Episode 3932

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- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads" Miranda Cohen visits some animals you don't see every day in this area. Vicki Yates takes us to a popular Fayetteville food spot. Laura Faber gets the scoop behind a brewery in Mount Pleasant. And Ed Jones takes us to a popular art gallery in Leiper's Fork. Talk about a beautiful show. Howdy everyone. I am Ketch Secor welcoming you to another episode of "Tennessee Crossroads." We all know you can see some beautiful wildlife in Tennessee. Sure, we have deer, elk, black bears, and we even had a very famous zebra a while back. Well, did you know that over the years, more than 30 elephants have also called the volunteer state home? Miranda Cohen travels to Hohenwald to find them.

- [Miranda] They are not exactly who you might think you would see in Tennessee, but for more than three decades, these Asian and African elephants have made their home here in Hohenwald.

- So in 30 years, we've had a total of 36 elephants live here at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. And we went from 110 acres and we now have over 3000 acres. We have 3060 specifically.

- We like to say we run on elephant time around here.

- [Miranda] A peaceful landscape that mimics their native homeland. It provides tranquility, the very best of medical care and a never ending supply of bamboo and native vegetation. Kristy Eaker is the senior manager of elephant care here at the Elephant Sanctuary.

- We have 14 currently. So we have a mixture of African and Asian. So the ones you see behind me are four of our Asian population.

- [Miranda] Tennessee's largest residents are finding a very happy next chapter. Most coming from lives, hopefully even an elephant can completely forget.

- They come here from so many different backgrounds. Some of them are rescue situations, some of them are retired from being on display at a zoo. Some may have performed in a circus. Helping them learn to gain trust again, helping them to learn to manage in a space that they may have never had before. Watch them swim in a pond, knock down a tree, graze on grasses, it's really rewarding. It's truly the most important part of our job.

- [Miranda] A dedicated staff of caregivers and a specialized veterinary team has formed a strong and nurturing bond. These gentle giants willingly check in for medical care and of course a few treats.

- We have so many different aspects of care that we give these elephants. They're geriatric so we do have to provide a lot of skincare, healthcare, foot care. And they really get to choose. They get to choose who they wanna spend their time with, what yard they wanna go into that day. They can choose if they wanna come inside versus stay outside. So we like to give them as much autonomy as we can.

- [Miranda] Their only job now is to just be elephants. They are known as a keystone species. So important to the ecosystem, they will customize their own terrain, and in this case creating savannahs here in Lewis County.

- [Laura] We have seen our elephants do just that, pushing down trees, digging wallows, things like that. The elephants have really made that property and that habitat space their own.

- [Miranda] The Elephant Sanctuary is a true sanctuary, one of only two in the country. And it is not open to the public. But you can learn about the elephants at this spacious, interactive elephant discovery center on East Main Street where Laura Roddy is the education manager.

- So the Elephant Discovery Center is a museum space in downtown Hohenwald. My favorite part of the Elephant Discovery Center is these live cameras that are just showing what the elephants are up to at any given time. These podiums behind me are noises and how elephants communicate.

- [Miranda] 14 elephants are roaming these pills today ranging from 31 to 63 years old, all with their own interest and needs. A massive fencing system, keeps them safely within the habitat and solar panels will keep five barns for the parade made up of 12 ladies and two large males.

- And I always thought Flora was huge. She's this 85, 9,000 pound elephant. And then I saw Artie for the first time and I was like, "Whoa, he's big." And then Osh came more recently and he is even bigger. They are larger. They're stronger. So the fences have to be larger and stronger and the barns have to be taller. So our facilities also have to meet their needs and grow with them as well.

- Here at the Elephant Sanctuary, everyone wants to know how they can help. And there are plenty of ways. They do take lots of donations. They take tires, they take pumpkins. The elephants think they are wonderful treats. They will take tree branches from your yard and their favorite thing they love, they love your old Christmas tree.

- We also do a big Christmas tree drive after the Christmas season. So that's hugely popular. We get thousands of trees donated and it is also a favorite treat of theirs. Anything that you're gonna cut off in your yard, such as trimming your tree, you have a company coming out to trim the trees in your yard, we would love to have that. So elephants eat, browse all day long. It's one of the main parts of their diet.

