Episode 3838

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

- [Speaker] 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] 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.

- [Spokesman] 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.

- [Speaker] 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] This week, we'll explore New Deal era history on the plateau. We'll learn the history of a popular Nashville pub, Meet a Franklin man with a fiery talent, and dine in style at a Memphis cafe. We're not bluffing. It's going to be a great show. I'm Vicki Yates. Welcome to "Tennessee Crossroads." Nearly a century ago, the Great Depression made quite an impact on the global economy. As a result, a federal projects started to help folks weather these tough times, made quite an impact just outside Crossville, an impact that, as Ed Jones discovered, can still be felt today at the Cumberland Homesteads Tower Museum.

- Everyone knows that in 1929, we had the stock market crash and ushered in the Great Depression. Now, the story up here on the mountain was not the story of the stock market in 1929. We didn't have anybody that had any stocks. The disparity was awesome.

- [Ed] Charles Tollis' family witnessed the impact the Great Depression had on the already impoverished Cumberland Plateau. With no job prospects, the outlook was grim. The election of a new president provided a glimmer of hope.

- Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

- [Ed] President Roosevelt's New Deal was a series of financial reforms and public works programs designed to reverse the crushing economic depression, which gripped the nation. One such program established a division of subsistence homesteads. This agency set out to create experimental communities where destitute families could work for the chance to earn their own farm. The plight of Tennesseans on the Cumberland Plateau prompted the decision to locate the largest of these communities near Crossville. Cumberland Homesteads would become known as the showplace of the New Deal.

- President Roosevelt, FDR, over and over used the term, we do not want to help these people merely survive, we want them to thrive and to live the abundant life. And also, the First Lady, Eleanor, she's the one who the record shows insisted that the houses built, 251 of them originally, that they would have running water and they would be wired for electricity.

- [Ed] The First Lady visited the project repeatedly and even played a part in the design of its iconic signature tower.

- This was a multi-purpose building. The ground floor was administrative offices for the Cumberland Homestead projects, but it's also a water tower. It's 97 steps tall, about eight stories. Unfortunately there's no elevator. But the very top is in observatory deck. That was primarily used for fire-preventative purposes. This was primarily used as a fire watch. It's why there's an observatory deck at the very top.

- [Host] Rhin Sexton is the manager of the Cumberland Homesteads Museum, located in the original homestead offices and just a stone's throw from the homestead school.

- After administration left, as many schools do, they're constantly looking for extra space. So they put some other high school classes on the ground floor here. Each of the rooms came classrooms. And the room that we're actually in right now was a chemistry room for a couple of years. So that was the purpose of this until I believe 1980 when it became a museum.

- [Host] A museum preserving the rich history of the Homesteads Project, summarized by Tennessee State Historian Dr. Carol Van West.

- Here we are, we're going to work with you to provide you with a house, out buildings, and you know, around 16 acres that you can grow food for yourself and produce whatever you wish to produce. The pride of residents and the Cumberland Homesteads experiment is expressed throughout that landscape. You can go to the Great Tower, the old water tower for the project, which is now a museum. And you can see that in their exhibits in their tours and everything they tell you.

- We do have three main exhibit rooms on the ground floor. The Story Room is more holistic history, and it's also pretty much at the start of the 1934 to 1940. It focuses on construction, farming, anything of that nature would be in that room. The next room is the 1930s Room, and that is more day-to-day objects, things that people would have in their houses, advertisements of the time period. This room is called the Family Room and it's more individualistic history. So family photos were over organized by what street that they lived on as well as individual family stories.

- [Ed] After visiting the main museum, you can tour one of the original Cumberland homesteads.

- It's part of the ticket price, and it's not too far. It's about a four-minute drive. It's right outside the Cumberland State Park. And it's decorated as if you lived during the 1930s and '40s.

- The Cumberland Homesteads just make a powerful statement to us all, that in the worst of times, people given resources and opportunities can build new communities that stick with us for generations.

- According to a recent study, the average lifespan of a local pub is about five years. Most new ones closed during their first year of operation. So what does that say about a place that's been in continuous operation for a century? Amazing. Well, so is a particular neighborhood pub as Joe Elmore discovered a while back.

