The Tennessee History Nerd

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As a companion to Episode 8, I had the opportunity to sit down on-site at Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park with Keith Wimberley, the park manager.

Keith brings a unique perspective to the story of Old Stone Fort—not just from the standpoint of historical interpretation, but from daily, hands-on experience with the site itself. In this conversation, we discuss the fort’s construction, the long-standing questions surrounding its purpose, and how modern understanding of the site has evolved over time.

We also talk about the realities of preserving a place like this—how the landscape has changed, what has been lost, and what still remains for us to study and understand.

If Episode 8 is the story…

This is the conversation behind it.

🎙️ Credits
Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Music by Big John Summers

📣 Follow & Support
Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook, Instagram, and X for additional content, including on-location videos, historical interpretation, and stories from across Tennessee.

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Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Mud Island.

To most people crossing the Hernando De Soto Bridge, it looks like an island sitting quietly beside downtown Memphis.

But Mud Island has never been simple.

It began as a sandbar and mudflat created by the shifting currents of the Mississippi River. It became home to squatters living in shacks on stilts. Political leaders debated whether it should be preserved, developed, or simply removed altogether. At one point, Memphis political boss E. H. Crump even suggested blowing it up.

Over the years, Mud Island has been many things.

A navigational hazard.

A shanty settlement.

An airport.

A park.

A museum.

An amphitheater.

A residential community.

And today, it continues to reinvent itself yet again.

In this episode, we examine the formation of Mud Island, the legends surrounding the USS Amphitrite, the era of the squatters, the efforts of E. H. Crump to reshape the Memphis waterfront, the rise and fall of the Downtown Memphis Airport, the impact of Interstate 40 and the Hernando De Soto Bridge, the creation of Mud Island River Park, the monorail, the amphitheater, Harbor Town, and the island's continuing evolution into the twenty-first century.

Because Mud Island is more than a peninsula posing as an island.

It is a reminder that the Mississippi River has always shaped the history of Memphis.

And more than a century after it first emerged from the river...

The story is still being written.

📚 Sources

Patton, Bill. A History Lover's Guide to Memphis and Shelby County.

The Memphis News. "Mud Island Makeover," by Bill Dries (2009).

The Commercial Appeal. Historical reporting concerning Mud Island, the Downtown Airport, the Mud Island River Park, and the development of the Memphis waterfront.

Action News 5 (WMC-TV). Reporting concerning the Mud Island Amphitheater and redevelopment efforts.

ABC24 / Local Memphis. Reporting concerning the Mud Island Monorail and park redevelopment initiatives.

Wolf River Conservancy. Materials relating to the Wolf River Greenway and Mud Island trail system.

United States Navy historical records concerning USS Amphitrite.

United States Census Bureau and American Community Survey demographic data relating to Mud Island.

Baron Von Opperbean and the River of Time. Public materials concerning the redevelopment of the former Mississippi River Museum facility.

Additional local newspaper accounts, planning documents, historical maps, museum materials, historical markers, and reference works reviewed by author.

Field research conducted by author during visits to Mud Island, Harbor Town, the Wolf River Greenway, and the Memphis riverfront.

🎙️ Credits
Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Music by Big John Summers

📣 Follow & Support
Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook, Instagram, and X for additional content, including on-location videos, historical interpretation, and stories from across Tennessee.

🔗 Links
🧢 Merch & Apparel:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

It's INTERVIEWSDAY (Interview Tuesday)!

As part of the research for Episode 12 – A Pearl of a Story, I had the opportunity back in February 2026 to sit down with Bob Keast at the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm near Camden, Tennessee for an extended conversation about freshwater pearls, Tennessee rivers, aquaculture, the TVA, tourism, and the remarkable history of one of Tennessee’s most unusual industries.

This conversation goes far beyond pearls themselves.

We discuss:
• the history of the Tennessee River pearl industry
• John and Chessy Latendresse
• the rise of cultured pearls in America
• how Tennessee mussels became critical to the global pearl trade
• the impact of TVA dams on freshwater mussels
• the Tennessee River system itself
• the only freshwater pearl farm in North America
• and the continuing legacy of the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm.

