This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

Wish you were here.

Produced under an agreement with the Upper Cumberland Development District and made possible in part through support from the Tennessee Tech University Center for Rural Innovation and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

In the heart of Tennessee, there's a little slice of heaven you've just got to see.

Oh, man.

Wish you were here.

Welcome to Wish You Were Here.

Adventures in Tennessee's Upper Cumberland.

I'm Katelyn Steakley, your guide.

As we experience the scenic beauty and unique culture of this stunning region.

Together, we will uncover hidden gems, take in picturesque landscapes, and encounter remarkable personalities that define the charm of the Upper Cumberland.

Before we meet up with our Wish You Were here field correspondant, Let's explore a multi-generational farm that creates unforgettable milestones.

Memories with more than 40 fun farm activities for every season.

Sounds like this place has something for everyone.

When fun is in the name, you know it's a must visit place.

McCulley's Amazin' Acres of fun is an attraction like no other in the upper Cumberland.

With year round farm fun and more than 40 activities for all ages.

I'm here today with Karen McCulley from McCulley's.

Amazin' Acres in Sparta, Tennessee.

Karen, thank you so much for having us.

Thank you all for coming out.

I want to hear about all of the things that Amazin' Acres has to offer.

You guys have something for every season, right?

We do have.

So starting in the spring, we will do Easter egg hunts on Good Friday and Saturday.

And usually a weekend before that.

Baby animals will do a baby animal festival, then strawberry festival.

We have, five acres of strawberries.

People can come out.

We do educational field trips.

Everybody can come out to the farm and do all the activities that we have.

And then moving on into sunflower season, we will do sunflowers and zinnias.

And these are some of our zinnias.

The sunflowers have just gone down now.

And we also did a sweet corn festival with that.

Right now we have three corn mazes and 40 activities.

That's fun for all age groups.

One of the most important things that you guys do here is you offer educational experiences for churches, for schools, and not just from your county, but from surrounding counties.

Today we are here and there are kids everywhere because they are enjoying a field trip with their classmates.

Tell me a little bit about what you offer as far as field trips and group trips here.

On our farm, we have a lot of things that are educational.

We'll go through the life cycle of a strawberry, and in the fall we will do the life cycle of a pumpkin.

And we may be doing the life cycle of sunflowers.

This next season we'll see.

Throughout the farm there's educational tidbits on all our different activities.

It's just a true farm experience.

You guys don't just have plants and agriculture here on the farm.

You also have some other really cool things for families to do.

Tell me a little bit about those.

Our new thing this year is our obstacle course.

The kids are having a just the biggest time on that.

We have a tractor track and we've got slides, the bounce pillow and the zipline.

People really enjoy.

I know my kids enjoy those, so I'm excited to get my hands on those without them here today and having a catch up.

But even better, your son Daniel is going to join us soon.

So Karen, thank you so much.

I'm excited to hear what he has to say about the Christmas tree farm.

We really appreciate you having us out here at Amazin' Acres today.

Thank you all so much for coming out.

I am joined now by Daniel, another member of the McCulley family.

Daniel.

I am so excited to hear from you about how the farm is now pretty much four seasons here.

Tell me a little bit about the new additions that's coming this year.

So this year we will be adding the Christmas Tree Farm.

We're going to hopefully, start the weekend before Thanksgiving.

We'll have Tennessee Frazier fur precut.

We also have about 300 choosing cuts.

So people can bring the family out.

Pick the perfect Christmas tree for them.

Cut it.

Take it back.

That's really exciting.

You guys also have a corn maze on site in the fall.

Tell us a little bit about the corn maze.

Yeah.

So we have three corn maze.

We have one that's just a trail.

No, dad.

And it's just for the little kids.

Just like in walk through the corn.

It's a little short trail.

Has the old MacDonald had a farm story in it?

Then we have one a little bit larger for more for elementary school kids.

Then we have the big corn maze, which is like a scavenger hunt, for people to bring their families and go through and try to find all the clues.

So it's a lot of fun.

