- [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by: - [Announcer] 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.

- [Announcer] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways.

Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made in Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails.

More at TNTrailsandByways.com.

- [Announcer] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states.

More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer] 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.

- On this week's "Crossroads," we'll tour a one of a kind museum, enjoy fine dining in Memphis, meet a man who brings water colors to life, and learn what it takes to preserve historic cabins.

Hello, I'm Vicki Yates, and we're so glad you're here.

(bright music) "Crossroads" fans know that we love to get off the interstate, and our next story fits the bill.

If you haven't been, the town of Granville in Jackson County is a perfect weekend visit.

Known as Tennessee's own Mayberry, it's got something new.

A collection that is the largest of its kind in the world.

- Our story is a follow-up to and a combination of two old "Crossroads" stories.

One on the Pioneer Village, which is found here in town, historic Granville.

And the other, a Joe Elmore story about a man who collected Jim Beam whiskey decanters.

That collection has found its way here to Granville and helped create what is now the largest collection of whiskey decanters in the world.

(lively music) There was a time when Randall Clemens didn't know a thing about whiskey decanters, though that's changed.

Randall does know everything there is to know about the town of Granville.

A place where you find a simpler life, slower pace, and quiet pleasures.

He was born and raised here, was head of the local bank for years, and continues to volunteer as president of the Historic Granville Museum.

- We are a town of yesteryear that has been preserved and restored and it has that Mayberry feel to it where you can walk down the street.

Everybody knows everybody.

And we've become a major tourist attraction because we have 10 different venues.

- [Laura] Whether it's the general store, its Saturday night bluegrass shows, the Lucy Museum, or any of the others in town, Clover Street is the street to visit when you come here.

Rob Wild's featured Granville's pioneer Village a while back, a place to see olden craft skills still taking place.

But the newest attraction in Granville exists thanks to a Joe Elmore story.

- We actually got interested in it because of a friend of Mr. Barrett's given us the "Tennessee Crossroads" show, and we watched it and began our our journey with decanters.

- [Laura] Back in 2019, Joe featured a man named Charles Barrett, a Church of Christ preacher.

He didn't drink, but he had a Smithsonian level collection of Jim Beam Decanters.

Thousands of them collected over 30 years.

After his wife passed, Mr. Barrett began looking for a home for his collection, but the town of Granville wasn't interested at first.

- [Randall] Didn't realize the work of art that they actually are until we went to Mr. Barrett's home and saw the wonderful collection he had and the passion that he had for keeping his collection together.

And he was such an invaluable asset on his knowledge as well as he moved every decanter that you see here today and helped us place him.

- [Laura] Liz Bennett, also born in Granville, is also a volunteer and gives tours of the museum.

She says these decanters are much more than a vessel for whiskey.

- It's an art museum.

The name on the windows say Decanter Museum, Jim Beam Whiskey decanters.

But actually when you walk in here, you realize that you're in an art museum.

All of the decanters are porcelain, or most of them are porcelain.

They are...

It is the largest collection of registered, hand-painted, limited edition decanters in the world.

- [Laura] Decanters became a thing in the early fifties to help boost lagging sales of bourbon.

Created more for the container than the contents.

- [Liz] That's the Elvis and the Hound Dog.

- [Laura] So this is your favorite.

Barrett's collection isn't what made the museum the world's biggest.

It took adding a second collection to do that.

- And he had a friend in Koval by the name of Joe Miller that he had become friends over collecting decanters.

Mr. Miller saw what had happened to Mr. Barrett's collection, and he wanted the same to happen to his.

- We were invited to go visit Joe and Gussy Miller in their home.

And I've never seen anything like it.

We thought we had seen decanters when we saw all of Mr. Barrett's collection, but then when you saw the diversity in Mr. Miller and Gussy's collection, it was just so different.

So it made us kind of think, "Yeah, that would be nice to have that."

- [Laura] Charles Barrett talked a generous patron into donating funds to expand the museum and get all 5,000 decanters in the building.

Now they represent everything and everyone.

Cars, trains, telephones, animals, political parties, even college football.

- They tell a story.

What I tell people is, regardless of what your passion in life is, you're gonna find a decanter in here that represents that.

And they are a work of art.

