Episode 4009

- [Narrator 1] Tennessee Crossroads is brought to you in part by...

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- [Narrator 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.

- This week on Tennessee Crossroads, I'll take you on a sailing adventure right here in middle Tennessee. Miranda Cohen visits a farm with some special animals. Laura Faber eats well near Memphis and will go back to 1996 with Joe Elmore for a look at the Pink Palace in Memphis. Well, hi everyone, and thanks for joining us on our trip across Tennessee. I'm Ketch Secor, and we better get a move on. Well, these days, there are a lot of ways to get from point A to point B, planes, trains, even driverless cars, if you can imagine. But sometimes it's nice to slow down, take it easy, and just let the wind take you where you want to go in one of my personal favorite modes of transportation. Well, it's a good day to be out here.

- It's going to be a good day.

- It seems that there's no place John Summers would rather be than here, at Hamilton Sailboat Marina in Nashville on a warm summer's day, as long as he can find some wind.

- I've sailed out of Hamilton Creek Marina for 40 years, since the 1980s.

- [Ketch] So we load up the boat, cast off the lines, and head out of the marina. But for John and his daughter, Hayden, most trips out on the water aren't pleasure cruises. He is the owner of Sail Nashville, the only American Sailing Association affiliated sailing school in Tennessee.

- Clip it back through.

- Yeah, I can see it.

- [Hayden] Put your whole body into it.

- [Ketch] Boy, y'all ain't lying.

- [Hayden] And you're like two thirds of the way up.

- There you go about 10 feet.

- [John] I think you got it.

- And just like that, we're sailing. Okay, you guys getting that jib coming up?

- [John] And I just saw a need because most of the time you have to travel to Florida or someplace else to get your ASA, American Sailing Association certification, which is kind of the gold standard of instruction. So I just hoped that there was enough demand in the first year when we started this. Russell worked me through the permit process with Metro Parks and I thought we'd maybe have 30, 40 students the first year and we had about 90. During COVID, it expanded to where you had as many as 200 students. A lot of people wanted to get out of the house, had always wanted to learn to sail.

- The courses offered range from a four day sailing 101 class all the way to more advanced curriculum where a would-be sailor can master things like sailing in the open ocean and even living aboard their boat.

- [John] This is a certification course. So when you complete these courses, you will earn a certification. You demonstrate that you've learned enough through the textbook and through our lectures, and then you perform the procedures that we teach you, the skills out on the boat. You'll earn a certification, which is recognized by charter companies all over the world.

- [Ketch] And John says that learning on Percy Priest Lake, as his students do, can prepare the future captain just as well, if not better than if they were to learn on the ocean.

- The wind shifts a lot more. It's not as consistent as if you're someplace like Southwest Florida where you're close to the trades and you get a pretty standard consistent wind hour in and hour out. So it's more of a challenge here, but we learn the same procedures. We learn the same drills. We learned all the same principles that you would learn anywhere else.

- Hayden says she likes this course, so we're just going to head right towards Raccoon Island.

- Bear Island.

- Sorry, bear.

- Although there's no bears on it. There's definitely raccoons living there.

- Oh, maybe that's why I've been calling it Raccoon Island. It's called Bear.

- Yeah, it's because it's shaped like a bear. If you look at it on a map, the island is shaped like a bear.

- Over the years, Sail Nashville has even evolved into a family affair.

- My youngest daughter, Hayden, has been sailing. When I say sailing, I mean being the captain of her own boat since she was about five or six years old.

- So the wind has shifted back to the west a little bit, so let's head back up wind. So yeah, tilt towards me a little bit.

- [John] Ready about?

- Ready about. Good. I'm going to back win this. One, two, three. There we go.

- And as an instructor now, Hayden is helping to bring more future sailors into what might be their new obsession. Now your dad was telling me that Sail Nashville has now taught a thousand young sailors or new sailors.

- Yep. Yep. We've been doing this since 2018, so it's been eight years now. So we've got about a thousand students so far.

- [Ketch] And almost every one of those thousand students has one thing in common.

- [John] Well, for many people, myself included, sailing is almost a transcendental experience. You're out on the water with the wind moving. You think of all those people over the centuries who sailed across the ocean. And we may be just on a lake, but it's an exciting experience that gives you a connection with nature, to God, to your spiritual inner being. I don't care if you're 20 years old, 40 years old, 60 years old. When you come out here and you first learn to sail, it's like a child getting a new present.

- That was it.

