Episode 3326

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads", we visit a Nolensville diner full of healthy, southern hospitality. Then discover how a Nashville artist is trying to change history. We'll visit the mysterious Crystal Shrine Grotto in Memphis, and finally pay a visit to a place called Soda Pop Junction down in Lynnville. Hi everyone, I'm Joe Elmore, welcome again to "Tennessee Crossroads". Health-conscious dieting seems to be all the rage these days and with good reason. Most of us could stand to lose a few pounds, or even more. But, in these stressful times folks are often searching for a little comfort, even in their food. Ed Jones found a place in Nolensville, that delivers that warm, cozy feeling that only Southern Hospitality can bring. [Child] Yum!

- Is it yum? Good food.

- Good Food!

- Yeah, good food. Gimme some. Gimme some, that good food.

- [Ed] If you're looking to get some good comfort food, You'd have a hard time finding anything to beat, good old Southern Hospitality. Now, the Southern Hospitality we're talking about is a Diner you understand, not just a state of mind. But the friendly owners, Scotty and Tamyra Brown, don't mind serving a side of hospitality with every delicious meal.

- We have a great family environment here. It's very family-oriented. You know, you can feel comfortable bringing your kids here, bringing your entire family.

- The feel that we have for our customers, we just want them to leave ecstatic, and we just provide the best comfort food around.

- [Ed] You know what they say, it's not boasting, if you can back it up.

- People who work here, for one thing, They're wonderful. And then there are certain food items that we're obsessed with. So we just had to come back and have them. A lot of locals are here. This is mostly really Southern cooking. and it's just quite delicious, And its friendly and fun as you can see.

- Oh, come and give me a hug! Ohh, you are so cute!

- [Ed] We can't guarantee you a hug from any, of the Brown's five beautiful daughters, But Tamyra and Scotty can promise you --

- A full tummy, the feeling of you need to go take a nap.

- Right, go take a nap and just having a great feel, a great Southern feel when they leave.

- [Ed] Scotty's cooking skills which inspire, that great feeling, come from the ultimate source of comfort for most of us, dear old mom.

- I actually learned to cook over the phone when I was at MTHU at college. Me and my roommates, we could gather up two Dollars a piece, might've been, and so we would put that together and buy a pack of chicken. So I would just call my moms and walk me through it, and it clicked, and ever since then I've just been cooking.

- [Ed] Cooking indeed, but no man is an island, or a food dispenser. So Scotty relies on his dedicated staff, some of the best in the business. The creme de la creme of comfort.

- I got some good guys back there. I got one of the best meringue guys in Nashville. My guys back there, they're awesome. So they take a lot of heat off of me.

- [Ed] And Chris Wells needs a lot of heat taken off of him, because he's Scotty's right-hand man, the kitchen manager. Chris not only stands the heat, he brings the heat as comfort food king.

- I actually learned how to cook from my mother.

- [Ed] Do you see a pattern here?

- And a lot of the stuff that we do here is just stuff that I grew up with, and we've been doing it, and I've been doing it a long time. We've kinda got it down pat. We had to tweak it a little bit, but it's kinda, brings back memories for a lot of people and what they grew up with. It's kinda hard to find that, you know. We're getting more health-conscious and things like that so the old style of cooking is sometimes it's hard to find, and that's what we do - the old style cooking.

- [Ed] And doggone it, sometimes old style is the best style. But don't get us wrong, we love Bean Sprouts, Kale and Tofu as much as the next guy, but sometimes you need to do more than fill your tummy. You need to soothe your soul. And just listening to the menu will be enough for some.

- We pretty much offer anything you would like to eat, from our famous catfish.

- [Male Customer] Chicken salad, chili.

- I'm personally obsessed with the BLT salad.

- [Male Customer] Hamburger steak.

- [Chris] Pot roast, meatloaf, a lot of veggies.

- [Tamyra] I'm always about okra.

- Everything is made from scratch, and then we have our famous desserts, meringue pies.

- So if it's Southern, it's here most of the time.

- [Female Customer] Fish looks good.