- [Miranda] The Elephant Sanctuary is a safe haven devoted to conservation and preservation. And yes, these elephants are large in stature, but the impact the sanctuary is having is even larger. Bringing awareness to wildlife around the globe.

- The first part is to provide elephants with lifetime care and both African and Asian elephants. Number two is conservation and welfare. So conservation here locally within our facility, but also internationally and around the world. And number three is education. I hope that we're able to touch and help elephants around the world every single day because elephants aren't from Tennessee, but we can give them a home here and we can help the elephants around the world that are facing extinction because they are endangered species. And so we can help educate the next generation on how they can help elephants on a bigger scale.

- Thanks Miranda. Wow, what a fascinating place. Well, next, how many of you know that the Tennessee State fruit is a tomato, the state beverage, milk. But what you might not know is that Tennessee also has a state food and Vicki Yates traveled to Fayetteville to tell us all about it.

- [Vicki] Here's something you might not have known. The state of Tennessee has official state foods. No surprise that hot chicken is one of them. But you might not have heard that hot slaw has also been given the official thumbs up. And it's here on the square in Fayetteville where say the legend began. Honey's restaurant first opened its doors in 1923 as a pool hall. Manager Lee McAllister explains how that led to a whole new taste sensation.

- Well, it started here in 1923. My great-grandfather, he was from Oklahoma and he moved to Fayetteville and he started back in those days what's called a pool room. And as that business grew, that was the days before television. So you know, men would get bored at night and they'll visit come play pool. And he got so successful he started feeding them. And he came up with a pool room slaw is what it's known as today. And it was a hit from day one, home run. And he made a lot of money.

- [Vicki] Now, what was in this pool room slaw that drew everybody here?

- [Lee] It's basically a cabbage, vinegar, sugar, salt and mustard. And it's simple. And the vinegar is a preservative.

- [Vicki] Now I know there are a lot of restaurants in the area that claim to be, they started the hot slaw, but you started, your business started.

- [Lee] His name was Weston James Stubblefield. He started it. But basically, you know, to answer that, we could innovate quicker than imitate. It never wavers. It's gonna be the same today as it was in 1923. And you know, I don't know much about the hot chicken, I like it. But the slaw is something that will be here a hundred years after I'm gone.

- [Vicki] And while you're waiting on your hot slaw, never frozen burger or hamburger steak to be prepared, you can take a look at some of the history and the photos that cover the walls.

- [Lee] Those pool racks, they've been here since day one. And I said, "I'm not getting rid of 'em." But you know, we got things on the wall like the George Jones, the Kenny Chesney, a young man there that's a superstar for the 49ers, Jauan Jennings. You got him on the wall. Of course got Bear Bryant, another young man who played at UT and the Admiral Kelso over there.

- [Vicki] It's safe to say most of those celebrities came here to sample those hot slaw burgers. Much like New York's Nathan's hot dog eating contest, Honey's Restaurant also had an eating contest for hot foods, hot slaw burgers that is, and whoever ate the most got to take this baby home, at least for the day.

- And you'd just be shocked how people would come from all over the world. The prize ended up pretty good. My last year doing it was $500 for the main champion. The last guy that was here ate 29 burgers.

- [Vicki] In one sitting?

- 29. How could you do that?

- [Vicki] I don't know. Was he sick when...

- [Lee] I don't know. I don't know. But he ate 29 burgers and it still stands as a record.

- [Vicki] And combine Lee's love of wrestling with the Hot Slaw Burger and you'll find the contest was the impetus behind these three wrestling belts. Members of Lee's family have worked at Honey since the very beginning and he hopes the tradition continues.

- [Lee] You know, I don't know. I know I'm getting to where, you know, I'll probably do it till I pass, but I hope somebody takes it over and does 10 times better than I've done. But I've had a good run. I really have. Best friend, Ben.

- Love you my friend.

- Well, thanks Vicki. Hot slaw. Who knew? Well, the subject of our next story started as a home brew club back in 2013 between six friends in Summertown. The next step was to open their own craft brewery and tap room. Laura Faber takes us to a place in Maury County where the brew club has become quite popular.

- [Forest] We bought a home brew kit and we made it together and we kept on doing that.

- [Laura] Craft beer lovers will do almost anything for a local interesting flavor brew. At this local taproom in Maury County, that couldn't be more true for six guys who were friends first and now businessmen.