- [John] It's just terribly exciting watching people just kind of discover their inner joy with being out in the water, feeling the boat, moving, the water slapping on the sides, and feeling the wind in your face. It's an incredibly unique experience.

- Sailing courses are available through the end of October, so please check out their website if you're interested. I sure am. Well, the definition of a fable is a very short story with a very important lesson at the end. And coming up in our next story, Miranda Cohen travels to Christiana to meet a talented couple who through their efforts, are helping some special farm animals write their own happy ending.

- [Miranda] These sprawling seven acres in Christiana look like a page out of a storybook.

- Come on guys. Hey.

- [Miranda] Lush Green Meadows filled with happy, frolicking animals. Aptly named the Fabled Farm. April Hollingsworth and her husband, Brian Krieger, never set out to rescue hundreds of animals. In fact, until they met 11 years ago, Brian had never even had a pet.

- I've never had animals my entire life. And I met her and she had four dogs and a cat, and immediately from there, I loved having animals.

- Fabled Farm was not meant to be a rescue. We just moved to the country from East Nashville planning on having a few horses. We started with just a few rescue horses and we weren't going to do pigs. We weren't going to do kittens, but best laid plans.

- [Miranda] It may have started accidentally, but their deep connection to all animals turned into a very special place where more than 700 farm animals have gotten a second chance. The Fabled Farm is named for their gentle friend to everybody, rescue dog Fable. It is a rescue and farm sanctuary for donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, kittens, and horses.

- The majority are owner surrenders. They are coming from older couples that are maybe moving away from the farm and they just want to make sure their animals are safe and cared for. We do have some abuse cases that come in as well, and they're coming from some difficult situations. They immediately relax as soon as they get here. It's truly like they do know they are safe. They're finally safe. They can settle in. And some of the ones that come in very scared and afraid, they seem to relax almost immediately and calm down, want pets, you know, from animals that have never been handled before. It's amazing to see that transformation, them actually start to feel safe and at home and recover from whatever they had going on.

- [Brian] The donkeys, you just, you really have to gain their trust and working with them is just so rewarding at the end of the day.

- [Miranda] The Fabled Farm is a nonprofit relying on donations and a team of volunteers. All of these gentle creatures will be fed, housed, farriered and seen by a team of veterinarians.

- [April] So every new species that's come in, we've had to learn about them specifically and what they needed, how they need to be fed, the medications, vaccinations, care that they need. It's all been a learning process.

- [Miranda] And the end goal is to re-home these animals to be cherished members of the family.

- The farm animals, they're going to pet homes. So these are not production animals. They can't be used for breeding or for slaughter. They are just to be loved on and spoiled. We've had almost 700 animals come through the rescue program and we've adopted out almost 500. The rest have stayed as part of our sanctuary program as needed, and some of them come in to the sanctuary program and then progress on to being adoptable eventually, and some need to stay forever.

- This particular area of fabled farm is called Pet A Goat Junction, and it is very special indeed. All of the animals in here have special needs, so they won't be re-homed. They will live out their life here as sanctuary animals where they will have all the food and love they will ever need. Come here, baby. There are open house days and special events on the property, or if you want the real farm experience, you can spend the night in this fully modernized vintage Airstream trailer with all the creature comforts.

- We're now offering farm stays at the rescue program, which actually benefit all the rescue animals. You can come stay at the farm, you can get kind of a behind the scenes look at everything going on here. You can do farm tours, you can do volunteering, you can paint with the animals or have s'mores with S'more and Churro with the goats. We try to make it really fun and interactive. They can love on them, feed them some treats, you know, and just learn all about their different rescue stories. Hi, Otis.

- [Miranda] Brian and April wear many hats here at the Fabled Farm. Long hours, early mornings, and plenty of sleepless nights. They are big sacrifices with even bigger rewards.

- We like to make sure we're providing the best care that they all need, and we deal with a lot of seniors and special needs.

- [Miranda] April has even written a series of children's books featuring the antics of farm favorites, "Boone" and "Orville Pignbacher".

- [Brian] One of the biggest things that we try to do is community education. Not only do we want to have these animals here for people to meet, we're also wanting to educate people on the importance of animal care, animal ownership, and just rescue programs in general. It's hard not to fall in love with all the animals that come through here. It's exhausting, it's very emotional, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

- [April] We truly love what we do. I don't know that you could do this if you didn't have your whole heart into it. We don't get nights off or weekends or holidays, but in the end, we see these rescue stories, these animals that come through that deserve these second chances, and it just makes everything worthwhile.

