- [Joe] This time on "Tennessee Crossroads" we take you to the old Marathon village in Nashville where Gretchen Bates discovers some new attractions.

Then I'm using city eatery, with Tammi Arender full of Italian heritage.

We go to Memphis with Ken Wilshire to meet an artist who finds inspiration in her own neighborhood.

And finally to meet a Smyrna man, with Rob Wiles, who built his own town full of collectibles.

That's a collection of fine stories just for you.

I'm Joe Elmore, welcome to "Tennessee Crossroads."

(soft guitar music) Say, do you like rare antique cars?

Well a lot of people do.

What about unusual shops and studios where you can browse, even have a place to eat?

Well, our first destination has it all.

It's Marathon Village in Nashville where Gretchen Bates uncovers some of the history and modern day attractions of this Tennessee landmark.

- [Gretchen] Marathon Village was once home to the Marathon automobile, which was the first car completely manufactured in the southern United States.

In the early 1900's Marathon had dealerships in every state of this country.

And its cars were selling worldwide.

- [Barry] They built the Marathon automobile here, it moved from Jackson, Tennessee.

And they started production in 1910 and they went til 1914.

- [Gretchen] Barry Walker owns Marathon Village and he's the local expert when it comes to Marathon's namesake automobile.

- Marathon was a very well built car, it's a mid-range car, a (mumbles) transmission.

A great designed car, William Collier was a phenomenal designer.

He designed the engineer of the car.

And then later on went on to many other patents.

Had over 40 patents.

- [Gretchen] Unfortunately Marathon's run was short.

After just four years of production the plant closed its doors.

Nashville seemed to forget about the old car factory.

That is, until Barry came along.

- [Barry] Well when I came down the street I saw this beautiful building, it's just gorgeous.

Has gorgeous detail, loose leaf leaves, and all this great bark and vines covering the entire building.

I thought, "I can't believe this poor town, "this building is just sittin' here vacant like this."

I was just sort of taken by it.

- People called him crazy when he purchased Marathon Village back in the 80's.

All of these buildings were scheduled to be torn down.

But Barry's vision turned this old run down car factory into an historic retail space where creative business owners make and sell everything from whiskey to candy.

- You gotta definitely be creative and maybe kind of weird at the same time.

(laughing) - [Gretchen] Well, I wouldn't call her weird.

But Sarah Souther is definitely creative.

She is the founder of The Bang Candy Company.

- [Sarah] Here at Marathon we sell all our different candy products: marshmallows, caramels, fudge, bark, honeycomb toffee.

All sorts of different sweeties.

- [Gretchen] Lots of little sweeties and great coffee, but what Bang Candy is really known for is its marshmallows.

- It's very simple actually, so it's basically sugar, we make a syrup, we whip gelatin into it.

That kind of creates the volume and then we add whatever flavors.

We let it cool, then we cut them all by hand, and then we dip them in really yummy Belgium chocolate.

And that's it.

We have a bunch of flavors.

We've got rose cardamom, that was the first one.

Chocolate chili, it's got a bit of spice to it.

Toasted coconut and almond, maple bacon bourbon, black currant absinthe.

I started totally by accident.

I went to a local restaurant and tried some hand made marshmallows.

And I thought, "Wow, these are amazing."

I went home that night, I'd had a few drinks, let me say.

So, I went home and I fiddled around in my cupboard and I found some rose water and some cardamom and I thought, "Ooh, that'll be lovely."

And so I made some rose cardamom marshmallows brought them to a party the next day.

Everybody loved them and then people called me and said, "Oh, can you make me some of those."

And it kept, sort of organically, rolling along like that.

Mike Wolfe has been a friend of mine for awhile.

He was like, "You should come down and have a look."

So, I came down and I immediately fell in love with the building.

And I met Barry, and he's my kind of fellow, you know.

He's wild and crazy and creative.

So, I was like, "Yeah, this is my kind of place."

- [Gretchen] Sarah's friend Mike Wolfe is the owner of Antique Arachaelogoy.

Which also has a store at Marathon Village.

You might recognize Mike from his television show "American Pickers."

- The reason we wanted to be here is because, you know, this place has such a presence and such a soul.

So, when I bring old things here that have soul, that have character.

I'm placing them in a place that has soul and has character.

And it's got amazing history, I mean, it was a Marathon car factory, we find a lot of transportation related things.

It just made sense.

- [Gretchen] Some of those iconic cars are on display at Marathon Village.

One of Barry's many passions has been collecting original Marathon automobiles.

There aren't many left these days.

