- This time on Tennessee Crossroads we're gonna motor down to Murfreesboro and sample the menu of the City Cafe.

We'll meet a talented maker of fine furniture, over in Woodbury, take you on a tour of historic Bell Buckle and wind up in Lynnville, home of the iconic Colonel Littleton.

All that on this edition of Tennessee Crossroads, I'm Joe Elmore, sure glad to have you.

(calm music) Remember the popular sitcom Cheers?

And that line in the theme song about going where everybody knows your name?

Well Boston isn't the only town with a place like that.

In fact Ed Jones found one down in the burrow.

Murfreesboro that is, a place that's been around since the turn of the century, no the one before that.

- [Ed] If you're looking for a good restaurant just ask the regulars how long they've been coming back.

- Going on 33 years.

- 40 years.

- 50 years.

- It's either 1953 or 1954 not real sure.

- [Ed] That's more than 60 years.

Which is just half as long as the City Cafe has been serving up southern comfort food with a heaping helping of history.

History carried on by Terresa and Rolland Kellogg.

- Some of the things we here is that we're old, the tables are old, the chairs are semi old.

- That we need to update the decor, but this is what it's about.

- Right.

- It's about the history, it's about keeping the history alive.

- [Ed] History that dates back to the horse and buggy era.

History that covers the walls and transports patrons back to a simpler time.

History that you'll find in the people who dine there everyday.

- A lot of the college students that used to hang out here, now they come back and bring their kids or grandkids and it's memories, you know that's been made here over the years.

- [Ed] Matt Ward is one of those memory makers.

- I have started coming here when I entered college in 1961, we had a little clique of friends that would come here frequently, at least once a week.

I've been coming every since.

- [Ed] He made so many memories in fact, that he wrote a book about the place.

Matt's inspirations sprang from one particular section of the cafe, a table with two names.

- A community table, or liars table, the guys sit around it and tell stories and I just, remembered a lot of those stories, wrote them down, put 'em in the book.

I called it True Stories (and other lies) Told at City Cafe.

- [Ed] Our favorite story was the one constantly being written in the kitchen.

Sheer poetry.

- We are a traditional meat and three.

We do the traditional breakfast in the mornings, the meat and threes, we try to do as much fresh food as we possibly can.

All of our deserts are homemade in house, my husband makes all of our deserts.

I come in, in the mornings and do all of our meats and all of our vegetables and then course our cooks they do all of the grilled foods and things but it's, we try to keep it traditional to the country foods that my grandmother taught me how to cook, my mom taught me and, we have meatloaf on Mondays and our new one that we've started is a fried pork chops on Tuesdays we do chicken and dressing on Thursdays and fish on Fridays.

Saturday, that's really my day of just depending on what I wanna get up and fix so it's a free for all on Saturday, so.

- [Ed] While it does get busy at the Cafe, it never feels rushed and that's just what the Kelloggs want.

- We want that down home, feeling that you can come here if you wanna come in, have a cup of coffee and sit for a couple of hours, read the paper, do your cross words, we love it, we love it, we love coming and talking, and the banter between our customers and, I want my grand kids to come in here and see these things, and I want them to be able to share their stories on through the line.

- People want to share memories.

They wanna share some of their piece of history here and a lot of it comes through in the pictures.

- A lot of our pictures have been donated by customers throughout the years.

And we inherited them when we took over the building.

We have a lot of the history of MTSU, a lot of the MTSU students used to come here.

We still get quite a few of them now.

- Our daughter just got into MTSU so we'll be up here a lot.

- [Ed] Floridians, Sarah Spivo and family quickly became fans of the cafe.

This was their second visit in as many days.

- We would come here all the time if we could.

The people are so nice, which I think makes the food even better, it's just one of those small, family run businesses and it's great.

- [Teressa] Nobody's a stranger here.

But I think all of our customers treat all of our customers like family.

- It's just a family, it's a family gathering place and you're not related but you are family.

And every time you come in, you feel welcome and wanted and everybody that hasn't tried it should come in and try it because today is just like it was 40 years ago.

- We're kinda the custodians, that's kinda the way we look at it is we're the custodians of the City Cafe.

We love this place.

- [Ed] And it shows, in the family recipes handed down through the generations, in the memories adorning the walls and in new memories and new friends being made every time a door chimes at the City Cafe.

- They walk in the door, you're automatically family here you come in you relax.

I think it's important that they come in and not only enjoy a good meal but they enjoy a good time and the atmosphere while they're here.

So when they leave here they can they can leave with a smile on their face.

You never know what's going on with somebody when they come in and if we can give 'em that little piece of happiness is what makes my day.

(door chimes) Well hi Mr.

Larry how are you?

- Thanks a lot Ed.