You can also get some of the merchandise and pieces that are coming off the farm that you guys are making into products and selling.

Tell us a little bit about the store and about how people can eat on the site.

So the farm market gets used throughout the year.

So start off in in spring we'll be selling our strawberry fresh pick strawberries along with strawberry desserts.

We have homemade ice cream a lot of times in the spring.

So in fall we'll have all of our pumpkins and squash and we have, different canned jellies and jams.

The kitchen, we have barbecue and hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, nachos and cheese.

Well, Daniel, we really appreciate you sharing the farm with us.

Thank you so much for having us.

Thank you.

Glad you could all Come out.

Celebrating 25 years of welcoming guests for an agriculture rural experience.

Amazin' Acres in Sparta should be your next stop when visiting the Upper Cumberland.

Chuckwagon demonstrations, Wild West reenactments, cattle roping, wagon rides, and more.

And did I mention bison?

This two day festival sounds like the perfect adventure for field correspondent Shan Stout.

Let's see what's cooking in Cookeville.

Hey!

Join us at high noon at the lazy G Ranch in Cookeville for a one of a kind event that takes us back in time for cowboy shootouts, bison feeding, and a chuckwagon cookoff offering a taste of history taking over the lazy G ranch, a bison ranch previously shown on Wish You Were Here.

The Putnam County Chuckwagon Festival brings visitors from around the country to compete in a Wild West style cookoff.

Howdy, partners!

We're here at the second Annual Chuckwagon Cookoff, and this is the Chuckwagon Festival in Cookeville, Tennessee.

And if you've ever wanted an authentic wild West experience with great food, I think we've come to the right place.

And I'm here with Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter and Mayor Porter.

This is the second annual, and that means there was a first annual.

Tell us about what went on last year.

Well, it was our first year last year.

And we wanted to try something new, a new event in Putnam County, 1830 to go here, that on the ranch, contacted us.

And I'd been to this cookoff in another place, and they thought it'd be a great thing to bring in.

We started working with them, and they've just been unbelievable.

Lazy G ranch, we got visitors, Bureau involved, the county.

Everybody came in and supported it.

It was good.

Last year we were sold out.

But it even further wanted to make it bigger.

And so we've almost doubled everything this year.

So it's a great event that a lot of guests with us today.

Or it's a hold up.

Yeah.

We're not sure which ones do I have on me?

There's so many things to see here.

There's not only the chuck wagon cook off with 13 authentic chuck wagons that are all competing for the Grand championship, where ticket holders can come and taste their meal cooked over an open fire.

But you also have demonstrations going on.

We have people doing wool spinning in the vendor barns.

We have shopping, we have, a few cowboys on site.

And I'm not sure that a few aren't some robbers and we also have a great wagon ride where you can feed bison, view the farm, and also have a little bit of Wild West excitement.

So this is a free family event for families on Friday.

Then Saturday is our ticketed event.

So it's a great time for everybody.

It is.

And to be able to experience what it was like back in those days in the wild, wild West with these wagon trains and cooking out and trying to transport their own food and everything.

It's just unbelievable experience.

And everyone that came last year thoroughly enjoyed it, and we got a lot of folks that were here last year coming back again this year.

So it's a great event.

We hope you'll come out and join us.

Well, there's 11 states involved in this year's Chuckwagon Cookoff, so you'll want to mark your calendar for next year and come see us at the Chuckwagon Festival.

Because this is so much fun.

Guests can sample campfire cooked, fair shop various vendors, see fiber spun into yarn, take a wagon ride to meet and feed bison, and spend the weekend stepping back in time.

At this two day event.

♪upbeat music♪ Honoring a rich and peaceful history, Nobel's Restaurant offers an inviting atmosphere, incredible dining, and a theme intricately woven throughout to share and celebrate local heritage and culture.

Field correspondent Matt Beal takes us to Carthage on his next adventure.

♪upbeat music♪ Located in downtown Carthage, this popular eatery honors a couple of prized local residents Nobels, named for the Nobel Peace Prize, pays homage to former Secretary of State Cordell Hull and former US Vice President Al Gore Jr, both natives of Smith County.

