Episode 3936

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

- [Presenter] 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.

- [Narrator] 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.

- [Host] 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.

- This time on "Tennessee Crossroads," who's hungry? Miranda Cohen heads to Clarksville for a big burger. Cindy Carter takes us kayaking on the Harpeth River. Laura Faber tours at Chattanooga Park full of international art. And Joe Elmore discovers a natural historic getaway near Gordonsville. Well, it's time for us to get away on another episode of "Tennessee Crossroads." Hi, everyone, welcome to the show. I'm Ketch Secor and let's get going. Well, do you have a favorite restaurant from your childhood or maybe a favorite college hangout? See great food that never changes and great folks that always remember your name? Well, coming up in our first story, Miranda Cohen takes us to Clarksville to visit an iconic burger joint that checks all of the boxes.

- [Miranda] When you find yourself in Clarksville, Tennessee, there is a must stop for some very famous food.

- [Customer] It's the best place in Clarksville.

- [Miranda] For nearly six decades, this red brick landmark has served iconic classics to generations. Okay, gentlemen, what's on the menu today?

- Cheeseburgers. Always cheeseburgers. It is just the best diner cheeseburger that you can get at a local spot anytime.

- [Miranda] This is Johnny's Big Burgers on College Street in the heart of Austin Peay territory. It started as a dream for Johnny Meeks way back in 1965, built on great food and great service.

- It's all been a rite of passage to work at the Big Burger. So it is Clarksville's oldest family-owned restaurant, still open.

- [Miranda] Today, owner Justin Meeks is at the helm, and he's happy to uphold the long-standing tasty traditions, serving up early morning until late night eats.

- [Justin] We don't want to get it too complicated, and our bread and butter is obviously our cheeseburgers. We grind our own beef every day, so it's fresh ground daily, and that really makes a difference. You can taste the difference in a fresh ground burger. We patty it out, we cook it on our flat grill. It's 100% beef, we don't do any seasoning. We keep it simple.

- [Miranda] They make it look easy, from these fresh ground pucks to the sizzling stacks, hand-pattied and made to order, and they will serve up about 300 burgers a day.

- [Justin] It's pretty simple, pretty classic. We do mustard, onion, pickle, lettuce, tomato. You can add mayo, but we also have any kind of crazy topping.

- [Miranda] Bacon, fried eggs, and jalapenos are just a few of the ways you can top off these savory sensations. Served up with sides of crispy goodness. A steady stream of loyals has packed these red booths since their childhood or their college days, stopping in for a hearty breakfast, a big bold burger, a towering club, or even a cheeseburger steak. And for many, there is no need for a menu and no need to order. The friendly staff just seems to know.

- This is the first place that I can actually remember ever eating at, 'cause I don't have to put an order in. They already know what I want every time I come in.

- Perhaps the biggest surprise here at Johnny's Big Burgers is something locals know very well. They have a terrific dessert. They know it as the bun and cream. Thank you, Justin, but everyone else knows it as the honey bun and ice cream. And it is a signature here at Johnny's.

- [Customer] The honey bun and ice cream is the staple.

- So the honey bun and ice cream is a very unique dessert to Johnny's Big Burger. Grilled honey bun is a little Debbie cinnamon bun that you'd buy at a gas station. However, when we grill it on our flat grill, it caramelizes the sugar, which hardens it, and then we put that on a plate and throw a scoop of ice cream on top of that. It changes the complexity of it 100%.

- [Customer] He throws it on the grill, gets it hot, gets it crisp, crisp on both sides, puts on a plate. Then they put a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it and just starts, you know, just starts to melt away. You know, you gotta cut into it and get ice cream and honey bun all at the same time, and it's fantastic.

- The honey bun and ice cream.

- Everyone talks about the bun and cream. It's the same faces every time you come in here, right? So it's just cool, it's unique, local. They support Clarksville.

- [Miranda] And these Governors are convinced, eating the same thing in the same booth is a must stop on the road to victory.

- Obviously, we have our red on Austin Peay, new tradition, maybe we're superstitious, come to breakfast every game day. We've been doing that for about five games now.

- [Miranda] But the real winning combination seems to be in the dedicated and caring staff, serving up the comfort food folks grew up on. The classics you love, served by the people you know, and the tradition will continue.

- [Customer] They're so wonderful here. It's not just the food that brings you back over and over and over again, but the people that work here are just incredible. It's like no place, no place else.