- So we are in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee at Twisted Copper Brewing Company.

- [Laura] Co-owner and taproom manager Forest Cheney says it started as a home brew club in 2013 out on the farm in Summertown where most of them still live.

- We would bottle it and mostly drink it for ourselves. Sometimes we would serve it at at parties. Being home brewers, we couldn't actually sell our beer, so that was off the table. But we were making it just 'cause we wanted it and we wanted to be able to share it with people and like I said, have a good beer.

- [Laura] Of those six, one actually had some experience. Jonathan Hatcher, also a co-owner of Twisted Copper, started making his own beer in college.

- Yeah, I mean that was terrible beer, but I was making it and some people drank it.

- [Laura] Once in Summertown, the beer got better and better and people would show up whenever the light was on in the brew shed.

- So we started making the beer we wanted and that quickly evolved 'cause we found ourselves making beer for more than just ourselves 'cause everybody else liked to drink it too and the community supported us in that aspect and we ended up accruing a lot more equipment than we had really thought we would do as home brewers until the point where there was not another step except to be commercial. At that time, it brought people together. It was a good time when we were making it. It was a good time when we were processing it and it was a good time when we were drinking it. So it was kind of a no-brainer in that aspect.

- [Dave] You get malted grain, you mill it and then you mash it in hot water, extract the sugars and whatnot from it, boil that in a kettle and add flavoring hops and things to it and then put it in a fermentor and add yeast to it and that yeast creates alcohol. Pretty much all of 'em are important for each style of beer. Different things with the water and the grain and the hops you tweak in each different style of beer.

- [Laura] Dave Weaverling, co-owner and head brewer, says today they make beer and seltzers at Twisted Copper. In fact, some of the beers he originally made back on the farm still exist.

- That sweet potato ale that's on there, we've made that for a long time. I wanted to create my own IPA, so that double IPA that we have on tap, that's several steps beyond what I was making back then, but that's the result of it.

- [Laura] Dave is also responsible for the name of the tap room, Twisted Copper. It had to do with the piece of equipment he felt they needed and couldn't afford so he made one.

- Twisted Copper came from that first mangled wort chiller that I made and they made fun of me for it, but it made better beer.

- It was hideous. I mean, it was physically like looking at it, it was just kind of revolting. It was a work of modern art. It somehow leaked, even though it was metal. It got oxidized immediately, so it was green. It hardly worked. And so we named the business after it.

- Here at Twisted Copper, they don't serve their beer flights in a traditional flight paddle, a beer flight is a selection of beers. Instead they use vintage lunchboxes and there's a whole story behind that. Here's mine, thank you Forest, what do we have?

- So I got you a Helles, an amber ale, sweet potato ale, cherry sour, pistachio nut brown, and a double IPA.

- And what is the lunchbox today?

- The Grateful Dead.

- Grateful Dead, thank you.

- Enjoy. We ran out of time before we opened. So the day we opened, I ran out to an antique store and I found four lunchboxes. I said, we can serve flights in this for tonight. And we were doing that that night and people fell in love with it immediately and we're kind of stuck doing the lunchbox flight now. We've only ever bought four lunchboxes and the rest have just been given to us because people love the idea so much. [Laura] People love the tap room itself, built by these six friends who did everything from putting in the lights and walk-in freezer to tearing down an old house to get the wood for the bar and tables and blackened it by blowtorch. Customers also love the beer. What is the most popular today like from Twisted Copper from your brewery here?

- Well, that'd be the Helles. People come in sometimes, they ask, do you have anything that tastes like beer? And in my head I say, "I don't know what you're talking about," but on the outside I say, "Yes, we have a Helles."

- [Laura] Twisted Copper has become a gathering place on Main Street in Mount Pleasant, a small but growing town. Even the mayor of Mount Pleasant will pay a visit now and again. So your favorite part of all this, John, is what?

- Probably when I get to walk up to the taps and choose which beer, like that's real nice. And remembering to drink a beer that I haven't had in a long time 'cause I mean, we have 18 taps up there.

- We still think it's a crazy idea. Every day it feels like we're falling through space, but we're persevering. We really do love doing this. It drives us crazy sometimes, but we're working towards something that's gonna hopefully better ourselves and the community.