Greetings and welcome to a prized town.

Today we are in downtown Carthage, Tennessee and a wonderful restaurant called Nobels Restaurant.

I'm joined today by the owner of Nobels, Melissa Hebert Melissa, thank you so much for having us in this afternoon.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

Let's start with the name Nobels.

Where does that come from and how does it tie into right here in Carthage?

Yes.

Carthage was home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Cordell Hull, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.

He was known as the father of the United Nations and Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for environmental concerns.

Tell me about how the theme of the space matches the name, and what we just talked about in those prizewinners.

When we moved to Tennessee, we found the history was very interesting, the amount of history that's here locally, and we wanted to commemorate that first by the name and secondly, just by all the little, little tidbits that you'll find in the restaurant, the decorations.

It's decorated with things that people have donated to us, that they found in their barns or, the lighting or things that were in our barn or we picked up along the way.

And my husband was able to repurpose them and put them together and in a different, unique way that still sort of commemorates the history of this county.

And it all leads up to the food, which, if I remember, is a little bit Mediterranean, a little bit of Italian and all American.

Oh, that's our tagline.

Absolutely.

So we do Italian meals.

So pasta, some just home cooking type of Italian food which we make to order like our fettuccine is made as you order it.

We're back there making it.

We also have a lot of pizzas that are handmade.

We make the dough, we make the sauces, we make everything from scratch.

And then we have burgers.

Our burgers are smash burgers, but that's a a big hit around here.

And you're here seven days a week.

We're open seven days a week for lunch and dinner right now, and then we hope to add breakfast coming up in the next couple of months.

And if we're planning a trip to Carthage and we're new, we're going to stop here and and fill up and eat.

What else can we do right down here in downtown Carthage or around the area that people like to come and do before and after?

So some of the things to do downtown in Carthage, we've actually got some shopping here on Main Street.

We've got a few boutiques.

Teresa's gift is across the street is a clothing and children's boutique.

Across the street there is a another clothing boutique called Hashtag Hollies.

And right across the parking lot from us is the Candy bar, which is a candy and ice cream shop.

We also have some other restaurants.

You don't have to always eat here, right?

There's a few other restaurants.

There's Ebel's tavern down the road, Rojas And, there's a place called Molly's as well.

We all work well together and enjoy serving the customers together and then outdoor activities.

Carthage is where actually the Cumberland River and the Caney Fork come together.

So there's kayaking if you're into kayaking, you can also do, hiking.

So lots of outdoor activities and downtown activities.

Fantastic.

And working up an appetite.

Thanks again so much for having us.

Thank you.

Thank you for coming in.

We invite everyone to come give us a shot.

Nobels highlights history and heritage while serving up delectable dishes.

A dream destination for those seeking adventure or just a leisurely escape?

Cub Mountain ATV Park and Campground invites outdoor lovers on 2 or 4 wheels, or even on foot, to explore trails through picturesque terrain.

Let's catch up with field correspondent Rafferty Cleary as he goes along for the ride in Crawford, Tennessee.

♪upbeat music♪ 268 00:15:39,371 --> 00:15:41,874 With 1900 acres of wilderness, Cub Mountain ATV Park and Campground is the perfect place to explore scenic views, trails and waterfalls and escape the hustle and bustle of the modern world.

Hello folks, and welcome to the beautiful Crawford, Tennessee.

Our location today is the Cub Mountain ATV Park, located just off the scenic Wilder Highway.

Jason Cantrell, the owner of this establishment and manager, Kyle Farley, with us today.

Thanks for letting us spend some time with you.

Thanks for coming out.

Appreciate time.

Jason.

We are in close proximity to Livingston and Monterey, but we are no doubt tucked into the wilderness.

In fact, at one point, this area coal mining haven.

How did Cub Mountain get started?

When I bought the property a few years back, we got working, noticing all the trails.

So we decided we'd start cleaning the trails out and go this route, open it up to the RV park, ATV and, motocross ride.