Bob also shares stories involving:
• National Geographic
• Barbara Walters and ABC’s 20/20
• Elizabeth Taylor’s famous pearl necklace
• Mikimoto Pearl Island in Japan
• and how a little-known Tennessee river industry quietly became connected to the worldwide pearl market.

Part of this interview informed Episode 12 itself, but the full conversation covers far more ground than could fit into the final episode.

If you enjoyed A Pearl of a Story, I think you’ll really enjoy this deeper dive into one of Tennessee’s strangest and most fascinating hidden industries.

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Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Bedford County is a county of crossroads.

Formed in 1807 from the southern portion of Rutherford County and named for Revolutionary War veteran and early Tennessee pioneer Thomas Bedford, the county sits at the intersection of some of the most important transportation corridors in Middle Tennessee. Long before railroads crossed the region, the Warrior's Path passed through what would become Bedford County, carrying Native American travelers, traders, and warriors through the area. Later came the railroad, and with it communities like Wartrace, Bell Buckle, and Normandy.

Along those routes came people whose stories helped shape both Tennessee and the nation.

Andrew Jackson speculated in thousands of acres of land here during Tennessee's frontier era. Isaac Shelby, the Revolutionary War hero for whom Shelbyville was named, helped shape the early history of both Tennessee and Kentucky. During the Civil War, Bedford County became the scene of significant action during the Tullahoma Campaign, including the Battle of Shelbyville and the fighting at nearby Liberty Gap. Shelbyville itself earned the nickname "Little Boston" because of its reputation for Union sympathy during the secession crisis.

Yet Bedford County's story extends far beyond war and politics.

The county became the cradle of the Tennessee Walking Horse industry, producing champions like Strolling Jim and eventually giving rise to the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration, one of the largest equestrian events in the world. Bell Buckle became home to the prestigious Webb School. Shelbyville earned the nickname "Pencil City" through the success of Musgrave Pencil Company and other manufacturers. In more recent years, Bedford County became home to Uncle Nearest Distillery, named in honor of Nathan "Nearest" Green, the formerly enslaved master distiller who taught Jack Daniel the craft of making Tennessee whiskey.

And then there are the stories that make Bedford County uniquely Bedford County.

A town named for a Native American trail.  A county seat known as Little Boston. An alligator named Bedford that somehow found its way into a Tennessee fishing lake. Whiskey, horses, railroads, pencils, governors, and a few surprises along the way.

This is the story of Bedford County, Tennessee.

Key Sources

• Tennessee Encyclopedia
• The Historical Marker Database (HMDB)
• Tennessee Historical Markers
• Official Bedford County Government Website
• Official City of Shelbyville Website
• VoteArchive.com (1861 Secession Convention and Referendum Returns)
• Tennessee History for Kids
• Official Website of Uncle Nearest Distillery
• Official Website of Jack Daniel's
• Official Website of Musgrave Pencil Company
• Official Website of The Webb School
• Bell Buckle Chamber of Commerce
• Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration
• WPLN article regarding Musgrave Pencil Company
• Rutherford County Historical Society blog article "Jefferson: Gone But Not Forgotten"
• Everything2.com article regarding Bedford, the Bedford Lake Alligator
• On-site research and field observations conducted in Shelbyville, Wartrace, Bell Buckle, Normandy, Unionville, and surrounding areas of Bedford County

Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Music by Big John Summers

Follow & Support

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook for:

• On-location videos

• Tennessee history content

• Episode updates

• Historical insights and research clips

🔗 Links

🧢 Merch:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out Dauphin Island Diaries:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/podcasts/did

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

It's Interviewsday!  On Tuesdays, as I am able and have interview inventory to release, I'm trying to share some of the interviews that we've done previously.

This week, we're opening up one of our Patreon interviews for everyone to enjoy.

When we released Episode 10, Horror on the Mississippi: The Forgotten Inferno, I had the opportunity to sit down with historian Norman Shaw to discuss one of the deadliest maritime disasters in American history: the explosion of the steamboat Sultana.

In this conversation, Norman shares insights into the events leading up to the disaster, the conditions aboard the overcrowded vessel, the challenges of researching the tragedy, and why the story of the Sultana deserves to be remembered more than 160 years later.