- There's only eight that we know of in the world existing.

(mumbles) interviews the original show woman of the Marathon.

In the administration office building we've got four of the original Marathon's.

I've got a 1911 Marathon, that was won at a county fair.

My two younger brothers, called the hello brothers.

Which is pretty neat.

There's a tour car, it's a dark blue tour car 1914, that was owned by a Buster Hartman.

And then I have a few other cars, an original (mumbles).

Of course, I got a little roadster, it's a white roadster, 1911 roadster.

It's been a whole circus race puttin' this all back together.

Not, just basically, developin' the neighborhood, but bringing the history all back over the years.

(banging) - [Gretchen] There are over 45 businesses that now call Marathon home.

There's The Garage Coffee shop with it's car motif.

A distillery with all sorts of award-winning spirits to sample.

And there are designers, architects, jewelers and painters.

- And there's a lot of visionaries in this building because there's a lot of creative companies.

Now we've got Otis James here.

He makes hats, he makes ties.

There's Emil Erwin here, he does amazing leather products.

There's a tremendous amount of things going on here.

It's got a great vibe, this is a place that you can come and spend two or three hours with your family.

- [Gretchen] It's everything Barry could have hoped for when he first found Marathon Village so many years ago.

- So, I love the buildings, I love everything.

It's just a great environment to have.

I pretty much created my own reality here.

You know, I kind of meet the kind of people I wanna be around.

It's all about we're here for a short time and make the best out of keeping your life exciting and fun.

- Well, so much to see, and that's just part of it.

Thanks a lot Gretchen.

There are many Italian restaurants dotting the Tennessee food landscape.

Most do a great job, but how many can boast using ingredients mostly coming from Italy.

Well, there's one in Nashville like that.

It's called Coco's Italian market.

Tammi Arender takes us there and discovers why many patrons describe it as magnifico.

- [Tammi] This make look like any Italian restaurant kitchen.

Pizza, pasta, plates of meatballs, but this is far from the ordinary.

Many ingredients at Coco's Italian Restaurant and Market come from Italy.

(Italian accordion music) - I've driven to Florida to pick up truckloads and New York many times, you know and it's just what I have to do.

There are no Italian distributorships in Tennessee, or who will ship, like maybe Pennsylvania is as far as they go.

So, yeah, I'm often, I'll go up to Harrisburg with my, I have a big box truck and I'll get palates and palates.

Or, you know, now I've got enough conncections that I can do enough where they'll, I'm getting it shipped in.

- [Tammi] Chuck Cinnelli, Coco's owner is not just about offering up great food.

He wants you to have the Italian experience, like he did as a child.

His parents and his uncle owned restaurants in upstate New York.

Little did he know, that as a kid, he would be training for a future eatery of his own.

- I really lost a million dollars worth of information.

If I knew I would be in a restaurant business, I mean, I had it all right there and I didn't pay attention.

You know, I ate there all the time, I enjoyed it.

It was fantastic, but no I can't say I took advantage of it.

But I think through osmosis I really understand it.

So, I've got that.

- [Tammi] After his parents retired and left New York, Chuck decided he'd find a new place to live and operate his then mail order business.

After a brief stop in Nashville on his way to Florida to visit his mom and dad, he decided that music city was the place to be.

- Well, I just kind of moseyed past Nashville stopped at Century 21, they drove me around.

And I thought, "Wow, this is a great town."

Everybody moved from my hometown, what I call my family, so I had nothing to lose.

I just packed up the truck and moved here.

(upbeat swing music) - [Tammi] It was in 2010 that Chuck renovated this former muffler shop into a restaurant.

That, after the local Sons of Italy chapter decided the place no longer worked for their monthly meetings.

Many of those from the Italian club often played the game of bocce in front of the restaurant.

- There ya go, nice (mumbles) - [Chuck] Well, we have the little white ball, the pallino.

- Green shoots.

- [Chuck] And there's a red and a green team.

Whoever's closer to the pallino after you throw four balls each, you get the point.

- [Voiceover] One red.

(upbeat swing music) - [Tammi] Just another authentic touch, but Chuck scores more points with his customers on the plate, than he does on the bocce court.

From the scratch made mozzarella, to the homemade pasta, he imports his flour from Italy.

He says that's just one of the things that make a difference.

- The flour is from Italy, and these hands are Italian, I suppose.

You know, I don't know, well actually, and I don't use, I use special water.

I have a pH machine and I dial in the pH level.

- [Tammi] He also dials in the most delicious gelato this side of Rome.

