Episode 3818

- [Announcer 1] Tennessee Crossroads is made possible 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 and byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made in Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails. More 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.

- [Vicki] On this edition of Tennessee Crossroads, we'll meet a fine feathered artist, dine on the square in the 'Boro, learn the meaning of a curling club, and tour the Dale Hollow Dam. Looks like a darn fine show. I'm Vicki Yates. Thanks for joining us. They say birds of a feather flock together, and the same is true of the Nashville Fine Arts community. In our first story, Miranda Cohen meets an extraordinary artist who's inspired by the natural beauty of the volunteer state and some beautiful water birds who call Tennessee home.

- [Miranda] Jenna Colt is in what she calls her happy place, and it's easy to see why. This peaceful scene looks as if you could just step right in. And that is just the feeling this Nashville native hoped to evoke.

- [Jenna] I have always wanted to be an artist. It's always been art. My mom likes to say, I've always made my living in art.

- [Miranda] As a young child, she started at the Cheekwood Art School, then, obviously gifted, she moved on to private lessons and earned a degree in fine arts. As a talented creative, she has worked in many mediums, but oils in particular seem to capture her attention.

- [Jenna] When I paint murals, I use house paint, just latex. When I first learned to draw and paint, it was mostly charcoal and pastels, because they're easier to work with. I liked watercolor as well, but then I started to paint some portraits and I discovered oils. I find that oils are really luscious and kind of the way to go. I still sometimes paint with acrylics and house paint, but I really love oils.

- [Miranda] Jenna started painting portraits and landscapes, but one day as she looked out of her studio window near Metro Center, something a little more exotic caught her artistic eye.

- [Jenna] I kind of never got much work done because I was just looking at the birds, which came and went, you know, with the seasons. But we had this one heron that hung around on the dock, and I sort of became fascinated with the herons. It just sort of became something that intrigued me. I think they're kind of prehistoric looking, but also just kind of cool.

- [Miranda] The intricate details of these majestic creatures became her passion. Her interpretations are lifelike and surreal, forever captured on canvas.

- [Jenna] They seem pretty solitary. A lot of times they're alone. They'll just be hanging out on a rock or waiting by themselves. Something about a bird that could just take off at any second. It's almost like you're capturing them just right at that second. I would say most of these in my mind, are old Hickory Lake. And then however I feel the composition warrants, then I put my bird in.

- [Miranda] She will create both on large scale murals and on small scale canvas. And if you look closely, Jenna Colt's oil paintings almost have a hint of illumination, like a photograph. That is because of her unique method of first painting the canvas with the metallic hue, and then by gently blending thick and thin layers of oil paint, she will achieve a subtle hint of a silver gelatin photo finish.

- [Jenna] And I just really liked that glow. So I was trying to achieve that with painting. So I start with a metallic background, and then I put the oil on top. The metallic paint makes the oil just, again, it's like butter. It's just the most delicious feeling to paint on it.

- [Miranda] It is a peaceful moment gracing the canvas, tranquil for both the viewer and for the very talented artist.

- [Jenna] I find it's the one thing that I do that I just get lost in and time just doesn't matter. It's, it doesn't matter what else is going on. If I'm painting, I mean, just kind of in the flow and it's just my happy place.

- Thanks Miranda. Don't you love town squares? Each has its own character and special features. If you visit the one in Murfreesboro, you might consider a stop at Joanie's. It's a comfy friendly spot for coffee and scratch made food. Plus an inspiring story behind the name.

- [Joe] The Town Square in Murfreesboro is a delightful, walkable destination with several historic landmarks, well such as the Rutherford County Courthouse built in 1859. The Town Square is not only historic and picturesque, it's populated by locally owned businesses. In fact, our destination is a little dining spot called Joanie's.

- [Jason] I wanted it to be an upbeat, happy place. I wanted people to leave the place happier than they were when they came in.

- [Joe] That's Jason Day, owner of Joanie's, a brand with two local locations, including this one on the town square. High ceilings with exposed old brick offer a nice ambiance of antiquity as you enjoy your meal. Jason's career journey to Middle Tennessee started in California, back when he was working in the business end of a healthcare facility.