If you enjoyed Episode 10, this interview provides additional background, context, and perspective from a researcher who has spent years studying the disaster and the people whose lives were forever changed by it.

As always, one of our goals at The Tennessee History Nerd is not only to tell great stories, but also to introduce you to the historians, researchers, curators, preservationists, and subject matter experts who help us better understand the past.

So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and enjoy this week's free interview release with historian Norman Shaw.

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

The State of Franklin.

For four years, it existed in a place somewhere between a territory, a rebellion, and a nation.

It had a governor. It had a legislature. It had courts. It levied taxes. It raised a militia. It negotiated treaties. It even petitioned Congress for admission into the United States.

And yet today, it survives mostly as a footnote in Tennessee history.

To understand Franklin, we have to set aside the way we think about states today.

In the 1780s, Americans did not necessarily view a state as a subdivision of a nation. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states were themselves sovereign political entities joined together in a confederation. That distinction helps explain why a group of settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains believed they could create a state of their own.

When North Carolina ceded its western lands in 1784, the people living beyond the mountains suddenly found themselves in political limbo. Isolated from the eastern centers of government and accustomed to governing and defending themselves, many concluded that the solution was simple:

If no government would govern them, they would create one.

What followed was one of the most fascinating political experiments in early American history.

In this episode, we examine the North Carolina Cession Act of 1784, the creation of the State of Franklin, the leadership of John Sevier, the opposition of John Tipton, the constitutional debates, the courthouse wars, the Battle of the State of Franklin, and the ultimately unsuccessful effort to secure recognition as America's fourteenth state.

Because Franklin was more than a frontier curiosity.

It was a test of what the American Revolution had actually created.

And although Franklin failed...

The men who built it would help create Tennessee.

📚 Sources

Fink, Paul M. Various published works and collected research concerning the State of Franklin and early Tennessee history.

Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site. Museum exhibits, interpretive materials, historical markers, publications, and site research reviewed by author.

Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture.

• Corlew, Robert E. "John Sevier."

• West, Carroll Van. "John Tipton."

• Toomey, Michael. "State of Franklin."

NCPedia. Articles and reference materials relating to the State of Franklin, North Carolina's western cession, and early Tennessee settlement.

Chester Inn State Historic Site and Museum. Interpretive materials relating to Jonesborough, Franklin, and early statehood history.

Williams, Samuel Cole. History of the Lost State of Franklin (1924). Consulted indirectly through later scholarship and cited as a foundational work on the subject.

Foster, Dave. Franklin: The Stillborn State and the Sevier/Tipton Political Feud. Consulted as supplemental reference material.

Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org). Historical marker texts and supporting documentation relating to Franklin sites and events.

McCray, Kelly. Materials consulted during preliminary research and comparison of interpretations.

Additional local historical publications, museum materials, historical markers, and reference works reviewed by author.

🎙️ Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Music by Big John Summers

📣 Follow & Support

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook, Instagram, and X for additional content, including on-location videos, historical interpretation, and stories from across Tennessee.

Support the show on Patreon for:

• Early access to episodes

• Ad-free listening

• Exclusive bonus content, including full-length interviews

🔗 Links

🎧 Support the show on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

🧢 Merch & Apparel:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Director, Sequoyah Birthplace Museum
 

In this companion interview to Episode 5, The Talking Leaves, we go beyond the narrative and into the details with Charlie Rhodarmer, director of the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, Tennessee.

Drawing on his experience and deep familiarity with the site and its history, Charlie provides valuable context, clarifications, and corrections that help sharpen our understanding of Sequoyah’s life and legacy. From the complexities of reconstructing Sequoyah’s story to the challenges of interpreting a life preserved through both oral tradition and limited documentation, this conversation adds depth that can’t be captured in a single episode.

This is the kind of perspective you only get by being there—by standing near the place where the story begins and speaking with those who help preserve it.