- [Joe] If you could time travel to Nashville back in the 1920s, you'd find a growing city of about 119,000 people. Crossing the new Church Street viaduct into downtown, you'd enter a busy retail and business center with cars parked on both sides of the street while shoppers navigated the sidewalks. Of course, time and transformation would change that landscape forever. If you need proof of how drastically Nashville is changing, well just go downtown and look at all the cranes. But if you need proof of how some things never really change, just come to Brown's Diner. It's a beer and burger landmark that's been around since 1927. That's when Charlie Brown and his wife Oda opened a converted mule-drawn trolley car for business. And Brown's Diner was born. Brown's has been in continuous operation for nearly a century with only three owners. Brett Tuck is number three. In 2020, a group of investors purchased the property from the previous owner who'd retired, but they needed a special someone to take over the historic diner. Brett was offered the chance to buy it.

- [Brett] And I said, "Well, that sounds fun. It sounds cool, love Brown's. How long do I have?" And he said, "Well, probably till tomorrow morning."

- [Joe] The place needed numerous interior renovations, but Brett, who was a long time fan of Brown's, couldn't resist the challenge.

- Next morning, called the guys and said, "I'll do it." And January 1st, 2021, they bought the land and I took over Brown's Diner. And yeah, some people are happy that I did it. Some people are not happy I did it. A lot of people think I'm an idiot, especially my wife.

- [Joe] Over the years, Brown's has become a favorite watering hole for famous musicians and construction workers alike. It was the home of Nashville's first beer license. So for Brett, the challenge was to make it profitable without losing its heart and soul.

- It takes something that really wasn't mine, and, you know, and try to make it mine, but not change the soul. You know, there's a fine line for making it work and making it something else. And so, you know, there's a lot of decisions you gotta make. There's a lot of things you have to do to really hold that soul and keep that soul going and keep that history moving forward and not cut it off and start a whole new history. It looks, you know, the same as I remember always. It's pretty much there. Not much changed other than new roofs, new floors, same old bar, and then I redid the kitchen completely. It needed a 100% redo, so I just tore it down and put a new one up. And a lot of people asked me, you know, "Did you change the flat top?" Said, "Yeah, I changed the flat top." And you're like, "Oh, that flat top is so good. It's been here forever." I was like, "No, it was bought like seven years ago." It was bottom of the line, cheapest flat top you could get.

- [Joe] One of the main things that hasn't changed is Geneo Ron Kimbro behind the bar. He's been pulling drafts here since the mid 1980s, swapping tails with every conceivable type of customer,

- Top-notch lawyers, felons. We've had bank robbers that are regulars and they brought the money here and wanted to hide it.

- [Joe] About those famous Brown's burgers. The bun supplier has changed, but the burgers, well, they're the same, just a little bigger.

- I added about an ounce of burger meat to the burger just to make it a little more hefty. And that's all I've done. Same seasoning, same way we served it. So the bun and a little bigger burger. That's it.

- [Joe] And if you have a sweet tooth after your meal, well, Brett's mom's got you covered. She brings in these beautiful cakes every day. To Brett, the real secret to ongoing success is the customer base. One that supported Brown's continuously since the '20s.

- Hey, I mean, it's just the people. It really is. The people that work here. It's the people that kept it going. It's the local community. Most of our regulars probably are the ones, we call them unicorns. They've been in Nashville their whole lives.

- I always said I wanted to stay there in some form or fashion until Brown's turned 100, which won't be for about three years. Now, I don't know. I'm sure they'd rather have a beautiful blonde back here than me. And then you can hear the walls talk when you walk in occasionally. They'll tell you stories.

- Next, we explore a skill that started during the Bronze Age. At one point, almost everything was made by a blacksmith. Laura Faber is forging ahead in our next story with a lifelong blacksmith in Franklin.

- [Laura] You can hear the work from what seems like a mile away. Metal on metal, sparks flying, flames flickering, charcoal-blackened hands. This is the life of a blacksmith.

- [Bob] We're at the Franklin Forge at the factory in historic Franklin, Tennessee.