- [Ed] Ooh, I think I need a nap already.

- We cover a lot on the menu, so it's a lot of choices, and all of 'em pretty good. They really try to do everything well. We try to present things that you would like, and it looks good and it tastes good.

- It's a friendly place. It's southern cooking. It's local to Nolensville. Obviously it's not a chain. It gives you an opportunity to have the kind of food you might have at home.

- [Ed] Maybe even better than the food you have at home with a few benefits. No cooking, no cleaning, and plenty of Southern Hospitality.

- Thanks a lot, Ed. Sometimes real life gets between us and the things we're passionate about, but if we're lucky, we find the road back to those things. Ren Harvey is a good example. You see, as a little girl she loved looking for arrowheads and making drawings of them. But it took decades before she got back to her real passion. Rob Wilds recently met this Nashville artist who's using her talents, to help correct a little bit of history.

- Almost ever since people began building them, roads have been compared to life. A long and winding road, the straight and narrow path. For some people the road just goes straight. But for people like Ren Harvey the road can take some different turns. You might even wind up in a different place, or a different century.

- I found my first arrowhead when I was 14 years old and that was kinda it. I was collecting fossils and things like that, but the arrowhead, the spear point, I just blew my mind how old it was.

- [Rob] As a little girl in Canada, Wren dreamed of being an archeologist and an artist. But Wren had other talents. She could run and run and run.

- [Ren] And the running got me my education. So because I was one of Canada's best, I got recruited to come to the U.S.

- [Rob] Running paid for her education and then led her to be a running coach at the University of Illinois and then at Florida State with little time to do almost anything besides becoming a successful coach. Then the road took another turn which led her back to her childhood loves of art and archeology.

- [Ren] Yes, hello!

- [Rob] Ren got her chance to explore those when she came to work in Nashville at the Mercy Multiplied Ministry. There was more time to relax, and she almost became a kid again delighting at discovery.

- Dude, I just picked this up! In just one foot over I think I got a stunner. Look at the teeth. Can it all be there? I see a base. Come on, let's pull it. Oh, it's a stunner! I got really connected back to the Native American side of me, that I love them. I love their history, their culture, what they stand for.

- [Rob] So the road took another turn. Ren began creating portraits of Native Americans which led her to the work of John White who was part of the Roanoke Colony which came to what is now North Carolina back in 1585 and is famous as the Lost Colony from which all the inhabitants mysteriously disappeared. One of White's tasks was to create paintings of the Native Americans to show Queen Elizabeth who helped establish the colony. One of those paintings is called "The Hunter" when Ren saw it, well, the road turned again.

- [Ren] I looked at this painting and I thought, I love it. It tells me so much about the Algonquins, but I know that that's not a Native American face that he put on him. It was so quickly done. The body stance and the style that these paintings were done was European 16th century, and he was also painting quickly for the queen. And so I was like, wait a minute, this is very European-looking, but there's information here that can be expressed deeply and there's education there that I feel like I can bring back to life.

- [Rob] Which involved research with experts around the world on things like the color of the body paint on "The Hunter."

- [Ren] People love the body paint on this guy. I mean, it's very elaborate. And I had wondered if he was showing the exact color of it because these paintings were damaged over time.

- [Rob] Researchers told her the actual paint would have come from the bloodroot plant and would probably be a bright red.

- So I contact the British Museum and I said could John White have had this color in the 16th century? Nope. So his color is like a dark orange, but it's only because he wouldn't have had it. So I changed the color of the body paint to be more correct like bloodroot.

- [Rob] Wren studied everything from the arrows in the quiver to the feather the hunter wore. And along the way --

- Countries and Cities often have rivers and creeks.

- [Rob] She met Helen Roundtree A teacher and author who has extensively studied Native Americans. She gave Ren insight of how the hunter probably looked, and showed her that the road can take some strange turns.

- He's really muscular, kinda of, very 16th century. Like if you were to studies 16th century art. He looks very classical but as Helen and I talked about and it was funny when she said this. I laughed. She said, "These guys would of been like cross country runners" because they would shoot to kill their prey but their not always getting it the first shot. So they would shoot and chase it and shoot and chase it. So she's like, they were very fit, very lean. They were not muscly like John White had shown them. So I really leaned him down.