- [Justin] Generations coming in and bringing their children in, it's super fulfilling to see that. You know, Johnny, he put his whole life into this business and built a customer base over 50 years, working every single day in here, and I'm proud to carry that tradition on.

- Thanks, Miranda. Students at Austin Peay are lucky to have that nearby. Now, let's get outside and burn off some of those burger calories. The famous environmentalist, John Muir, once said that in every walk with nature, one receives far more than he or she seeks. That also goes for paddling through nature as Cindy Carter recently discovered with her trusty kayak on the beautiful Harpeth River near Kingston Springs, Tennessee.

- [Cindy] In a busy world, the path to enter peace just may be a peaceful waterway, one that meanders through Middle Tennessee. The Harpeth River is that mostly gentle ride that beckons kayakers, canoers, anglers, and anyone else longing to unplug. A day on the Harpeth is a beautiful alternative to the daily grind.

- Life is hard enough, and if you can find a place, where you can find solace or peace, even in everything that's going on in the world today, we can come here and it seems like nothing is going on at all.

- [Cindy] Jennifer Englin and Paige Sigmund are frequent floaters on the Harpeth.

- Yes, I like the scenery. I like that it's constantly flowing.

- [Cindy] The ladies join a multitude of locals, who never pass up the opportunity to slow things down.

- [Jennifer] We prefer to get into a flowing river, so that we don't have to worry about actually paddling. So we get out here to just relax and enjoy ourselves, and talk about life and solve all the world's problems.

- [Cindy] The Harpeth stretches more than 100 miles. Its proximity to Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee means plenty of people test these waters, where the river flows through Cheatham, Davidson, and Williamson Counties.

- There's like enough rapids to where it's fun, but it's not like overly, not like too much for some people.

- [Cindy] The Harpeth's fun-for-all-ages reputation

- Foggy Bottom.

- [Cindy] Keeps kayak and canoe rental businesses like Foggy Bottom, pretty busy.

- Could you also give me your phone number, please?

- [Cindy] Especially in the summertime.

- On a average summer day, you could describe it as a big wide creek because 99% of it, you could wade it, and there's a few places over your head, but most of it is waist deep.

- [Cindy] Owner, Pat Hutcherson, started with six canoes and never dreamed her little business would grow this big. Her employee, Mason Smith, says, "These days, people from everywhere want to play on the Harpeth."

- The majority are family, but we do have some, you know, country folk that come out and just wanna have fun. And then city people who've never done it before, and that's the most interesting. We even have some people out of the country who come here and it's really fun.

- Ugh, just out of balance, okay.

- The steady stream of paddlers launch into the river and let the current carry them away for as long as they like. The Harpeth is scenic. No, truly it is. The state has officially designated it as so. And not only that, this river has played a significant role in Tennessee's rich history. For hundreds of years, the Harpeth was an important resource for Native Americans. Later, the area's iron industry grew strong along its banks. The river also played a prominent role in the Battle of Franklin. Though time moved on beyond the Harpeth's banks, when you're on the water, it seems to stand still.

- [Mason] When you're on the river, it's just no one has anything to worry about because they're just thinking like, "Oh, we're just on the river." They're not worried about work or school, or anything like that.

- [Cindy] Our "Tennessee Crossroads" crew wholeheartedly agrees. This assignment felt little like work and more like fun as we captured the sounds and sights this river is famous for.

- There's a lot of hawks that fly by. I've seen tons of turtles on the logs, it's really cute. A few snakes I don't wanna see, but there's been a lot of wildlife.

- If you go early, you'll see the deer and all the, you know, the cranes. What else? Ground high, you'll see everything. Oh, and the bald eagles. That's what you'll see if you go early.

- [Cindy] And as cool as the critters and changing scenery can be, it's also fun to cool off and take a dip whenever the mood strikes, or pull over for a picnic on a gravel bar, or sit back and soak up the sun. Simple pleasures are simply the best.

- [Jennifer] Fish flopping is a sound for me personally that I find to be very therapeutic. That little noise that they make when they flip over. So it's just fun to be out in wildlife.

- [Cindy] So when you feel like leaving the fast track, the scenic Harpeth River is only a stone's throw away. The gentle journey past wildlife and picturesque scenery could be the escape you're looking for.