- You know, it was a great job. It was a comfortable job, but you know, you're talking end of life. You're talking to people at their most stressed, you're talking, you know, death almost every day. And it mentally wears on you. And I just kind of had this epiphany, for the next 10 years, do I want to do this? And I thought, no. I wanted to do something that makes people happy.

- [Joe] After a few trips to visit an old buddy who was living in the borough, Jason happily headed east.

- I'm so thrilled I did it because it's just been the best community ever to do this in. My biggest thing was I wanted it to be an upbeat, happy place. I wanted people to leave the place happier than they were when they came in. So coffee was gonna always be a component, 'cause I wanted it to be a social place. I wanted it to be a place where you can sit down with your friends and your neighbors and talk, and coffee's very conducive for that.

- [Joe] Nowadays the menus include breakfast, lunch, and dinner with, as they say, a little something for everyone.

- [Jason] We do obviously breakfast, 'cause our breakfast burrito is very popular. We have the, our French toasted waffle pancake, which is our kind of our signature dish. It's a waffle that we put two pancakes on, and then we french toast it and cover that with strawberries and whipped cream. That's a very popular one. Especially at this location here downtown, it's really turned into a lunch spot. So all of our sandwiches and quesadillas and tacos, gourmet burgers that we do here. My thing is, I always wanted to make sure that whoever comes in here, whatever their diet restrictions are, or what their preferences are, we had something on the menu for everybody.

- [Joe] That means any item on the menu anytime of the day. Want a burger for breakfast? Hey, no problem.

- [Jason] And because we make it all from scratch and we don't do microwaves, we make our whole menu from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. So if you want a burger at 7:00 AM, we'll make it for you. And if you want french toast at 9:00 PM, we'll make it for you.

- [Joe] These days you hear a lot about restaurant owners struggling to attract and retain good employees. Jason considers himself one of the fortunate ones.

- [Jason] There were two sides of this for me. It was A, the customer side of it, which was to make sure it's a great experience for the customer. But the other side was, make sure it's a great experience for my workers too. I want them to enjoy being here. I want it to be, 'cause if they're enjoying it and they're having fun, the customers will enjoy it and the customers will have fun. So I'm fortunate enough to be able to pay well and pay competitively, but also hopefully make it a fun environment for them.

- [Joe] By now, you might be wondering who is Joanie? Well, she was Jason's mother who passed away just before he opened this downtown location.

- [Jason] And my mom was just kind of my rock growing up. I was the baby. I was attached to her hip as I was growing up and everything I am, I owe to her. She worked really hard to give me a life that allowed me, to put me in a position to save money and to ultimately do this. And I always say all the skills I have that required to do this, I got from her.

- [Joe] Jason's restaurants were called Red Bicycle before Joanie's passing. Then a name change was inevitable.

- [Jason] It's one of the coolest things I've ever done. I get to think about her every day. I get to see her name on the coffee sleeves, and it's a, it's a pretty special thing.

- [Joe] Customers often ask Jason if he'll open a third location someday. He doesn't have an answer for that yet. Right now, he enjoys each day pleasing guests working with his friendly staff and still savoring his decision to seek happiness and fortune in Middle Tennessee.

- [Jason] I'm so thrilled I did it because it's just been the best community ever to do this in. And they've made it so much fun for me to be here and supporting us. So I'm so blessed to have to have chosen Murfreesboro.

- It is a sport on ice that's grown in popularity in recent years, and it can be found now in Nashville. We're not talking about hockey, but the sport of curling. As Laura Faber tells us, you don't have to wait for the Olympics. You can watch it, learn it, and play it right here, right now.

- [Laura] It's a sport that involves ice, granite stones, special shoes, a broom for sweeping.

- [Coach] All the way, guys, all the way. Bring it in.

- [Laura] And a lot of yelling.

- [Coach] That'll work. Great sweep, guys. Good shot.

- [Laura] It's called Curling, and here in Nashville, there is a club dedicated to the sport. Carl Belts is known as the Ice Guy and a member of Nashville's Curling Club.

- We've reestablished the curling Club in October of last year. They had about 20 members when I first got here, and we have already almost doubled or tripled the membership to 54 people already.

- [Laura] Curling is on the rise locally, thanks in part to this place called Tee-Line Nashville. It's the only place in the state built specifically for the sport.