A little bit of everything really is.

We've kind of explored the area today.

Kyle, what all can you do here at Cub Mountain ATV Park?

So we try to be pretty diverse, just an outdoor experience all together.

We have the RV hiccup sites, we have tent camping, we've got fishing.

And a full stocked pond, you can come here for our concerts.

This Saturday night, we're gonna play the ball game on this little projector screen right behind us.

It comes down, side by side, riding dirt bike, riding, four wheelers, mountain bike.

The possibilities are endless here.

Anything outdoors?

You got nothing but acres to do it..

So what about competitions?

Racing and whatnot?

Yeah.

So we actually, we've hosted a couple of races here, pro series so far.

Cub mountain is starting its own race series it's the Cub mountain racing series.

And with that, you've got youth classes.

So really, peewee all the way up to pro class for, dirt bikes and four wheelers and hoping for a big turnout on that.

But we want to make that a regular thing.

You have a fall series here.

Summer series and a winter series.

We rode up today on something I never thought I would see before, but somebody with a remote control car is going bonkers with it.

On some rocks that y'all have laid out, we've got a RC rock crawler course too.

It's set up.

It's a really nice set up.

They have competitions here.

They're having a competition here tomorrow for that.

The, Tennessee Rock crawlers group, they're kind of promoting the competition tomorrow.

They've had a big part in making that course, but it's really cool to see.

I had never heard of it until till I started coming here and seeing that.

But, yeah, you can get your RC rock crawler.

Just like people have real world crawlers.

They like it.

It's it's a sight to see.

It's pretty neat.

So we've got that course too.

You can use it any time too.

So it's it's got its own pass, you can purchase that pass.

The bike is firing up behind us in the background right now, there's always something going on here at Cub Mountain ATV Park.

Jason, how many miles of trail are we talking about here at Cub Mountain?

We probably got about 50 miles on the side beside trails and got about 50 miles of, single track.

How long does it take to get that in motion?

Takes a while.

They're in for a day's riding to go.

Oh, yeah.

For sure.

You'll need, to rehydrate and get you some food.

Halfway between.

The single track.

Is very tough, too.

It's, you have expert lines, but you also have novice lines.

So kind of anything you want.

If you're that hard endurance kind of guy, that top level pro rider, You may hit the expert ones.

It'll still challenge you if you want to learn it and eventually graduate to the expert ones.

Come right on novice courses.

It's going to get you there.

What are folks going to experience when they get out on the trails?

What what are some of the things you can see?

I'm assuming wildlife is good for sure.

You'll see a lot.

One of the coolest things, one of my personal favorites, I think everybody's is, the waterfall.

So when you come here also, we've got a trail map posted, and the trails are numbered.

So you can look at the map and navigate with that as well.

Also on lifetime trail maps, which is, a tablet, an application a lot of people use on supposed to navigate.

The majority of the trails are on there, and we're working on getting them all in there now.

But the waterfall is is an awesome experience.

As good a hike down to it.

I always like to in the interviews asking this question, I'll ask the both of you, but, we'll go.

Jason, first, what do you enjoy the most about this operation out here?

I just enjoy meeting the people you know, they come.

We've had people from 16 different states, so it's been a pleasure getting to meet a lot of the people and becoming friends with them.

And then you know, hearing their stories, what they see here, the thing that they like.

What about you?

I don't want Rodney to start dwindling away, losing focus on it, you know, video games are popular now.

Like, I'm real big on being outdoors.

So I love seeing kids come up here and, you know, get to experience and have the time of their lives, seeing them ride and the fun they have.

And we're family driven.

It's a very family friendly park.

It's just the youth and getting them more involved in the outdoors, in the sport.

That's great.

Well, there you have it at Cub Mountain ATV Park in Crawford, Tennessee.

Small town, big outdoors.

This family friendly trail riding and camping destination features Miles of trails for motorcycles, ATVs and hiking.

Or just relax and enjoy mother nature.

♪upbeat music♪ A small country store with breakfast and lunch menus.