Gelato is a cousin to ice cream, but has a much richer and creamier taste.

Plus, it's a vehicle for all types of other tasty treats.

- [Chuck] Lemon basil and different herb gelatos are like an innermetzo in between meals.

You know, sometimes I do a special dinner, I'll make something special.

(upbeat swing music) - Ooey gooey cheese.

- [Voiceover] What you think?

- That's divine.

- [Voiceover] Good.

- [Tammi] That is divine, there is something different about a lady from Italy making Italian food.

Wonderful.

His baked ziti, lasagna, tortellini and other dishes all come straight from his grandmother's recipe book.

Which she passed down to his mom, Joan.

Joan came out of retirement to come here and make sure the recipes are prepared correctly.

- My mom's here, which is fantastic and, I mean, she's here seven days a week.

She's here at four or five in the morning.

She starts by baking the bread and then from there the prep guys come in and she tastes everything.

- [Tammi] And since mom is the expert I decided to ask a little advice.

Alright Joan, I got my flour, cause I love to make my homemade bread.

Now I want some really good olive oil, just for dipping, not cooking, for dipping.

- For dipping, what I would recommend would be this one here, this is a first press, which is very good.

And this one here is also first pressed.

Now the difference actually is the vessel that it's in.

- Right, so whichever one, you know what?

Believe it or not, I love the greenery here.

I have green accents in my kitchen, so this is perfect.

Alright, now I need some of your mother's marinara.

- OK, alright, we'll go over here, let's go.

- [Tammi] Luci's marinara sauce is so good they've decided to bottle it.

It's just one of the many items in the market.

The shelves are lined with genuine Italian products from across the pond.

Giving the everyday home cook a chance to make boneified fettuccine and other dishes if they take a mind to.

But Chuck doesn't mind if you want his family to do the cooking, it's his way of sharing a part of his heritage.

Which he says is something you can enjoy whether you're from an Italian family or not.

- If you're from the northeast, or an Italian community I really hope that you feel like you are home again.

You know, just for an hour.

And if you're not from an Italian community at least you can see what it was like growing up Italian, you know.

With a little bit of bocce, and the patio, and the music, and the food, and, you know, the family at a dinner table.

(jazz music) - Thanks a lot Tammi and I guess it's a great time to mention another place you should visit: our website TennesseeCrossroads.org and of course you can follow us on Facebook.

Walking is a great way to get some exercise, fresh air, and just kind of clear your mind.

Well for a Memphis artist, it's also a great place to start an art project.

Ken Wilshire takes us to meet this lady who finds inspiration outside her front door.

- [Ken] When Memphis artist Martha Kelly takes a walk with her dog Mr. Darcy, it's not only for exercise.

Martha finds inspiration for painting along her journey.

With every step and sketch she takes.

- I just really like the landscape that I grew up in, and walk through, and look at everyday.

I just walk to church and I see something different that I want to paint.

- [Ken] You see, Martha calls this midtown neighborhood home.

She finds beauty here that many Memphians often take for granted.

- [Martha] I like old houses, I like walkin' places cause I walk to church, I can walk to Overton Square, I walk to restaurants, and I can see things that I wanna paint when you're goin' really slowly instead of zippin' past in a car.

I just really like this neighborhood, and I like parkin' my car and not usin' it for several days.

(bouncy acoustic music) - [Ken] And when a house or landscape catches her eye this may be all she needs to sketch a plan for a new painting.

- [Martha] It's a way of transferring the beauty that I see around me.

And I think especially in Memphis we have an awful lot of people here who think, "I'm gonna work really hard for about 50 weeks, "and then I'm gonna go somewhere beautiful."

And I've spent a lot of years just painting both the city of Memphis and the beautiful rolling farmlands with the big old oak trees.

And I really want to show everyone the beauty that we have here.

- [Ken] It all started in her teenage years when she took a class in painting and discovered the beauty of watercolors.

- I took a summer class for young teens over at the college of art.

And I was painting a watercolor of a statue over there that's still sitting out front.

And the colors mixed on the paper in a way that was better than anything I had expected.

And I thought, "Wow, that's what I want to do, "I wanna do that."

And I really think at that point I started workin' towards bein' an artist.

- [Ken] Adding even more dimension to her approach to art, Martha studied religious history in college.

This is when she became fascinated with the imagery of the Bible.

She served as artist in residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, where she could express her spiritual side.

- I don't usually use a lot of text in my work.

This has really come from print making.

I never did this in painting, until I started printing and using the type.

But for this particular work and to have some scripture reference in the work that's hanging in our worship space, it seemed right for this particular project.