Styles come and go, but quality, well it never goes out of fashion.

Alf Sharp knows a thing or two about that.

You see for decades, he's designed and built furniture of changing styles but consistent quality.

Rob Wilds paid a visit to Alf at his work shop in Woodbury.

- We're out in the woods appropriately outside the town of Woodbury and the place we're looking for is a little hard to find but that's okay.

Cause for decades people who are interested in high quality, hand made wooden furniture have had no trouble finding this place.

This is Alf Sharps shop.

And Alf Sharp knows a thing or two about furniture and wood.

(power tools buzzing) - I had started out in law school at Vanderbilt and woke up in a cold sweat one morning and realized that was that last thing in the world I really wanted to do, and so, and so I just sort of bummed around for a couple of years and ended up on a carpentry crew.

And just in, just in order to make some money.

And everything fell into place, I just understood immediately what they were asking me to do and could do it, and before long I was doing the kitchen cabinets and the built in, the book shelves and that sort of thing and then that caused me to take another look at furniture that's made out of wood too, how did they do that?

And so I just set out to learn to be a furniture maker.

- [Rob] And that's what he became.

Taking commissions to create just about everything.

- Well I make beds and chests and tables and chairs and mirrors and, what have you, whatever the customer wants within a certain quality level.

But within that understanding I make every kind of furniture.

- [Rob] All different, all the same in one regard, quality.

- [Alf] It want's to be solid pieces of fine old wood.

The workmanship wants to be first rate, the style wants to be significant, it wants to be an important piece of furniture to go in a home or a business.

- [Rob] Alf's original designs are modern but grounded in the past.

- When I come up with an original design it always, it almost always has a toe hold in tradition, it's a reinterpretation of a traditional piece or a original use of a piece of furniture is re-imagined or a particular style I'm fond of, I'll make a piece of furniture that resembles that style.

- Alf's creations are seen and appreciated in private homes everywhere, but you can still see 'em when you come to places like this, which was a very famous private home.

- The wallpaper in the hallways is 183 years old, it was picked out by Rachel Jackson when they were building the house.

- [Rob] Every year a quarter million people come to visit the family home of President Andrew Jackson.

The Hermitage.

They'll see many things from Andrew Jackson's lifetime but the rest, well, - [Alf] It's said that, that 90% of the furniture in The Hermitage actually belonged to Jackson, and I've done the other 10%.

- [Rob] Alf built everything from Venetian blinds to the capitals on top of the front porch columns and a lot more.

Marsha Mullens, the Chief Curator here at The Hermitage, says the recreations are important to give visitors a feel of what things were like when the Jackson family actually lived here.

- Most of the furniture in The Hermitage actually did belong to the Jacksons and so we made the decision because of all that authenticity to recreate pieces that were missing rather than try to find antique similar pieces.

- [Rob] It's the kind of work Alf truly enjoys.

- [Alf] For the historic houses especially, you're trying to match exactly what the original owner of the house had.

So there's a lot of research that goes into discovering what exactly the original owner had, how that was made, what it looked like.

There's a lot of committee work goes on and you're working with a house restoration committee and so you'll probably do a prototype or two before you do the actual piece of furniture for them.

But, all of that stuff actually makes it fascinating.

- [Marsha] It does take a lot of skill because it you know it's a different form than what you're used to if you're making modern things and he has a real sensitivity to it all.

- [Rob] You might say Alf has a feel for all of his work.

- [Alf] A properly sharpened tool, slicing through a piece of wood is a sensual thing.

It's, it's very satisfying, and consequently I use a lot of original hand tools.

I mean I do have power tools here in the shop and I use 'em in certain cases but I also use a lot of the original hand tools.

Because they are so satisfying to use, and there's no noise and no dust.

When you're working with the old hand tools, it's very pleasant.

- [Rob] By the time Alf begins to carve and cut he has a deep knowledge of what he wants and how to get it.

- This is a passion, so the passion remains.

- [Rob] Still Alf is semi retired now and admits there's a strong urge to just relax.

In the end, the passion wins.

Passion for the work and his own standards.

- My goal has always been to have them be more excited about what I've done than they were when they commissioned it.

In other words I wanna surprise them with the quality and the appearance of the piece of furniture.

- [Rob] Furniture made with skill and passion by Alf Sharp.

- Thanks Rob.

Progress is essential for most towns to flourish but occasionally a lack of progress can be a blessing down the road.

Well take Bell Buckle in Bedford county for example.

Today it looks about the same as it did in it's hay day almost a century ago and take that and some old fashioned dining and shopping and you got yourself a pretty good day trip.

(country music) I just heard a great description of Bell Buckle from somebody who lives here.

It's just down the road, no matter where you are but, once you get here it's worlds away.