- [Mark] What we have here is dedicated ice. So we don't have ice skating. It's a whole different level. And we say good curling, you give a handshake. And it's funny, the winners buy the beer at the end of a game and the winners sweep the ice. So it's completely opposite to the way in the NFL we learned. But it's great camaraderie. And again, the people are so welcoming and that's why I think the sport's catching on so well.

- [Laura] Mark Bulger is the co-owner of Tee-Line. He's also a former NFL quarterback and curling enthusiast. Tee-line also offers bowling, food and drink. But the three sheets of perfect ice is what draws the crowd. You can take lessons here, and this is also the curling club's home.

- [Mark] A lot of people think it's like shuffleboard, but it's more like closest to the pin or bocce. But the tough part is you're on ice. So just staying upright again and closest to the pin, in golf, I'm a big golfer, so the strategy is a big part. It's co-ed. The age doesn't matter. I've been got my butt kicked by, you know, 60, 70, 80-year-old guys. But you know, a female can come in at 15 years old and kick my butt too. So I think it's 98% of the population can curl. And I think that's what makes it unique.

- [Laura] There is much to learn. Four players to a team with each throwing twice. The granite stones, also called rocks, weigh about 44 pounds. The ice sheet is 45 yards long. The goal is to get the stone to the house and as close to the bullseye, or the button, as possible inside your opponent's stone. The last push is called the hammer. The only uniform really for a curler is probably the shoes?

- Pretty much. The shoes are the key because one shoe has a textured bottom, so you have better grip on it. And then you have another shoe that has a slider attached to it. So you can slide down the ice when you're delivering the stone.

- [Laura] And then there is the game itself, harder than it looks, good balance required, and so much strategy.

- [Carl] I equate the strategy a lot to almost the chess game on ice because it's, you're trying to work with what your team can do, with what you know of the other team's faults and their strengths.

- [Laura] The goal, to have as many rocks as close to the center of the rings as possible.

- [Carl] The way it scores you with being closest to the pin and everything, it's more like a bocce ball because you spin it and it will rotate and curl into the area where you want it to go.

- [Laura] The curling is actually part of what you're doing to the stone, right? Or it's a movement of the stone.

- It's the spinning of the stone. When you spin the stone, you'll control which way it's gonna curl. If you spin it clockwise, it's gonna curl to the right. If you spin it counterclockwise, it's gonna curl to the left. The sweeping is to make the rock go further down the ice. Or you can make it hold the line a little bit or maybe curl an extra four to six inches depending on which side of the stone you're sweeping. The sweeping is the hardest part, and most of us add our level, at club level, you have about a seven second lifespan on it when you're sweeping a stone, because it's the second most aerobic activity that you can do short of cross country skiing.

- [Laura] This Olympic sports started in Scotland in the early 16th century, but today, players compete on ice that is perfect. Tee-Line's official ice guys scrape the ice sheet with five foot long razor blades. Then they create pebbles using water at 120 degrees, so ice freezes nice and tall. Finally, a nipper is used to even out the pebbles, cutting them all off at the same height.

- When you're looking at a hockey arena's ice sheet, you can have a degree or two of plane and you'll never notice it on skates with a puck. Now with a curling rock, if there's half a degree of play in it, it's always gonna go that direction. So we do our best to keep the ice as flat as possible. We keep the pebble as evenly spread across the sheet as we can. And the reason we do that is so the rock slide consistently and curl consistently throughout the game.

- [Laura] Anyone can play. Young and old, men and women. Elizabeth Rose is hooked.

- [Elizabeth] I love the camaraderie. The community's great and I hope that's part of what you all may have heard tonight, is just lots of encouragement and moving people forward.

- [Laura] Elizabeth is talking about the spirit of the sport.

- [Carl] It's one of the few sports where we start off every game with a handshake and say good curling to every person on the sheet. And we finish the game the same way because there's a lot of sportsmanship out here. We want to see these people having a good time. We want to keep them coming out. And like I said, the camaraderie on the ice is one of the things that sells people on it.

- Thanks Laura. Tennessee has more than its share of beautiful rivers. They're less beautiful when they overflow their banks and destroy lives and property. That was the case with the Obie River until the Dale Hollow Dam tamed it, began generating electricity, and provided a fantastic recreational area.