- Helen like Ren's work so much that she ask her to illustrate a book. Which just happens to be about the Roanoke colony. The lost colony. The road Ren is on now is not a rebuke of the artist John White and his hurried sketches to show Queen Elizabeth where her money was being spent. But to restore something else that was lost at Roanoke.

- [Ren] I think a lot of it is just my respect and just admiration for Native American people. And I wanted him to look Native American. So more than anything I just felt like I would maybe bring a little bit more honor, to these people that are no longer here.

- Thanks Rob. We want to share a true hidden gem were explored over in West Tennessee recently. Crystal Shrine Grotto is a remarkable handmade treasure that was 8 years in the making, by one man. Its free, open to the public And you'll find it tucked away in a historic East Memphis cemetery.

- When they drive in, they think of it as a park. And then, particularly on a Saturday, when the funeral home is very busy, a procession will drive through, and it catches 'em off guard a little bit. They forgot where they are.

- [Joe] That's because Memorial Park in East Memphis is not your typical cemetery. And according to Philip Hamilton, that was the vision of its founder E.C Hynes back in 1925.

- He liked the idea of everyone being the same in death, and hence the flat stones on the graves.

- Mr. Hynes later commissioned the creation of some intriguing sculptures to beautify the grounds, such as this one called the Broken Tree Bench. And the even more impressive 15 foot tall Abrahams Oak, All created with concrete, by the hands of a Mexican artist named Delicio Rodriguez, during an eight year period in the 1930's. Of course the masterpiece of this whole project, is the worlds only man-made cave The Crystal Shrine Grotto, A 59 foot man made cave carved into the side of a hill. The walls and ceilings are created with 5 tons of crystal, mined from the diamond cave in Jasper, Arkansas. Wow. Nice work. The artist Rodriguez was a man of mystery. We do know he spoke no English, worked alone with only a few simple tools and was very secretive.

- The story goes that Mr. Rodriguez worked out of the trunk of his car. And when people would drive by, he would shut his trunk, hoping they wouldn't see what he was doing. He didn't want anyone to know his secret, he didn't want this secret to get out.

- Where did he stay while he was here?

- Mr. Hynes, rented him an apartment, in a not so good part of town.

- Okay

- Watching the budget,

- Yeah, that's right. This is all cement. Looks like wood, looks like logs really, but it's all cement.

- It took a lot of loads of cement to build something like this. Even the Thatch on the roof right?

- Yes.

- [Joe] The interior features ten scenes depicting, the life of Christ, from birth to the Ascension. While Rodriguez created most of the back drops, The figures were added later by a Memphis artist, using plaster and even real wood.

- Look at all the Green Alex, look up. You see all that?

- Oooo.

- [Joe] Who comes to see the Grotto?

- Everybody. They come from all over the world. I had 59 drive up in a bus about two weeks ago. And they came in from Texas to see the Grotto, but they come from all over the world.

- [Joe] The artists work extends beyond the Grotto itself. Like this wooden, or rather, concrete bridge. And the Sacred Cave of Magtoa. Representing the storied resting place of Abraham, and other Biblical Patriarchs. Inside what's called The Pool of Hebron, There's a fountain with images of, Delicio Rodriguez's seven children.

- [Jerry] And this is what they call God's Garden. And this is where we have all of our weddings, here at the park. And the Bride and Groom will line up on the weekend and they'll get married here as well.

- [Joe] Free of charge?

- [Jerry] Free of charge. That's right.

- [Joe] Can't beat that for a wedding venue. We know that Rodriguez made his sculptures by hand, first with metal tubing covered by rough wire mesh, followed by layers of wet concrete. However he destroyed all clues about his special technique of making the concrete look like wood. Its a secret Rodriguez took to his grave in the mid 1950's,

- [Jerry] He actually died a pauper in Houston. And he's buried in a paupers grave there. We all hate that. But, that's how he ended up.

