the Cherokee town of Tanasi, namesake of our state, it's also flooded, but the overhill country, this is the, this is the home to numerous Cherokee towns, it's the birthplace of many Cherokee leaders. It's very rich in Cherokee history.

- [Rob] Fortunately just down the road from Fort Loudoun, Cherokee history is recalled and one giant of a man is remembered. The Cherokee, Sequoyah, who created a singular achievement, according to Charlie Rhodarmer, Director of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum.

- Sequoyah never had an education. He never learned English, German, French to read or write in any language. Here he's challenged with academic deficiency, on his own, over a 12-year period, develops the writing system by himself. And no one else has done that.

- [Rob] Sequoyah was an artist, a trader, a silversmith, a blacksmith and the creator of a whole language, even though he had his challenges from birth.

- Sequoyah can translate into, from Cherokee, into English to mean pig's foot. Sequoyah had a limp, that he walked, had a physical challenge.

- [Rob] Of course that didn't stop him. He first created a numbering system to allow him to keep track of who owed him what in his blacksmith business, and then...

- And it's in his blacksmith shop, in 1809 there's a group of Cherokee standing around and Sequoyah announces to this group of Cherokee, you know, we could create a writing system. We could put our words on paper just like the English can put their English on paper, we could do that. And so in 1809 he begins a 12-year journey in trying to create a writing system, which he finally finished in 1821.

- [Rob] The museum tells us about the man and about his people.

- What you'll see is some of the different periods of the different peoples that were here in the Overhill over the last 10, 12 thousand years. And then we have exhibits that talk about the, kind of the fort period when Fort Loudoun was built. And we also have exhibits that talk about the syllabary and show you the examples of Sequoyah's work.

- [Rob] Work that was historic. Places that are historic, recalled for us at Fort Loudoun and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, both in Loudon County.

- Hey, thanks Rob, and, of course, thank you for joining us the past half hour. 'Bout time to go, but I wanna remind you to check our website, tennesseecrossroads.org, follow us on Facebook. Join us next week and keep crossroads traveling. Thanks.