- [Sandra] Dale Hollow is known as a vacation destination. We protect it jealously. We have the beautiful pristine shoreline and forested signs. We're very proud of our lake and what we do here. People will come out and recreate and enjoy. And you never think what this was like before Dale Hollow was here.

- [Ed] Sandra Carmen has thought a lot about what was here before Dale Hollow Dam tamed the Obie River. As a park ranger, she knows more than most about what was gained and what was lost.

- [Sandra] William Dale came to this area. He married a lady out of Willow Grove, Rachel Irons. They bought a 449 acre farm in 1808. And it is told that there still was in the Dale family until 1942 when the dam was begun and the lake began.

- [Ed] That beginning marked the end of a way of life for residents up river from Dale Hollow.

- [Sandra] There were two major communities that were totally inundated, the Willow Grove community and the Lilydale community. So there were a lot of people that did sacrifice back then by giving their farms. The Corps of Engineers and the federal government relocated over 2000 known grave sites onto private property. 'Cause those folks, they, they really did sacrifice quite a bit so that we can have what we have today.

- [Stanley] It was hard times for those folks. All the families had to leave their farms where they had been for generations. You know, I could relate to that because I farm myself and it would be hard for me to leave my place.

- [Ed] Dale Hollow superintendent Stanley Carter can also relate to their fate on a much more personal level.

- [Stanley] My family on my mother's side and father's side, we are from the upper headwaters of the Obie River itself and where my mother was born, it's underwater now. With that being said, with this dam being in place, it has saved millions upon millions of dollars just in flood control alone. Not to mention the the hydroelectricity that we produce.

- [Ed] Enough electricity to power a city of 45,000, power that was sorely needed back in '38 when the Army Corps of Engineers got the green light to begin planning the Mammoth project.

- [Sandra] March 2nd, 1942, construction began. It was completed in October of 1943. So that was record time. The dam, it's 200 feet tall, 1,717 feet wide. It goes straight down to bedrock and on each side it goes straight down to bedrock.

- The original purpose for this dam was for flood control and power generation. One of the most interesting things that you're going to see as we go downstairs, it's what we call the actuator cabinet. And the actuator cabinet is what opens and closes the gates, allowing more or less water into the turbine. We produce 18 megawatts of power per unit. We have three units, which is 54 megawatts is what we're able to produce.

- [Ed] The roar of the rushing water, the enormous size of the concrete mountain holding back the Obie River. It's hard to fathom the sheer scale of it all, but then consider that this huge remote complex is just a tiny part of a nationwide electrical network known as the grid.

- [Stanley] Several years ago, the whole eastern seaboard had all the blackouts. I was inside this powerhouse when that happened and we felt that. The generators, they started making these weird sounds. When you work here, you know what these units sound like, and you know when something ain't right. So we just started doing some investigation and found out that we had a large section of the country that had blacked out. That was all the way up in New York, edge of Canada. We still felt it here.

- [Ed] After the tour, you'll want to reconnect with the soothing natural wonders of the Dale Hollow reservoir.

- [Sandra] It is so large that even if you're out on a boat, even on the busiest times, there are places that you can go and tuck into a cove and be undisturbed. We do have over 27,000 acres of water and almost 25,000 acres of land. We have about 2.6 million visitors a year that come to Dale Hollow. We have 15 commercial marinas on the lake and two group camps. So with those commercial marinas, they can rent boats, house boats, watercraft. So there is a lot of water sports that are available here. Because we have such crystal clear waters, we're very popular for scuba. We also manage and operate four class A campgrounds with over 400 campsites. Everything from a tent site to an RV site with water and electric hook up so you can get away from the city experience, come out and breathe the fresh air, but it is just a jewel of Tennessee. It's just a gorgeous.

- Thanks Ed. Well, they're giving me the signal to wrap it up, but please visit TennesseeCrossroads.org for more stories and to watch us anytime on the PBS app. Until next time, take care. Tennessee Crossroads is made possible in part by-

- [Announcer] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven and a half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery. Game changing, life changing fun.

- [Announcer 2] 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.

- [Announcer 3] 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 our coop.com.

- [Announcer 4] 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.