- Hey, thanks, Cindy. Looks like a great way to cool off as the days get warmer. Well, when we travel the state, sometimes, we run across a place that we assume everyone must know about, but we're often surprised by how few actually do. Well, Laura Faber found such a place while traveling through Chattanooga recently. A peaceful oasis in the middle of the city and full of international art.

- [Laura] In the shadow of Lookout Mountain in downtown Chattanooga, in the heart of an industrial area, sits 33 acres full of art, sculptures from renowned artists from around the world.

- Welcome to Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. It's a vision of John and Pamela Henry. It's owned by the city of Chattanooga. This is actually a Chattanooga public park that was deeded to the city in the early 1900s by Mary Montague as a remembrance to her husband. And this used to be just a spectacular, beautiful piece of property with live trees, live oaks, and hickory trees, a creek running through it. And she dedicated this piece of land to the city for the city residents to have an oasis and a place of peace and calm within the city of Chattanooga.

- [Laura] Board member, Jay Haviland, says that progress was not kind to the park. At one point, the city used it as a landfill and it became a brownfield, an environmental hazard. It was actually shut down in 2003. But in 2006, the idea was born by an internationally acclaimed sculptor, the late John Henry, to transform this acreage with art.

- I think now, it's a surprise to most people when they come out here and they're like, "This is amazing." And it is amazing.

- After years of environmental repair, texturing of the land, and John Henry asking his sculptor friends to help fill the park, Sculpture Fields opened to the public in 2016. Now, it is the largest sculpture park in the southeast. The first installation in the park is the work of John Henry himself. This is Bette Davis Eye, 70 feet of steel, his medium of choice. But it didn't take long for one sculpture to become 40, and the park continues to grow. The most monumental piece in the park is Anchors by Peter Lundberg. At 75 feet tall, it can be seen from the interstate.

- [Jay] It was done a few years ago as a reaction to the Fallen Five when we had the incident, where the military recruiting officers were attacked here by a gunman and he killed five local officers. And so the community came together and did various Fallen Five remembrances, and John had one of his friends come down here and construct this, actually, in the park and then lifted and put it in place. There's a time capsule underneath it and a remembrance for the Fallen Five.

- [Laura] The park is open 365 days a year, free, and all are welcome, pets and kids included.

- Rowan, do you remember the name of this one?

- Yes.

- Lime Green Wedding Cake.

- [Christopher] Lime Green Wedding Cake.

- Christopher Stewart is leading an annual summer camp at the park.

- The kids have really like adopted this park as their own, which I find awesome. Chloe, you gonna crawl underneath it? So just about every week, we do a tour of the statues. And then normally on Friday, they want to go do a second lap of everything. They've got their own names for them all. They love the little maps, being able to, you know, try to figure out where they are. We've done some stuff with some compasses and landmarks as far as using the sculptures. They think they're great. They like trying to figure out what they look like. The statue's called Least Amount of Space. Let's see who can curl up into the smallest ball and take up the least amount of space. Who can take up the least amount of space?

- [Laura] As a nonprofit, the park relies on donations, a skeleton staff and volunteers to maintain the sculptures. It offers spectacular fundraising events like the Burn.

- It's like a Burning Man celebration, where we have a local artist creates a small maquette of what we intend to build. And then he builds a large 20, 30-foot version of it. And we have bands out here and fire eaters and fire parade, and we get a large crowd. And at 10 o'clock at night, we light it on fire. And it takes a half an hour for the thing to burn completely up and crumble to the ground.

- [Laura] Sculpture Fields at Montague Park is a vibrant space to find peace, art, and community.

- [Jay] I think it's a beautiful gift to the community. I think this fulfills the Montague dream. The Montague family members that we know that are still in town think this is a beautiful use of the land and they support it very much, and we're glad to have their support and we hope they're proud of it as we are for the legacy of Mary Montague, who started all this.

- Thank you, Laura. What a collection of unique art. Well, we'll wrap things up today with a story about a peaceful, pristine getaway in a remote location not far from Nashville. Now it's surrounded by natural beauty and is a dream come true for a former corporate hospitality executive.

- Growing up in the north, I call it a hollow, but my neighbors, when I first purchased it, reminded me that I'm in the south and it's actually a holler, but I still call it a hollow.

- [Joe] Since 2014, David Yakes has been proud overseer of Butterfly Hollow, here in a storybook setting on 85 secluded acres of Smith County. It has what you might call a combination of simple charm, casual elegance, and natural inspiration.