- Once people come, they're just blown away.

They can't believe.

And the most common thing we hear is just what we heard from you.

"Are you sure Whiskey was in these things?"

- Made by the Ski Country company, the majestic eagle decanter is the largest one ever made.

Weighing in at 14 pounds empty, it holds a gallon of liquid sunshine.

And this 1964 Jim Bean decanter is one of only 117 made.

- In fact, Jim Beam doesn't even have this, and they have tried to purchase this from us.

But Mr. Barrett says it belongs here in Randall.

- So you turn them down.

- That's right.

That's right.

- [Laura] While these decanters are now dry, they at least have a home where anyone can visit to appreciate the beauty, artistry, and some history too.

Mark Twain wrote, "Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough."

Too many whiskey decanters in Granville?

Barely enough.

- Thanks, Laura.

When you're hungry for a good steak, there seems to be a lot of high end options that might require a second mortgage on your home.

Danielle Allen found an unpretentious spot in Memphis that serves juicy steaks in a relaxed setting called the Side Porch Steakhouse.

- [Danielle] The Mid-South may be known for its barbecue, but where do you go for a juicy steak?

(upbeat music) You head to the heart of Bartlett and stop at the Side Porch Steakhouse.

- This is a steakhouse that is not too fancy, not too casual.

You can come however you want.

And we've got a great variety of steaks using the same recipes that we've been using, they've been using since 1976, since it opened, and it's just a good place to be.

- [Danielle] If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Side Porch Steakhouse.

It's the business manager Emily Cook.

She says The friendly atmosphere keeps people coming back.

And, of course, the menu does too.

- [Emily] Our grilled chicken breast is really good, and you can get that plain or with bacon and cheese 'cause bacon and cheese makes everything better.

We have pork chops and we have fried and grilled shrimp.

We have salmon and mahi-mahi.

- [Danielle] And the steaks?

Well, there's a secret ingredient for that.

- We have a proprietary marinade that we put on our steaks and our chicken and our pork chops, but people really love it and we get asked for the recipe a lot, and we don't share.

- Of course, everyone comes here for the steaks, but that's not the only reason they're walking through the door.

It's also the croutons.

- [Emily] It's not a hard, crispy crouton like you'd have in a salad.

It's about this big.

It's a slice of a roll.

And they're toasted with butter and garlic salt, and they're pretty tasty.

- [Danielle] And who's responsible for this yummy goodness?

That would be Mr. Gary.

Also known as the Crouton King, he makes sure every batch is just as mouthwatering as the last one.

- What I rub him down with, you know, it is a mixture of butter and garlic powder, and I have to cut these here at a certain length, or should I say size, because we want them to be about like that.

We don't want 'em to be huge or too small.

(bright music) They ready to go in the oven about eight minutes.

And that's it.

That's Side Porch croutons.

- [Danielle] With beloved items like the croutons, the Side Porch Steakhouse stays busy, but Emily doesn't manage it alone.

She owns the business with five others.

They're all friends who raised their kids together and they're all passionate about the restaurant.

That's why they jumped into action when they found out it was closing in 2021.

- [Local] It happened kind of in a strange way.

One of the owners texted out that, "Gosh, you know, I'd really love to buy Side Porch.

I hear that it's for sale."

And then another couple said, "How much?"

And another one said, "Are you serious?"

And within a week, they had walked through and we, I guess, made an offer on it pretty fast.

And it was just to save it.

This is an icon in Bartlett and it's a special thing to the people of Bartlett, and we wanted to save it.

- [Danielle] The first step was buying the Side Porch Steakhouse.

Next, it was time for renovations.

The group did extensive work to the building while also honoring its long history.

- The house was actually built as a single family residence in 1936.

And it went through lots of owners, but at one point, the telegraph operator lived here, and this was the telegraph office.

And a mayor was here with his family for a while, and it converted from a single family residence to Side Porch in 1976.

- [Danielle] When the restaurant reopened with a new look and the same cherish menu, the community was overjoyed, including Rebecca Lane.

This was her family's home when she was a child.

- Oh, my mother.

My mother would be shocked to know that there is a bar in our house.

Where the bar is was my sister's and I's bedroom.

We had two twin beds and a little half bath up there, and then the side porch was not there.