- [Ken] Martha gives life to her sketches with watercolors.

She blends in her education, experiences, travels, and faith.

So, now rather than painting, she's prepared for printing.

- I will sit, and I will look at my watercolor and my drawing for awhile, and make sure it's exactly what I want.

And then I use a carbon transfer paper and I trace the back of the drawing and transfer it to the block.

And then I just carve it with little gouges.

Once you carve it out, everything that you cut away stays white, and everything you leave catches the ink.

So you role the ink, you're making a really big rubber stamp, basically.

You role the ink on it, you put the paper down, and somehow you put pressure on the back of the paper and if you're lucky enough to have a press, which I am now, that's a beautiful thing.

- [Ken] And once it's off the press the anticipation is over.

Well, not really, it's usually back to the carving board for fine tuning until it's just right.

(upbeat acoustic music) Martha's beautiful linoleum prints vary from landscapes and people, to posters and cards, but it's this 100 year old printing press that seems to conjure up all kinds of new creative possibilities.

(steel guitar music) - [Martha] It's a 1909 treadle operated press.

And I bought it from a guy who bought it from a press restorer.

And he had traced back the history of the press and it was bought by a minister in St. Louis who used it to print his church bulletins.

It's just neat to have a press that has that kind of community history.

I really see myself more as a caretaker for it than an owner.

I'll be passing it along to somebody and keeping it in good shape and making sure it survives.

Cause it's a stunning piece of machinery and they, you know, it's made to last.

- [Ken] And to make sure it does last forever Martha must constantly maintain its gears and moving parts.

Just like preserving historical neighborhoods on canvas and in prints.

She wants to preserve this old piece of machinery for future generations.

- This is meant to last forever.

You oil approximately 37 oil ports.

The owner's manual was a paragraph because they expected every printer to apprentice with a printer.

So, you didn't need an owner's manual.

So they don't even tell you where the 37 oil ports are, approximately.

But if you oil them then the metal doesn't grind on metal and it just keeps moving.

- [Ken] And so does Martha.

She keeps moving around the inner city neighborhood she loves.

Yes, they may be homes, businesses, parks, or schools, but to Martha they represent more.

It's the spirit of community she tries to capture every time she and Mr. Darcy take a walk.

- I really do just walk out of the house everyday and think, "This is beautiful.

"I live in a gorgeous place."

And I just want to be able to show people the world that I see.

And the best compliment, every once in awhile somebody will call up and say, "There was "a gorgeous sunset and I thought "that's a Martha sky."

Or, "I saw these clouds, and that's a Martha sky."

Or you know, "This reminded me of your work."

And I feel like if I can make people look just a little more closely and differently at the world around them, then I've done a really good job as an artist.

- Are you a collector?

If so, you've got lots of company.

Why these days, people collect everything from teapots to tractors.

But, you know, we've discovered one thing that many encounter after awhile and that's where to stash all that stuff.

Well, Rob Wilds met a Smyrna collector who solved that problem by building his own town.

(upbeat guitar music) - [Rob] It's pretty easy to find Richard Davenport's place.

It's the house with the airplane parked in the front yard.

The plane isn't the only unusual thing Richard Davenport collects.

His backyard is full of even more interesting stuff.

Dating back to when Richard was a little boy.

- When I was in school I didn't like history much.

I hated it, that was probably my worst subject, but now I wished I'd had spent more time in it.

You know, cause now it's my favorite thing I like the history, anything history.

(upbeat guitar music) When I was eight, I started collectin'.

So, I had the first two pieces there which was the whip and the mirror.

So, I guess it just kind of took off from there.

And I collect anything, not nothing in particular.

A lot of people you talk to say, "Well I collect pocket knives," or, "I collect license plates."

Well, I say, " Well, yeah I collect that too, but everything else in-between."

- [Rob] That everything in-between has resulted in thousands of things collected.

So many that Richard has built a town of sorts.

14 buildings and counting, each designed to hold particular treasures.

- Well, I built them all and I would just would get a collection of, like, school stuff.

So I say, "Well, I'm gonna start collecting "school stuff and put it in there."

Then course with the doctor stuff I started there and just had to build a building for it.

And the same way with the store stuff and just went from there.

Military of course, and just had to build a building for each individual thing, you know.

That's why I got 20 buildings.

This is all military stuff, civil war, little bit before, and World War I, World War II.

- So were you in the service yourself?

- No I wasn't, I wished, I probably would have liked it, but no I wasn't.

- [Rob] You think so, you just enjoy collecting stuff?