- [Joe] Leaving behind a one of a kind, man made masterpiece of art and inspiration.

- You know in this age of chain restaurants, it's getting hard to find a good old fashion Soda Parlor. Well, Cindy Carter found one in the tiny town of Lynnville. In fact, it boasts having some of the best Hamburgers and Shakes in the whole state. Here's Cindy at the Soda Pop Junction.

- [Cindy] If you ever find yourself waywardly wandering through Tennessee, consider it very good fortune, if you happen a small rail road town of Lynnville, Folks here, have never met a stranger,

- Thank you very much. Great to see ya.

- [Cindy] But, understand this. Strangers are pretty easy to spot.

- We love our town and we only got 326 people. We love everyone of 'em.

- [Cindy] And Johnny Phelps owner of the Soda Pop Junction, like most everyone else around here, can probably list almost all 326 names. But everyone, Locals, Tourists and Wayward Wanderers, alike all seem to eventually make their way to the junction. The Soda Pop Junction. A place known for its delicious award winning Burgers. And Ice Cream. By the Shake, Float, Scoop or Sundae.

- I get a Chocolate Milkshake about three or four times a week. 'cause on a nice hot summer day, its nice to have something to cool you down,

- [Cindy] Cool down and Catch up. That's what the locals do.

- Its just the closeness here, and people have been very supportive but, 90% of our business comes from outside the area.

- [Cindy] And that outside cash flow has given Lynnville, new life. Which is exactly what Phelps had in mind back in 1998, when he decided to buy this old building, and turn it into a restaurant.

- At that time, most of the buildings you see up and down the street were either had fell in, or there was no business. When I came to look at the building, it was raining, I mean just really, really raining. Actually I had to go to my car and get an umbrella, to come in and look at the building. Because it was, leaking so bad.

- [Cindy] Well to be fair. The building was built in 1860, at the height of the towns railroad boom.

- [Phelps] I'm not crazy about running a restaurant. But I love the history and being around people. And that comes from 49 years of being a Teacher.

- [Cindy] So this former high school teacher invested in the past and a colorful past it is.

- It was a saloon on this side, and it was 10 different buildings, but it's all under the same roof, and it was a drug store on that side. You could get your medicine at both places back then. Get it over there and you could come in here, either way you was going to come out of here happy.

- [Cindy] In 1928, the space became home to the L. E. Moore Drug Company which like many drug stores of the day also sold Ice Cream and mixed together, Soda Pop. The drug store literally served in this community for 50 years before shutting down. And that's what Phelps wanted to re-capture.

- Most restaurants now are tearing down to the brick walls and go back to the old days. And we've always been old so we didn't have far to go.

- [Judy] Thank you sir.

- [Cindy] That's Miss Judy behind the register.

- I came to work here when I was 14, making Ice Cream cones, selling Coke's, milkshakes and so-forth. And I worked behind this counter.

- And both Miss Judy and the 1950's Drug Store counter are still here. So is the original 1870 Pharmacy facade. In fact, pretty much everything you see was donated to Phelps by friends and family, to keep the Soda Pop Junction uniquely Lynnville. So the cliché is you can never go home again and when small town businesses disappear and buildings are torn down, that can seem very true. But not here. With old photographs on the walls and antiques scattered about. For many, the Soda Pop Junction just feels like home.

- [Phelps] People walk though the door and say "Holy smokes, this is like going back in time".

- [Cindy] A simpler time and that's how Phelps likes it. Oh, he's heard about those new-fangled Ice Cream shops charging 10 to 15 Dollars for what they call a gourmet experience.

- We'll do that for 2.99, we're not a Baskin-Robbins. We can't furnish the 31 different flavors, but we've got about eight or nine that we do what we do.

- [Cindy] And what they do these days seems harder and harder to find.

- Everything all right with y'all?

- [Cindy] So why not wonder in? Cool off a bit, and have a chat with friends. They'll be waiting for you at The Junction.

- Well with that we've got to say goodbye, but not without a reminder to check in on our website tennesseecrossroads.org Always on Facebook, and by all means join us next week. I'll see you then.