It was a carport.

- [Danielle] But no matter the changes over the years, the feeling remains the same.

- I tell you, I was so thrilled that they, of course, you know, someone else owned it before this group bought it, but I was so thrilled that they didn't tear it down.

I mean, it's just my home.

I'm sorry.

It really means a lot to me.

Yeah.

- We've been humbled by the community supporting us and continuing to come out.

We have customers who are here every week, and it's been fun to do it, and to do this business with our friends, and we really have a community atmosphere here, and it's just been nice to continue the legacy.

- Thanks, Danielle.

Chuck Creasey discovered his love for painting as a child.

The need to provide for his family made him take a bit of a detour.

But as a retiree, he's back at the easel full-time, putting his dreams on canvas.

Cindy Carter shares his colorful story.

(bright music) - [Cindy] Working from a photograph, watercolor artist Chuck Creasey sketches the California Light Lighthouse in Aruba, a place he's visited several times.

- You know, and these sketches I do, really, are just a workout of values and stuff before I get to laying paint down.

- [Cindy] And when Chuck does lay paint down, something magical starts to happen.

- My work really encompasses all the things I tend to be interested in, which is quite a number of subject matter, you know?

And I don't really specialize in any subject matter.

- [Cindy] His subjects may be varied, but Chuck approaches every watercolor with laser focus.

He paints inside his home studio standing over a desk so the colors don't run.

Most paintings, Chuck says, he finishes in a day.

A testament to its professionalism, years of experience, and an unwavering passion for his work.

- [Chuck] Watercolor to me is one of those mediums, it's just almost magic, you know?

When I lay down that big wet wash on a piece of white paper, it just gives me chills, you know?

And you go from there.

- [Cindy] In college, he studied architecture and fine art.

He also met and married the love of his life, Marni.

But this idyllic blend of art and young love changed dramatically when while still in school, Chuck was drafted and sent to Vietnam.

- Wound up in Vietnam as an artillery forward observer with an infantry company.

We'd been there...

I'd been in field four weeks, and we got overrun by an NVA battalion.

We lost about half of our company.

- [Cindy] Chuck survived the attack, but many of his comrades did not.

Understandably, his experience in Vietnam forever changed him.

He returned home and finished art school, determined to leave the pain and ugliness of war behind.

- I found out about this watercolor artist named John Pike, who was arguably, you know, of the best watercolor artists in America at that time.

He had a school in Woodstock.

So I went up two summers and studied with John and just fell in love with watercolor.

- [Cindy] At one point, Pike insisted Chuck also spend some time with a colleague who lived an hour and a half away in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

That artist was none other than Norman Rockwell.

- [Chuck] I walked in Rockwell's studio and I just, blew me away, I told him.

He was 79 at that time, painting 18 hours a day.

I spent three days with him, watching him paint, asking him questions, cleaning his brushes, you know?

It was amazing.

- [Cindy] Amazing could also describe how Chuck's life unfolded since those carefree days in Woodstock.

Returning to Tennessee, Chuck spent 50 years as a successful advertising creative director, working with corporations, the City of Nashville musicians, even a presidential campaign.

But the whole time, Chuck painted, - And I'm kinda all over the board.

It's all within watercolor, but I experiment and I do all kinds of crazy things.

- Chuck is a traveler.

His passion for scuba diving, his advertising work, family vacations, they've all taken him all around the world.

And much of his art reflects the people and places he's encountered along the way.

(bright music) - That painting over there is a Honduran grandmother that I've met in Copan, the Ruins of Copan.

This painting is a Coptic priest in front of Lalibela, the church in Ethiopia that dates back 2,000 years.

And Willie Nelson's always been, you know, inspiration to me.

- [Cindy] There are seascapes and boats and Caribbean locales, warriors, and even paintings inspired by Chuck's 2018 return to Vietnam.

Though he's sold his watercolor art since he was young, this is his full-time work now, finally.

- Sitting down over there and doing a painting is better than a fifth of Jack Daniels for me.

I mean, it's tonic.

You know, it's my...

Gives me the ability to just escape and feel the freedom I didn't have in the commercial field.

- [Cindy] It's appropriate this artist prefers bright, bold colors.