- Wow, those animals are so fortunate to get such great care. Thanks, Miranda. Well, next up, the Bluff City and Barbecue go together like peas and carrots. There are several amazing restaurants that serve it up Memphis style, but Laura Faber found one that claims the cue is so good, it'll make you slap your mama.

- [Walker] You come to Memphis, you're out of town. Hey, I got to have Memphis barbecue, and we're one of the go-to places.

- [Laura] For more than 40 years, the cooking has started early in Germantown, Tennessee. Ribs, chicken, sausage links, and more are first rubbed down with an original salty, sweet, and slightly spicy seasoning blend, then homemade sauce, and finally cooked slow over local hickory wood. This is the Germantown Commissary. Pitmasters like Anthony know when the meat is perfect with a smoky flavor.

- It really looks good though, for real.

- [Laura] The pork is pulled by hand. In fact, everything here except the french fries are homemade. The seasoning rub, the sauces, the sides, and the desserts. Coconut cream, chocolate, and lemon icebox pies are made every morning on site. The cakes made locally, caramel, coconut, and strawberry, and customers go bananas over the banana pudding.

- And the banana pudding, oh my gosh, if you want a good dessert, get the banana pudding.

- [Laura] This place wasn't always the Germantown commissary. For more than a century, it was a country store, selling everything from blue jeans to baloney. Walker Taylor's dad bought it in 1973.

- My dad started selling barbecue to go in 1975, and it was by sheer accident.

- [Laura] He was smoking some pork for a dinner party that night, and a customer offered to buy it. It wasn't truly a restaurant, though, till after Walker bought it from his dad in 1981.

- [Walker] I said, "Sell it to me. I want to turn it into a barbecue restaurant." And I did. Young, dumb, and full of fun.

- [Laura] And success was not immediate.

- Yeah, I was in here from seven o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock at night, about four years before I took a paycheck.

- [Laura] A fire in 1984 nearly wiped Walker out.

- [Walker] The floor didn't burn because we had put brick floors in here when we did the remodel. 81 days later, after being taken to the ground, we opened back up, and you could never do that now in 81 days.

- [Laura] Today, Germantown Commissary is an institution in this town just outside Memphis.

- Yeah, I'll put those up here. If y'all want to run those back, I'll hit a couple other tables. We get used a lot of times as directional references like, "Well, you know where the Commissary is? We'll go down the street and make a left."

- It's just a really cool area that everyone knows where it is. You can say that's how we tell people to get to our office. It's one of those places that has that kind of a vibe to it where everybody wants to bring their family when they come in town.

- [Laura] Known for their ribs, they are truly first rate, crusted with seasoning and sauce, a hickory scent and meaty. The smoked sausage and pork tamales are worth a try, and of course, the pulled pork is always popular, but the thing customers order almost more than anything.

- Probably the barbecue nachos.

- [Laura] The barbecue nachos, a menu item Walker claims one of his former longtime employees named Rosie invented in 1982. While working concessions at a local horse show, Rosie added some barbecue to chips and cheese for her own lunch break.

- A customer came up and goes, "Oh, what's she eating back there?" And I said, "Oh, some nachos." I said, "Rosie, you got some barbecue on those?" And she goes, "mm-hmm." And I said, "Well, what are those?" She goes, "Barbecue nachos, fool." And the man goes, "Can I get an order of those?" That's when they were born.

- Another Germantown commissary original, The Deviled Eggs. They make 750 deviled eggs every day here at a minimum, and you get one with everything you order here at Germantown Commissary.

- That was clearly an accident. This was about 1983 or four, and one of my employees had stopped somewhere and gotten a plate of deviled eggs. She put them in the deli box and they were up front and a person came in and said, "I want to get two of those deviled eggs." And we went, "Okay." That's how they were born.

- Okay, darling, here I am.

- Thank you.

- [Laura] The other thing that always gets talked about, besides the food, is the service and the loyal staff. Manager Lori Picard has been here 27 years. Manager Terry Wilkerson, 16. Waitress Cynthia Rivers, 26. And then there's Katie Butler.

- Hey, sweetie, you need anything else? What I do? Everything. Manager, wait tables, work the orders, whatever needs to be done, I do.

- [Laura] She's worked here 40 years.

- All right, baby, what are you having?

- [Laura] And what is it about this place that you think people in this community love so much?