- The home is a 1899 farm home, 125 years old, and it was restored from a couple that we purchased it from in 2014. And they did a wonderful job restoring the home, bringing it back to life, and the property. And we purchased it and transformed it into a year-round, three-room bed and breakfast and small wedding venue.

- [Joe] The wood interior of the home is poplar and cedar, all harvested right here on the property.

- So I always joke, if we can figure out a way for wood to talk, we'd have days of stories to listen to. So the rooms are named after the three kids. Our first floor room, which is probably the most popular room, is Layton's Porch. What makes it popular is it has its own screened-in porch. It gives a little opportunity to have your own space and enjoy the property by yourself. We have two rooms upstairs. One is Alexandra's attic, which is the oldest child, and then we have Christopher's tree house. And it's the room over the kitchen, overlooking the family room or the sitting room, kind of give you that tree house feel. Each room has their own bathroom, one queen bed, so we can accommodate two guests per room.

- [Joe] In 2017, David added a new cabin to the property separate from the main house. It's designed for visitors looking for a roomier vacation home away from home.

- [David] It is a two-bedroom, two-bath log cabin to allow people, who want that vacation rental experience to come and have their own space, do their own cooking, bring a friend or another couple with them or family members and enjoy Butterfly Hollow, have their own piece of serenity on the backside of the property. And what makes it unique is the logs are actually made out of concrete.

- [Joe] By the way, David's wife, Beth Ann, is a full-time physician at Vanderbilt Hospital. So needless to say, this guy wears quite a variety of hats.

- The behind the scenes of sales and marketing, the shopping for food, fixing an electrical outlet on top of cooking breakfast, having weddings, cleaning rooms, and then occasionally sitting on one of these chairs and just taking all this in, and remembering this is a stress-free environment.

- [Joe] Of course, during warm weather months at Butterfly Hollow, you'll find an abundance of the B&B's namesakes.

- They appear every year towards the end of May, early June. They come in Groves and then they kind of die off a little, reducing numbers. And then we get another, what I'd like to call a second hatching, a recurrence about mid-July. Of course, we're entering now the vegetable garden. And I like to refer to as my farm to table version to where we have tomatoes, corn, zucchini, squash, all used for breakfast. Or when they're in overabundance there, I've giving away as parting gifts.

- [Joe] Speaking of food, David's got hungry guests waiting for breakfast, and the culinary work is one of those hats he wears well.

- Little ham and cheese omelet. This morning was just a good all-American breakfast. Ham and cheese omelet, hash browns, of course, bacon to make it all healthy, and then the fruit. We had a combination of fresh fruit in a yogurt parfait breakfast, all-American. I always like to say, I'm either Denny's or IHOP or Cracker Barrel on steroids. We don't do fancy breakfasts, but I'm from the north, so we have to have a little meat and potato.

- It's cheesy.

- Mm-hmm.

- This gazebo is a popular attraction for many visitors. You see, they're the ones who come all the way to Butterfly Hollow to tie the knot.

- I underestimated the demand on small, intimate outdoor weddings. We do a lot of elopements, where they stay as guests that night. They get married during the day and will spend the night, and leave as husband and wife. And we have a variety of packages. If you just wanna show up and say I do, or you can spend a night or two and have 30 of your closest family members and friends here, and we'll do the ceremony and dinner in our open air barn that sits behind me.

- [Joe] Whether they come for a romantic escape with or without the wedding, or just a peaceful getaway, Butterfly Hollow has received rave reviews from visitors.

- Every day is different. I mean, that's pretty cliche, but because of the amount of people that I do see, whether it's bed and breakfast guests, whether it's wedding guests, from all over the country and even international, a day doesn't go by that you don't meet someone new or create a new friendship.

- [Joe] It's a far cry from the hectic world of corporate hospitality. But David Yakes has never looked back. Not since acquiring his own welcoming wooded sanctuary to share with guests, and of course, the butterflies.

- Well, thanks to the late great Joe Elmore. Wow, what beautiful scenery there. Folks, that's gonna wrap it up for us this week, but be sure to check out our website at tennesseecrossroads.org to see all your favorite stories. Find us on the PBS app and be sure to join us here again next week. See you all then.

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

- [Presenter] 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.

- [Narrator] 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.