So good that locals and tourists line the streets to park.

Just for a taste of southern goodness, let's check in with field correspondent Shan Stout as she gets to the bottom of why this historic location in McMinnville is so popular.

♪happy music♪ McMinnville, a town rich with history and also the nursery capital of the world, has roots that run deep.

The depot Bottom Country store serves up breakfast and lunch with a side of nostalgia.

Hi, everybody.

Okay, so get ready to journey with us to the land of nostalgia and deliciousness.

We are in the nursery capital of the world in McMinnville, Tennessee, And I am here at Depot Bottom Country Store with owner Suzanne Prater.

Hi, Suzanne.

Hello.

Welcome to Depot Bottom where everything's better at The Bottom.

You know, not just anybody can use that slogan, and it works, but here it works out great.

Most definitely.

Suzanne, thank you so much for having us today.

Thank you for being here.

Now tell us a little bit about how did Depot Bottom Country Store come to be?

The building itself is over 100 years old, so there's a lot of history here.

I've been told that this building actually was a blacksmith shop in its origin.

So lots of history here, a lot of history around the depot bottom area.

I've also been told that the reason it became name Depot Bottom Country Store is that it was the last stop on the railroad between Nashville and Chattanooga back in the day.

We're surrounded, by lumber yard.

If you looked around outside.

So there's a lot of truckers that come through, and most of them will always stop and have breakfast or lunch with us as well.

Well, the history of this place explains you.

You have the general store shelving, which shows that it was formerly a grocery store and probably all the staples that anyone would need for everything.

But also, you have now taken Depot Bottom and turned it into this great, wonderful restaurant.

Yes, ma'am.

So let's talk about the menu.

I'm very excited about the menu.

Now.

You have daily specials and all kinds of things.

So let's talk about maybe, what are the regulars favorites?

Maybe your personal favorite?

We do have a regular breakfast crowd.

We serve breakfast from 7 a.m. till about 945, and the front tables are always packed with the same gentleman of all ages.

We have elderly all the way down to young people.

And we call that our first group in the morning.

Then we have another crew, That's the Depot Bottom Social Club, that is They call it the Liars Table, you know, so I don't know.

But anyway, I tell you that.

Yeah.

Right.

So not only is it a store with customers, there's relationships here.

And if if one of the guys are missing, are they, you know, they'll call and check on each other.

So that's the first thing I wanted to say.

And I know you asked me about the menu.

Obviously, the fried baloney all the way back from Mr. Hubert Hill is has carried on.

People love that thick slice fried baloney sandwich.

We've kind of put a twist on it.

Now we add it, we make a sandwich where we add our spicy pimento cheese to it, So that's really good.

We do a Reuben that, if you like Reubens it's out of the world, it's the best in town.

And I can say that as the owner, but also our customers say that salads, we sell a ton of salads.

Our number one selling salad for years and years and years has been our specialty, The Rocky.

It's like a chef's salad.

You add grilled chicken.

You also have our sweet spicy slaw that we make on top of it.

Well, this menu is off the rails.

I've been here at Depot Bottom.

This is unexpected.

I think there's only one thing left to do on our list, and that's for us to try our favorite and see what we like best on your menu.

Absolutely.

I can't wait for you to try it.

Guests to Depot Bottom will take in the history of the area, while enjoying a dining experience that keeps locals and visitors lining the streets.

Come early for a seat that guarantees a taste of southern hospitality at this unique spot on the map.

Pumpkin picking, bison cook offs, depot dining, wilderness trails and a prize worthy eatery.

Today's explorations have surely inspired you to start planning your next trip to Tennessee's Upper Cumberland.

Thank you for traveling with us on today's journey and uncovering the region's hidden gems until our next adventure- wish you were here.

♪upbeat music♪ Just for a taste of southern goodness, let's check in with the whole interstate.

As they drive by.

♪upbeat music♪ Wish you were here.

Produced under an agreement with the Upper Cumberland Development District.

And made possible in part through support from the Tennessee Tech University Center for Rural Innovation and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.