- Thanks Laura. And Twisted Copper recently added a second location on East Fifth Street in Columbia, so be sure to visit them there also. Well, in our final story, few things have the power to affect us the way art and literature can. Images and words can inspire greatness, cause despair, or bring us joy. Ed Jones met a Leiper's Fork artist who combines images and the written word to bring about a sense of peace in the viewer. Here's the story of David Arms.

- [David] If I had to sum up my work and one word, it would be hope. People just they're hungry for it. They're longing for it. And I just think that something deep down there's that strong desire for.

- [Ed] Hope Springs Eternal from the artwork of David Arms arriving a bit late to the world of painting, the native east Tennessean made up for lost time. And now uses his talents to share positivity with a world sorely lacking it, but success didn't happen overnight. As a matter of fact, his first work was less about finding peace and more of a way.

- To decorate the house, honestly, that one didn't have to meet a whole lot of inspiration. It was years down the road I started being inspired by the things I loved and things meant something to me.

- [Ed] You can find many things close to David's heart in and around his gallery in the picture ask Hamlet of Leiper's Fork.

- Well, nature's a big, big inspiration. I've loved nature since I was a kid still to this day, I just, I mean, all of it. There are a couple of birds I use for specific reason and one isn't hummingbird. You see those a lot. And you know, I see those as us just perpetual motion, but then the first time I ever saw one light on a lamb, I remember it so clearly. I'd never seen a still hummingbird and it was shocking. It was, I thought, "Wow, that is us, we almost don't know what to do when we stop." And then another one is, I use the bobwhite quail a lot. You'll see it on the outside of the gallery. It's almost a logo for me now. That's, it's just a sentimental bird. My dad raised bird dogs and we trained them to point quail. And so they were a part of life there. You heard quail all the time where I was from. I look at them and use them as us, as humans and our busy-ness and taking care of home, building home. Watch them, I do see us. And so really the scenarios are created in paintings are reflecting us.

- [Ed] Many of David's works, combine his love of nature with his love of the written word.

- Sometimes I'll use a single word just to promote thought. One word could stimulate all different thoughts in people. Even in short form, they can really stimulate someone's thought, because it's where they are in life of how they're gonna receive a word. One that you'll see is simply, "Be still and know." And it's been amazing to me that that is the thing that resonates with people the most, until I really think it through. And I think it's the thing people long for. They really do wish for that, but in this busy-ness, it's hard to make that happen.

- [Ed] David son-in-law Blake, manages the gallery, which has become a reflection of the artist himself.

- We're humbled by this, most people kind of call it a sanctuary, it's just a place where people can hopefully relax from the stress of everyday life, which is intentional, but it's just always humbling to know and see that people actually experienced that. He's always thinking of new things to create other than just artwork, but things created from his artwork. It's kind of become this, what we would consider a lifestyle brand. There's the sign on the gallery that under David Arms reads, "Art, style, living". Those three words kind of sum up the brand as a whole. A lot of people consider it kind of a sanctuary.

- I wanted it to be like, instead of walking into a sterile gallery, that when you walk in that door, it's like walking into my living room , we just want people to be, if they want to come sit in the chairs and just take in nature. Sit by the fire, where fires going when the weather allows it. But yeah, it's all about feeling more like home than a gallery.

- Leiper's Fork is just a unique place. We talk about it often. There's not a lot of places like this left in the country with this unique charm and eclectic. And I mean, we're only 30, 35 minutes from Nashville, depending on traffic, but it feels like you're in a completely different world.

- We just want to be something that offers a bright spot, healing spot, whatever for people that just need it. We don't have to know why they needed it or anything. It's just, we just feel like that's part of our mission. Our calling here is to provide it. And if we can just be that a moment to breathe in a day, if they walk in this door down discouraged or just overwhelmed by turning on the news, that there can be something to bring a sense of peace and definitely leave them with a sense of hope. Then I would feel like I've done all that I wanted to do.

- Great story. Thanks Ed. And thank you all for joining us this week. That's all the time we have for now, but be sure to check out our website, tennesseecrossroads.org for more of your favorite stories. Watch us on the PBS app and check back in with us next time. See you then.

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

- [Presenter] 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 fun.

- [presenter] Discover Tennessee Trails and 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.