🎯 What You’ll Hear in This Interview

• Clarifications and corrections related to Sequoyah’s life and timeline
• The challenges of interpreting historical figures rooted in oral tradition
• Insights from the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum’s research and exhibits
• Discussion of common misconceptions about Sequoyah
• The importance of place-based history in understanding the past
• Behind-the-scenes perspective from the museum itself

🧠 Why This Matters

Sequoyah’s story is one of the most remarkable in American history—but it is also one of the most complex. This interview highlights the importance of careful interpretation, source awareness, and humility when approaching historical narratives that come to us through multiple and sometimes conflicting accounts.

📍 About the Location

This interview is connected to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, located near the site traditionally associated with Sequoyah’s birthplace along the Little Tennessee River (now part of Tellico Lake).

Credits:

Hosted by Big John Summers

Guest: Charlie Rhodarmer

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Follow & Support:

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook, Instagram, and X for additional content, including on-location videos and historical insights from around the state of Tennessee as well as other places that bear relevance.

Support the show on Patreon for:

• Ad-free listening
• Exclusive bonus content, including full-length interviews

🔗 Links 

🎧 Support the show on Patreon (early access, bonus content, interviews):
https://www.patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

🧢 Merch & Apparel:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Anderson County has reinvented itself again and again.

Founded in 1801 and named for U.S. Senator Joseph Anderson, the county began as part of Tennessee's frontier landscape of ridges, valleys, rivers, and scattered settlements. Over the next two centuries, it would become the setting for some of the most remarkable chapters in Tennessee history.

This is a county where Unionists resisted secession during the Civil War. It is a county where coal miners took up arms against Tennessee's convict leasing system during the Coal Creek War. It is home to Fraterville, the site of one of the deadliest mining disasters in American history. It is a county where an old farmer named John Hendrix reportedly foresaw dramatic changes that would later transform the region.

Then came the twentieth century.

The Tennessee Valley Authority reshaped the landscape through Norris Dam and Norris Lake. Entire communities were displaced. Farms, roads, and family homes disappeared beneath the waters of a new reservoir.

Only a few years later, the federal government returned.

This time it came with fences, guards, secrecy, and a mission that would change the world.

The Manhattan Project transformed a rural portion of Anderson County into Oak Ridge, the Secret City, where thousands of workers helped usher in the Atomic Age.

Yet the story of Anderson County did not end there.

The county would later become the site of another chapter in American history as students, families, and community leaders found themselves at the center of the struggle over school integration through the stories of the Clinton 12 and the Scarboro 85.

From frontier settlements to coal camps, from Norris Dam to Oak Ridge, from Civil War Unionism to the Civil Rights Movement, Anderson County's history is ultimately the story of a place repeatedly transformed by forces larger than itself.

This is the story of Anderson County, Tennessee.

Key Sources

Tennessee Encyclopedia  

The Historical Marker Database (HMDB) — Anderson County historical markers

Interpretive materials at the Oak Ridge History Museum

Interpretive materials at the American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE)

Interpretive materials at Norris Dam

Interpretive materials at the Green McAdoo Cultural Center

On-site research and field observations conducted in Clinton, Oak Ridge, Scarboro, Norris, Fraterville, Briceville, Rocky Top, Miner's Circle, and the Elza Gate area

Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers

Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Foley/Sound effect recordings by Big John Summers

Follow & Support

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook for:

• On-location videos

• Tennessee history content

• Episode updates

• Historical insights and research clips

Support the show on Patreon for:

• Early access

• Ad-free listening

• Bonus interviews

• Extended historical discussions

🔗 Links

🎧 Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

🧢 Merch:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out Dauphin Island Diaries:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/podcasts/did

Subscribe to Patreon:
Patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

Love what you're hearing? Hate what you're hearing? Either way, we'd love to hear what you think!

Advertise with us! [email protected]

Thanks for listening! Please check out our other episodes!

#TheTennesseeHistoryNerd

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

We're making this interview, which previously required a Patreon subscription to be able to access, available to the general public now--no subscription required.

For Ep 7 - The Iron Men, I had the opportunity to sit down with Norman Jetmundsen—author, historian, and co-producer of Sewanee 1899: Unrivaled—whose work served as a primary narrative source for this episode on the Iron Men of Sewanee.  

This conversation goes beyond the story told in the episode.