- So anybody who comes here can go back to their childhood.

Most any of us can remember walking downtown barefoot.

Having an RC Cola and a Moon Pie or going to get the ice cream cone or like we still have today gentlemen that sit on the sidewalk and watch the trains go by.

- [Joe] The town was booming from about 1870 to 1920 as a major stock yard between Nashville and Chattanooga, then the great depression arrived the trains quit stopping, and downtown was boarded up for several decades, that is until Bell Buckle found its new identity as a center for arts and crafts and antique shops.

The old downtown railroad square came to life with quaint colorful shops that now attract hordes of visitors, but in order to keep them here and bring them back, Bell Buckle also needed a special dining destination.

- I knew from my food experience, anywhere you go if you have a good food experience it'll drive the rest of it, you know, you can have pottery shops, you can seel jewelry you can have, but if you don't have a good food experience, a lot of people aren't interested in coming back.

- [Joe] In 1990, Greg Heinikee was looking for a new life style and a new food business adventure.

He discovered the town, fell in love with it, and soon the Bell Buckle Cafe was born.

That is, after he persuaded his reluctant wife and daughters to move from Huntsville, Alabama.

- It was kinda tough at first, and my kids were mad they were in school and they weren't coming up here to a little town of 400, it slowly start showing up and I just come on up here and started working on it and slowly my family started showing up and my kids.

- [Joe] No surprise, the cuisine is southern country and it draws rave reviews from visitors.

The extensive menu's got everything from smothered pork chops to barbecue, and vegetable choices that range from broccoli salad to carrot souffle.

- My family, all my family here, the people that work for me some of them have been here for 20 years you know, and they really try to get it the same every time.

We're kind of like an 1850's shopping center here.

You know, this buildings over a 100 years old, you can see in the steps it's all wore down from people coming in and out.

- Hi.

- [Joe] Greg's wife Jennet will likely greet you at the door, and you may have a short wait, which is definitely worth it.

I mean where else can you see a balancing act like this.

We'll actually they're stackable glasses for your beverage.

Which you'll get along with a serving of friendly hospitality.

- [Greg] My dad told me something many years ago he said you know son, it doesn't cost anything to be nice.

And it doesn't it costs nothing to be nice.

And we really like people, I was lucky I married a woman that likes people and I'm around people I like people, and we just wanna be hospitable.

We want people to come here and feel comfortable.

♪ Here comes the sun ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Here comes the sun ♪ ♪ I say it's alright.

♪ - [Joe] Come on a Friday or Saturday evening and you'll get a free serving of entertainment in the music parlor.

Valarie Smith is a recording artist who tours around the US and Europe when she's not performing here at home.

♪ Here comes the sun ♪ ♪ Do do do do ♪ ♪ Here comes the sun ♪ ♪ I say ♪ - [Joe] After dining and some serious shopping, you might wanna satisfy your sweet tooth at Albert and Nancy Phillip's ice cream parlor.

Famous for their white chocolate raspberry ice cream in a homemade waffle cone.

Now in a big way their general store helped spearhead the town's comeback in the latter part of the 20th century.

- My mom and dad actually bought this building in 1971 with the original contents of the store.

They paid $750 dollars for the building with the contents.

- [Joe] Bill Phillips and his brother now run Phillps' General Store which you could say is part antique mall and part museum.

- [Bill] Not only does it have the counters and the showcases and the original rolling ladders, but it has the original clothes and they have the original price tags on the, they range from 3 cent's to about 27 cents.

They're original leather shoes they're still incredible condition for 120 years later and even some of those pieces have been used in some well known movies, in Tennessee and in the south over the years.

- [Joe] According to the latest census Bell Buckle's population has soared to a whopping 500.

Which means the charming little town you discover on your first visit, will be the same one you'll see on the next and so on.

- We don't change much around here, we've gotten better and we've changed some and we've improved some but this is basically the old cafe like it was 22 years ago.

And people like that, they come through and they say you know it's one of the few places in the country that we come in, we haven't been here in two years but those pork chops taste exactly as good and the same as they did two years ago.

And with the changing world, that's been an important part of our success.

♪ Will history repeat again ♪ ♪ If that were we should meet again ♪ ♪ Woo, yeah ♪ ♪ Woo, yeah.

♪ - If you value things like your grandfather's pocket watch or his pocket knife, you're gonna like our final story.

Items like that are hard to come by these days but according to Tammy Arender, Colonel Littleton of Lynnville, is sort of changing that.

You see he creates items that aren't just great gifts, they also foster emotional bonds.

(country music) - [Tammy] It's just another day at the office for Colonel Gary Littleton.

On his fox fire farm is his little factory in Lynnville, and through this door, is a true reflection of Americana, seen through the eyes of the Colonel, Littleton is transporting folks back in time by making modern products with a very nostalgic look.