- [Laura] Since 1976, Bob Parks has been a professional certified blacksmith and farrier and works alongside his pretty shop assistant, Ms. Keebler.

- Started out the Bronze Age and then shoeing too. You know, at one point, everything was made by the blacksmith. You know, I mean, household utilities, tools, parts.

- [Laura] Bob never guessed forging would be his future. As a young man, he headed west to ski and fish and work on ranches, working odd jobs to support his lifestyle. It's when he came across a book titled "The Last of the Mountain Men," written by an MIT professor, that his interest was sparked.

- What drew me to it was what all you can make. You know, everything from hinges to tools. I don't know. It's just endless what you can make. And I found the only school at the time in New Hampshire. So I went to New Hampshire and went through a colonial blacksmith school, six people there. And then when I went back to Montana, nobody really wanted colonial iron work. But I kept getting calls for shoeing as a farrier. So I, I went down to Montana State University, went through their shoeing program and got involved with the associations and started competing. And I was on the US shoeing team in '88 and '90.

- [Laura] His clients with horses started asking Bob to make other things too and he began building a more artistic career, forging commission work.

- They'd see stuff I made and, "Oh, can you do this? And can you do that?" Small fences, things, focal points, door hardware, pot racks, fireplace stuff is big. You know, did a chandelier here not long ago. Actually, I do most than anything that walks in the door.

- It takes steel, an anvil, a hammer and heat to be a blacksmith, but it takes so much more than that. Years of experience to go from this to this.

- I used mild steel primarily, which some people would call wrought iron. It's not really wrought iron, but it's mild steel, 836, for most everything. So I'll be working this between 1800 and 2200 degrees. And you judge the temperature by the color. When this sort of sparks a little bit, that'll be 2300. And so I wanna go just, and you can forge well at that temperature, this will be just below that. And then 1550 is austenite, the critical temperature. Steel becomes non-magnetic. So I have magnets here and that's a dull charity. And then a black heat is black and that's where you get burnt the most. First step is to put a point on here like I'm making a nail. The hotter it is, the softer it is. And the hotter you have it, the longer you can work it. This is a hammer I made and I have teardrop-shaped handle on it. So I know if I'm on the flat or the round without looking. This is what I call my free $2 demo.

- [Laura] Here at Bob's shop at the factory in Franklin, people can watch him work. It's fascinating. Today he demonstrates how he makes a gold-plated leaf used for trivets.

- [Bob] I do that all the time. And it was sort of reversed engineered. After I have all these leaves, what am I gonna do with them? You know? So I started making the trivets and then some hooks and then the candle holders. I like the animal heads and the floral things, just because you don't expect to see that in metal. That's the lateral veins. Now I'm gonna use this treadle hammer right there to do the center vein. Now I'm gonna turn it to gold. Don't I wish. Between 600 and 650 degrees, I can take a $2 brass brush and put a bronze-looking patina on there. This is too hot, so I'm just gonna quench it a little chill the surface, and I'm waiting for the residual heat to come back when it crosses 600 degrees.

- [Laura] Is that awesome?

- I use this $2 brass brush and this one's looking like it needs some work replaced. But yeah, this will melt down there at 6 to 650. And it takes a fair bit of friction.

- [Laura] The Klein family from Brentwood is on spring break and never knew Bob's shop was here till today.

- Wow.

- You made it look so easy.

- [Woman] That's really something.

- [Man] That is so cool.

- [Laura] Jonathan and his daughter Emma in town from Jacksonville, Florida, are equally amazed.

- The hammer did all of that?

- [Laura] Seems that what's old is new again and Bob couldn't be more grateful.

- It's so fun to meet people from all over. People that have ties to blacksmithing or have never seen it. I love coming to work every day. It's exciting for me still to heat something up and play with fire and hit it with a hammer. What could be better?

- A couple of blocks off Beale Street in Memphis. It's an old-fashioned diner called The Arcade, which holds the distinction of being Memphis's oldest cafe. Tammi Arender visited the landmark a while back to find out how this eatery has managed to keep its doors open for so long.

- [Tammi] Step inside The Arcade restaurant in downtown Memphis, and step back into a world where life was slower, cell phones didn't exist, and saturated fat was never spoken.

- Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

- Okay, thank you.

- [Tammi] Harry Zepatos greets his customers with his gracious Greek grin, the third generation to own the oldest restaurant in Memphis, opened by his grandfather in 1919.

- There was a potbelly stove in the middle about right there where you are and they heated and cooked on it. And, you know, business was good. He chose this location 'cause we were right in the middle of three train stations, and the biggest one was across the street and there was one down here and one to the north.

- [Tammi] Situated at the corner of South Main Street in Calhoun Avenue. The building was a small, one-story, wood-frame structure. Harry's grandfather tore it down and built this building in a Greek revival style.

- It was called the Paris Cafe. When he bought it, he changed it to The Arcade right away. He had seen that name in New York and then in Atlanta also. And the connotation then was kinda like, we think of a mall, you know, food people, things, places, stuff to do, that sort of thing. So 10 years or so later, they leased a hotel across the street in that spot right there and changed the name of The Arcade Hotel.

- [Tammi] The last remodel came in the '50s, but the boomerang tabletop booths and the soda fountain remained. You can still get an old-fashioned milkshake. Even Memphis's most famous resident, Elvis, had a special spot.

- And he'd come in this back door right there, and he'd sit with his back to where we are now. And the mirror in front did not have the logo on it. And he'd sit there and he could see who was coming up behind him. And if he had to get out, then he'd run back out the door.

- The King's table is the most popular among out-of-town guests. Like these three ladies who came all the way from Corsicana, Texas. For Debbie Wright, it's worth traveling three states and 500 miles for the chance to sit where Elvis sat.

- Well, we're just big Elvis fans. And he feel like a little bit a part of him and what he experienced and his day-to-day life, that, you know, he was a very famous person, but he was an ordinary guy just like us too, you know?

- [Tammi] Well, what about the food?

- Oh, it was great. Always great. Yeah, it was the best breakfast.

- [Tammi] Besides the biscuits and buttery pancakes, there's also a blue plate lunch each day.

- Lima beans, mashed potatoes. Every Friday we have catfish.

- [Tammi] Mary Dyer has been a part of this kitchen since 1958, making sure that customers are fed the most fabulous southern fair they've ever tasted. The food has been consistent and kept customers coming in, even through the lean times, from the Depression to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, which happened just a block away. Harry's grandfather was told to shut down the restaurant just after the civil rights leader was shot in April of '68.

- National Guard had been called in, I don't think they were there yet, but the place was crawling with folks. You know, you can imagine. And so he went home and then they woke him up about five or six that morning, only an hour or two or three after he'd gotten there and said, "Would you come back and open up? We need food."

- [Tammi] When the National Guard left, the once thriving business started to struggle, but the Zepatos family managed to hang on. And with the rebirth of Memphis' downtown, The Arcade has become one of the city's most popular dining destinations. Harry believes it's because he offers a different experience.

- If you go around town or this city or any other, certainly there's more chains than there are local-owned and operated places. And you can look and I get five restaurant magazines a week probably, so you can thumb through all of these things and go to a design crew at a school somewhere and they're all gonna end up looking the same. They really are. I think we've got our niche here. And it's neat.

- With such a nostalgic feel and an authentic 1950s look, the Arcade has been seen in more than 30 movies. From "Walk The Line" to "The Firm" to "Great Balls of Fire." While movie-making has helped put the mom and pop restaurant back on the map, it's the meals and good deals that keep customers coming back for more.

- [Waiter] Y'all have a good day.

- You too.

- You know, everybody talks about the restaurant being a big deal, and it is, but it's like having a party at your home. It's like you're gonna have 100 people over to your house. You know, you clean and you get ready and you prep for what you're gonna do and you know what you're gonna do, and then you enjoy yourself when it comes. That's all.

- [Tammi] So you still enjoy yourself.

- [Harry] Absolutely. Wouldn't be here if I didn't.

- Well, that's all the time we have for this week. Check us out anytime at TennesseeCrossroads.org or on the PBS app. And remember to join us back here next week. Thanks for watching.

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

- [Speaker] 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. 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] 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. 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.