Just think of the bold, colorful life he's led, turning his experiences and memories into vivid paintings we all can enjoy.

- Thanks, Cindy.

Our next stop is Union City and the Discovery Park of America.

It's a fun place to visit anytime of the year, but we were there this time to explore a mission of saving a pioneer village, a project that requires the unique talents of a team of top-notch Tennessee preservationists.

(inspirational music) - [Joe] Since Discovery Park of America opened in 2013, it's attracted millions of children and adults, and for good reason.

With dazzling exhibits and interactive hands-on experiences, it's a first class destination for entertainment and education.

A place to be inspired by science, technology, and, of course, history.

An important historical component is here by the Parks North Lake.

It's called The Settlement, a collection of 13 hand (indistinct) log buildings from the 19th century, all donated by families from the area.

Scott Williams, the parks president and CEO, showed me around.

- Of course, the centerpiece is a statue of David Crockett.

David Crockett settled here in 1822.

He was one of the first settlers here and one of the first hunters around nearby Reelfoot Lake.

And so we tell a little bit of the David Crockett story here as well.

It's set up like a community similar to what one would've found, probably the houses would've been spread out a little more apart as people farmed.

We also have agriculture here.

So we have a heritage garden where people can see how fruits and vegetables and food was grown back then.

So that's another way people can see what was going on in the past.

(inspirational music) - [Joe] But after nearly a decade of life at the park, the logs are definitely showing their age, mostly due to water damage.

Damage that threatens both structural integrity and safety.

- We sought out a lot of different people to talk to about what we should do, and we settled with Leatherwood because they seemed to get what we were all about.

Of course, they were Tennesseans, which, you know, is a great thing for us.

(metal clacking) (wood scratching) (saw buzzing) - [Joe] By the way, Leatherwood has provided historic building restorations across the country.

The man in charge is company president, Vic Hood.

- No two projects are alike, and we really are faced with doing something new all the time.

And that's a part of the enjoyment of what we do.

We're taking out the dobbing and chinking in the building, and we're trying to find areas that are decayed, what's decayed, what's not, and we're discovering quite a bit more decay than we anticipated.

Most everything we've run into is related to water.

And so that's been our main culprit in this case.

- This is a painstaking months long project that'll cost the park about a half million dollars.

A lot of expense, a lot of very hard work just to save a bunch of old logs.

But when you're preserving a valuable piece of Tennessee history, it's all worthwhile.

- Absolutely.

We cannot forget our history.

History is crucial to our future.

And so as much as we and everybody else in Tennessee can help contribute to taking care of history, that's a great thing.

- [Joe] The Leatherwood team started with the two smallest structures, a hog barn and smokehouse, then moved on to larger buildings.

- [Scott] This is a dog truck long house.

They call it the Davey Crockett House.

And we had to disassemble the second story because it had shifted to one side and it was causing water to cascade down the side of the building.

And as that water cascaded down, it was causing decay.

- A lot of those replacement logs came from this neglected 18 hundreds house in Franklin.

Each one carefully removed before transporting it to the Union City side.

Along the way, Vic's discovered a number of problems due to a structure's original construction.

No one said all settlers were expert craftsmen.

- They've cobbled that together and they did it on top of a log that they put in upside down.

This is a half dovetail notch, but it's supposed to drain water, not catch it.

See, water hits there and it goes into the log that way.

And if it flipped over, it wouldn't do that.

- [Joe] Most of the cabins have survived about two centuries of weather and wear.

Now, thanks to some new and old technology, visitors can safely and realistically experience 19th century life in the country.

- Our objective here with this project is that The Settlement will be around 10, 20, 30 years in the future, so that children and adults who visit here will be able to see how things were done in the past, how people lived, how they built their cabins, how their food was preserved.

We tell all those stories here at Discovery Park.

(inspirational music) - That brings us to the end of another show.

But please visit TennesseeCrossroads.org for more stories.

And remember to join us next week.

We'll see you then.

(bright music) - [Announcer] "Tennessee Crossroads" is made possible in part by: - [Announcer] 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.

- [Announcer] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways.

Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made in Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails.

More at TNTrailsandByways.com.

- [Announcer] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops.

Driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states.

More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer] 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.