- We do men's gifts and but we do apparel as well, and now we do leather goods and so the whole thing is really, I'd say it's accoutrement to the gentlemen trade and accoutrement could mean almost anything, it covers a lot of ground.

Were y'all looking for something for gifts?

- [Tammy] Littleton says these accoutrements can range from autographed pocket knives and pins to clocks and key chains but it's not so much the particular product as it is the feeling he's selling.

He wants his leather goods and other accessories to be family heirlooms like in the days when grandpa would pass down his old pocket watch.

- You know we've got no more pocket watches, there's no more gold pocket watches to to get down from you granddaddy and there's no more pearl handle pistols and there's no more swords and what's it gonna be in the future?

I don't think cell phones and lap tops are gonna be family heirlooms and I wanted stuff to kinda have a sense of value to it as a family piece.

- [Tammy] It's that sense of American heritage that inspires the Colonel to design these original items.

He wants each gift to be functional yet carry with it sentimental value.

- [Colonel] I believe most of the things that we make Tammy, could have been made a 100 years ago, they could just as easily be that old and somehow I think in this day and time people like things that have a little more substance to it, that have a little more feel to it, and I think that's kind of what I tried to do.

Give it a feel.

This is kind of my R&D department.

(Tammy laughs) - [Tammy] Research and development.

- I got all my stuff in here, I got more stuff and bone and everything in the world and to have ideas buttons and even got golf ball.

- [Tammy] This is the working office, the second floor of his office slash factory fuels the Colonel's creativity.

Many ideas go back to the civil war, but with a modern day twist.

- This one came from right here.

- [Tammy] In the saddle?

Saddle bags.

- 1890 Calvary saddle bag, and this is the saddle bag and there's the saddle and there are the boots, the whole deal, and one day I just kept walking by this and looking at it and I said, that's it.

And so I just took that design, put a handle on it made it into a briefcase.

- [Tammy] His saddle back briefcase has become his signature item, but he's also known for the unique and sometimes unnecessary.

Unnecessary because who really needs a leather fly swatter?

But yet even movie stars like Tom Cruise, thought they couldn't live without it.

- It's something that everybody looks at and I think they say, I know somebody I need to get one of those for, because it's something nobody has.

And it's such a hoot, and nobody needs it, I know we've done 'em for all kind of people it seems like but I do know we got a call from Neiman Marcus last Christmas and Tom Cruise ordered one, you so now, everybody from Tom Cruise to whoever.

- [Tammy] He's also sold items to Allan Jackson and Robert Redford, but the celebrity clientele isn't what keeps him designing and drawing.

- I used to think that we probably had just a certain group of people profiled that liked what we do, and then but over the years I've discovered that, that's not the case.

It's hard to, to pigeon hole who our customer is.

- [Tammy] And he certainly knows his market he may want the look and feel of what your grandparents used, but he's well aware that grandpa didn't have a cell phone on his hip.

So cell phone holders like the ones that are being made right here are a very hot item.

- [Colonel] Develop that kinda leather I want, the feel I want, the way I want it to look, and then we, bring the leather in, some things we make here on location, some of the things we have small leather shop around Tennessee that do it for us, but I design it all, style it all, pick out all the components and whether we make it here or make it a another shop, it's all something that you know we come together with here.

- Something else that makes each product that goes out of Colonel Littleton's shop even more special is you get a history on each product that you buy.

Let's just say you buy one of the pocket knives, this is the little card you're gonna get.

On the front it says three of the most pleasing things in life, a good woman, a good dog and a sharp knife.

The three most trifling things in life, a mean woman a biting dog and a dull knife.

You also get, look at this, a little mini Moon Pie, also made in Tennessee, in Chattanooga.

(robot buzzes) Colonel Littleton also believes in making things personal by engraving names and initials.

He knows that if a daughter gives a gift to her dad and his name is on it, and the story behind that gift is included in the packaging, it immediately becomes a keep sake.

- We're in the heart selling business, because that story means something to him I hope, and I think he knows that that knife, is not gonna be in some yard sale one day.

It'll be a family heirloom.

- [Tammy] So Colonel Littleton has come a long way from going city to city selling men's apparel.

He spends each day now in his fox fire farm producing what he hopes will be family keepsakes and gifts that one can not only touch, but feel.

- I sometimes tell everybody that I don't do it for the money, I'm just out trying to be a blessing.

And being a blessing sometimes it's a pretty good job.

- Alright thanks Tammy, and thank you for hanging with us the past 30 minutes, hope you enjoyed it.

Hope you'll check out our website occasionally, tennesseecrossroads.org, follow us on Facebook and join us next time, see you then.

(jazz music)