We talk about:

• how the 1899 season has been remembered over time
• what makes that team’s achievement so remarkable even today
• the research behind Unrivaled
• and the details that didn’t make it into the documentary

If you’ve listened to the episode, this adds another layer.

If you haven’t yet, this will give you a deeper sense of just how extraordinary that story really is.

There’s a difference between hearing the story… and hearing from the people who have spent years preserving it.

Credits:

Hosted by Big John Summers
Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Follow & Support:

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook, Instagram, and X for additional content, including on-location videos and historical insights from around the state of Tennessee as well as other places that bear relevance.

Support the show on Patreon for:

• Early access to episodes
• Ad-free listening
• Exclusive bonus content, including full-length interviews

🔗 Links

🎧 Support the show on Patreon (early access, bonus content, interviews):
https://www.patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

🧢 Merch & Apparel:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

📘 Follow on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.

We'd love to hear what you think!

Freshwater pearls may not be the first thing that comes to mind when people think about Tennessee history…but for decades, Tennessee rivers were at the center of one of the most unusual industries in America.

Long before cultured pearls became common in jewelry stores, rivers across Tennessee produced natural freshwater pearls inside native mussels. By the late 1800s, the state found itself in the middle of a full-blown “Pearl Rush,” especially along the Clinch River near Clinton, Tennessee. Pearl hunters waded the rivers barefoot searching for mussels, brail boats dragged the river bottoms, and buyers traveled from New York City to East Tennessee to purchase pearls for the jewelry trade.

But pearls were only part of the story.

The shells themselves became enormously valuable for the manufacture of mother-of-pearl buttons before plastics transformed the industry after World War II. Eventually, Tennessee mussel shells became even more important internationally as the primary source of nuclei used in cultured pearls around the world.

But like many Tennessee stories, this one didn’t simply end.

It adapted.

Today, the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm near Camden preserves the legacy of this unusual industry while continuing the only freshwater pearl culturing operation in North America.

This is the story of rivers, mussels, pearls, aquaculture, environmental change, and one of Tennessee’s most surprising hidden industries.

Key Sources

February 27, 2026 interview with Bob Keast, owner of Birdsong Resort and Marina and the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm

Fred Ward, “The Pearl,” National Geographic, August 1985

Gemological Institute of America — “Freshwater Pearling in Tennessee”

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency — Freshwater Mussels in Tennessee resources and conservation materials

Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Birdsong Resort historical and educational materials

Tennessee Blue Book — Tennessee State Gem materials

McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture freshwater mussel exhibit resources

Historical marker archives concerning “The Market Place of Pearls” in Clinton, Tennessee

Appalachian History — “A Pearl Rush Grips Clinch River Residents”

WKRN Hidden Tennessee feature on the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Farm

On-site research and field observations conducted at the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Birdsong Marina and Resort

Credits

Hosted by Big John Summers
Produced by Summers Media Enterprises

Foley/Sound effect recordings by Big John Summers

Follow & Support

Follow The Tennessee History Nerd on Facebook for:
• On-location videos
• Tennessee history content
• Episode updates
• Historical insights and research clips

Support the show on Patreon for:
• Early access
• Ad-free listening
• Bonus interviews
• Extended historical discussions

🔗 Links

🎧 Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

🧢 Merch:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/merch

🎤 Speaking:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/speaking-engagements

📘 Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/TheTennesseeHistoryNerd/

Check out Dauphin Island Diaries:
https://www.summersmediaenterprises.com/podcasts/did

Subscribe to Patreon:
Patreon.com/summersmediaenterprises

Check out and follow Mr. Murfreesboro on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Enter BIGJOHN as the discount code in the comment field when you reserve a cabin or cottage at Birdsong for 20% off the reservation price!

Be sure to listen each week in October to the latest update for The Tennessee History Nerd...and catch up on any Season 1 episodes you may have missed!

Check out our sister podcast Dauphin Island Diaries wherever you're listening right now!

Be sure to click follow or share in your podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode of The Tennessee History Nerd...and share your favorite episode with someone!

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with someone who loves history, and leave a review—it helps more folks discover the stories of the Volunteer State.