- [Richard] Oh yeah, anything military.

- [Rob] Did you ever meet any of the people who use these things in the war, like World War II?

- Some of them, just like I was tellin' you about the flag here that was on a buddy that I went to church with casket.

But his wife did give me this.

But, and some of the other pieces people have brought me back from the more recent wars.

- [Rob] The military collection is Richard's favorite among his collections.

All kinds of weapons, and medals, and photos.

The people in them, the stories behind the things.

That's what really draws him to collecting.

And sharing his collections with others, just ask him.

- Each piece has got a story, you know, cause when I got it, you know, I pretty much know where I got it, or the history behind it, or later found out the history behind it.

But, that's the most interesting part about it is hearing the story behind each individual piece.

- [Rob] So you like to pass the stories along to school groups and other people who come.

- Oh yeah!

If they seem interested and that's one thing, you know a lot of people's not interested in the same thing.

And nobody would like to collect everything that I've got, but if they're interested in one particular thing, you know, we can concentrate on it.

(playful guitar music) - [Rob] So much to see, people come by, school groups and others.

Richard is happy to concentrate on what they want.

- Here I'll let you shell corn here.

You start shellin' it.

You just stick the ear in there.

(metal grinding) You shell it off so the cows can eat it better.

And the chickens.

(metal grinding) So, when you get that hear, you just feed it in and the cob comes right back out to you.

- So, where'd you get this bell?

I fell the need to ring.

(bell ringing) - I can't remember where I got that piece, there's about three of them.

- Is that a railroad bell or?

- [Richard] No I do have a train bell.

- [Rob] Do ya?

- [Richard] Yeah it's sittin' back here, it's solid brass.

- [Rob] Richard finds his treasures, well everywhere.

- Usually yard sales, and estate sales, and auctions and just things of that nature.

And then people will call me.

When I did the tour of homes for (mumbles) there was a lady that somehow or another got my name and she called me and she gave me a memory jug that she said her daddy had had from like 70 years ago, she know.

And it was interesting cause I had never heard of a memory jug and it was just a crock jug that she put, he had put stuff all over it.

Like buckles off your overalls, and bullets, and little ceramic dolls, and seashells.

The things that meant something to him he would glue them to this jug, and I've got it out here.

But she called me and asked me if I wanted it.

And I said, "Oh yeah, of course, you know."

So, I went and got it.

- Is the doctor in you think?

- Well, we'll check.

- Check and see.

- See if he's in here, if you're feeling sick.

- [Rob] No worries, Richard's town has a doctor's office fully stocked to get you through your illness one way or another.

I see if the doctor isn't successful you've got some embalming fluid here.

So you can handle the whole deal?

- If you can't make it we can take care of you.

Get the funeral home, get you ready for the funeral home.

- I don't want to say anything about your doctor, but this patient doesn't look in very good shape.

- No, she's too far gone when she got here.

(laughing) She's gone.

- [Rob] Everywhere you look around here interesting things, some things you may never have seen before.

- They've got a date on them before 1900, they're dated 1895, they're hog oilers.

- Hog oiler, why would you want to oil your hog?

I'm a city boy pretty much.

- Well, if they all get lice, so you'd put black motor oil, in here you used motor oil out of your car in here.

And then the hogs would rub on it and this was sort of the fancy uptown way of doing it.

Most people just slung it on the wall or on the ground, they laid in it.

- [Rob] Well a hog oiler, who doesn't need one?

Or, in Richard's case, more than one?

That need for numbers means Richard's collection will never be complete.

- I've got enough, yeah, but will I stop?

No, probably not.

There's always something else out there I say, "Well, I need one of them."

But I had a bad habit, if I get one and if it's hard to get that makes it worse because I say, "Well you know, I found another one.

"Now we've got two, well I wonder if I can get three."

And then before you know, I've got 100 of them, you know.

- [Rob] Which is really good news for us when we come to Smyrna to see his treasures.

And to meet Richard himself, the very interesting fellow who collects everything.

- Well, I hope you enjoyed our show.

The old proverbial clock on the wall says it's about time for us to leave.

But not before a sneak peak at next week's "Tennessee Crossroads."

Rob Wilds takes you to Whites Creek for a serving of creole cooking and country music.

Ken Wilshire goes to Memphis at a new attraction at the old Landmark Zoo.

Then we go to Shelbyville with Gretchen Bates at a horse friendly B&B.

And at Murfreesboro, with Rob Wilds, to meet a patriotic flag peddler.

That's the next "Tennessee Crossroads," why don't you join us then?