- [Cynthia] The atmosphere, the love, the warmness, the happiness, and the food, you know, the personality make the food better.

- There you go. Thank you.

- Thank you.

- [Laura] Walker Taylor says he would've never in his wildest dreams imagined his little country store turned barbecue restaurant would mean so much to so many people and to him.

- Still seeing customers that come in and have been coming in for over 40 years. I get a real thrill out of that, being part of something that's been enjoyable for other people. Thank you. Y'all come back.

- [Customer] Y'all have a great night.

- Note to self, get one of those deviled eggs. Yum. Well, thanks, Laura. Hey, in our final story today, we're taking it back to 1996 for another retro crossroads segment. Joe Elmore got a sneak peek at the grand reopening of the Pink Palace in Memphis.

- It began with the dream of a Memphis businessman named Clarence Saunders, a 34,000 square foot mansion Saunders began constructing in 1922, a fine family palace built with pink marble from Georgia, and certainly the talk of the town in Memphis during the early 20s. It was to become a Mid-South landmark named by the people as the Pink Palace. Saunders made his fortune as a pioneer in the self-service grocery business, which he founded in Memphis in 1916. The result was a chain of grocery stores called Piggly Wiggly. Sound familiar? Well, despite his success, he made some bad financial decisions in 1923 and lost his fortune, as well as the dream mansion where he never really spent the night. The city took over the mansion in 1930, finishing its interior with fine marble and this WPA mural. Now, it operated as a museum for about 45 years until its closing in the mid 70s when this newer, more modern Pink Palace facility opened with its buying exhibits and even a 180 degree IMAX movie theater. Museum director Doug Noble says the palace's reopening after two decades is a long awaited milestone.

- Why we decided to open the mansion rests with the name of the museum, the Memphis Pink Palace Museum. Imagine coming to a place called the Memphis Pink Palace, seeing this beautiful 36,000 square foot home, very unusual structure, a real Memphis landmark, and not being able to get into it. So what else could we do? I mean, that was really the best and wisest thing to do. I'm just sorry that it had to be the tail end of the project, but what a great way to put the icing on the cake.

- [] The old Palace's new theme is "From the Boss to the King", depicting the 60 years of Memphis from when E.H. Bosscrup came into power around 1900 to the time when Elvis Presley came back from the army in 1960. There are exhibits that portray the changing roles of women during that time, including this display honoring the city's first female pilot, Phoebe Amlee. Now this Pink Palace memories room will bring back a lot of memories for anyone who came to the original museum before it closed in the mid '70s with an eclectic collection of artifacts, knickknacks, a few animal trophies. Oh, check this out. This is the shrunken head that gave nightmares to thousands of children many years ago. And he still looks pretty scary today. Other memories will be just as powerful for anyone inside this landmark Memphis palace whose time has come again.

- [Doug] Everybody that walks in that grew up in Memphis has a childhood memory. They have a favorite artifact, a favorite part of the museum or something, of the mansion. And so it's really nice. I think we've effectively touched those childhood memories, and that was really important that we do that.

- [Ketch] Oh, by the way, since Clarence Saunders sadly never got to hang his hat in his dream home, this room depicts the way it might have looked had he lived here.

- [Doug] A question we're asked a lot is what did it look like when Clarence Saunders lived here? Well, Clarence Saunders never lived here because he lost his home before it was completed when he declared bankruptcy. And so we call this room, Clarence Saunders never slept here, and this is our best guess as to what it might have looked like had he actually finished the home. However, your guess is as good as mine.

- And it's anyone's guess what the grocery king would think about his dream mansion today, a place that became known to folks from near and far as the Pink Palace. Thanks, Joe Elmore. Well, the Pink Palace Museum still operates today as a part of the Memphis Museums of Science and History. That's going to do it for us this week, but you can always go to our website, tennesseecrossroads.org to find your favorite segments and to leave us a video message for our 40th season. Thanks again for joining us. See you next week.

- Hi, I'm Cheryl Neal from Lebanon, Tennessee. Happy 40th anniversary, Tennessee Crossroads.

- I'm Grace Potter, and I'm wishing a very happy anniversary, 40 years of Tennessee Crossroads. How about that?

- [Narrator 1] Tennessee Crossroads is brought to you in part by.

- [Narrator 2] With the more than 100,000 tech skill grants that the Tennessee Education Lottery has provided, vocational students in Tennessee wear a lot of different hats, but it all starts with the same one.

- [Narrator 3] 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 tenvacation.com.