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

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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.

♪Dramatic-Music♪ 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 the remarkable personalities that define the charm of the Upper Cumberland.

Before we meet up with our Wish You Were Here filled correspondence.

Let's relax and retreat to a local lodging destination.

Set on 45 acres with scenic views, wooded trails, themed cabins, and a convenient location to the region's attractions.

Join us as we escape to Firefly Acres in Sparta, Tennessee.

♪Fun Music♪ Acres of scenic beauty paired with peace and relaxation, plus a convenient location off highway 111, just between Cookeville and Chattanooga.

Firefly acres offers a restful retreat in Sparta, Tennessee.

Hello, everyone.

Today I'm in a gorgeous location just south of Sparta and north of Spencer in Fall Creek Falls.

Welcome to Firefly Acres.

I'm joined today by CC and Tim, the owners of this gorgeous property.

Thank you guys so much for having us today.

Thank you.

We're delighted that you're here.

Well, I'm excited to be here and learn more about your property.

Can you tell me what makes this property truly unique?

And tell me about some of your lodging options here?

Absolutely.

So the unique part about it is there's so many different things to do.

You're just not limited to having a stay in a cabin, but you also have of course, the property.

And then we have wildlife.

We have wild.

We have deer, wild turkey, but also we have horses on the property so guests can interact with the horses.

And my daughter tames and gentles wild mustangs.

So that's interesting and different.

And also we have chickens, free range chickens.

And, guests are welcome to interact with them.

If they want fresh eggs delivered to their cabins, we can do that as well.

Tell me what your lodging options are like here at Firefly Acres.

Well, you know, I'm glad you asked me that because we have four different cabins, and we're trying to make sure that every kind of desire is fulfilled as far as the type of cabins.

So we have what I call a bungalow.

There's two cabins, but if you walk in for layman's terms, you walk in, it looks like a hotel suite.

You've got the two full size beds, a kitchenette, and then a full bathroom.

And we we've made them fun.

So one of them is a tool shed with vintage tools.

The other one's, dog house themed with with doggy things in it.

And then the bunkhouse is, is one of the bigger ones.

It's a full one bedroom, full bathroom washer and dryer.

Some people like to wash their clothes if they're here for a longer time, and then a nice cozy kitchen, full kitchen, living room and a porch.

All of the cabins face the pastures and they all have their own private grill.

And then the final one is called the Fish Camp.

And it's all fisherman themed.

And you have, a king size bed downstairs and the loft with two queens and a hot tub.

So a lot of couples like that after they've been married in there, or they're going on on a getaway weekend.

It's nice to have the hot tub to come back or after you've been hiking.

It's nice and relaxing.

What are some of the things that people can do when they visit you here?

You guys are not far from our biggest state park or most visited state park in the state of Tennessee.

Can you tell us what other options people have, while they visit?

We're surrounded by five major state parks, so.

And they're all within 15 minute drive, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how fast you drive.

A lot of people come here.

They just spend the night, they get up in the morning and they're gone all day.

They're hiking, they're fishing, or people come here and they stay.

They just stay here.

They relax, they get away from everybody, and they don't want to be around people or if they want to do a little bit, but they really don't want to get off the property.

We have hiking trails.

Yeah, that's lovely.

And there's so many opportunities here just on the property for people to get away.

What a neat experience.

Can people bring their animals with them when they come?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We yeah, we're we're big animal people.

All of our cabins are pet friendly.

And we we mean, from dogs to cats.

We've had a pig here.

There may be other things we don't know about that's been here, but they're welcome to roam the property and explore around.

We've got a lot of open areas, the trails.

The only times we really require a leash is if they're going to be around the horses or around those pastures.

But, yeah, we're we're very pet friendly, and we love seeing and meeting the animals that come here.

Earlier you mentioned family reunions and getting together with friends and family.

Are there other event options that you offer here on the property?

We have an indoor venue which is perfect for many different functions.

We've had weddings, we've had yoga retreats, we've had Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, they can they can spend the night.

They can put their little cots in there.

There's a full kitchen, bathrooms.

We also do corporate retreats, so there are a lot of different options.

But weddings are one of the most popular.

What made you both want to start a vacation rental?

Well, well, I tell you, I think it was more so that we wanted to find property that we could enjoy as a family and generational.

We decided that the best way to do it, to make it something that we would actually enjoy, would be cabins and then venues for events, and also the horsing around situation where you can have horses, you're going to get lessons and then it can all be enjoyed, but we can also put our personal touch into it.

A good example would be the wagon wheel that we have in the venue inside.

It's a chandelier, but it was actually my grandfather's from Budapest in Hungary back in the 1800s, and it's a true wagon wheel that was on his wagon.

And so it's now a chandelier.

Like a couple of fishing rods I had when I was a kid that are, like, displayed in the fish camp.

So, yeah, it's just cool to be able to, you know, display and show off some of our family things like that makes a little bit more personal for us.

You know, it does.

And I think that encompasses everything about the property.

It's very personal and it's a lovely place that I am so excited to explore today and learn more about and see all that you guys have to offer.

Thank you so much for having us, and we appreciate you for joining us.

Absolutely.

Thanks for taking the time.

Guests can escape from the hustle and bustle, bring their pet, interact with farm animals, and enjoy back porch, cabin views of horse filled pastures and mountain landscapes.

Clay shooting a pistol range.

Olympic standard trap fields.

These options and more can be found at a unique recreation destination in Crossville.

Sounds like a fun adventure for field correspondent Tiffany McDonald.

Let's check in with her as she sets her sights on the Crossville Shooting Sports Park.

♪Upbeat-Music♪ .

♪ Located near Interstate 40 in Crossville, Tennessee, the Crossville Shooting Sports Park offers vast space, diverse firearm and archery opportunities, meeting space, and more.

Hello, everybody.

We are here in Tennessee's golf capital today of Crossville, but we're not here for golf.

We're here for a different sport.

I'm here at Crossville Shooting Sports Park with club manager Barry Kelly.

Barry.

Hello.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm doing great.

Thank you so much for having us today.

We've seen several ranges throughout the Upper Cumberland, but we've never seen a facility quite like this.

What makes Crossville Shooting Sports Park so unique?

Well, part of our uniqueness is we offer every discipline that you can shoot with a firearm.

Okay.

From clay targets to pistols to rifle.

We offer skeet, trout, sporting clays, international bunker.

Pretty much.

If you can do it with a firearm, you can do it here at Crossville Shooting Sport or wonderful.

And it's a huge facility right.

What is the acreage here?

187 acres.

We have two full sporting clay ranges.

There 13 stations each.

They're fully automated, all wireless.

You can run them on so low to light where you can actually come out and shoot alone.

Oh, okay.

Well, our skeet and trap is also set up on the same programing, and you can actually shoot trap with voice activated microphone.

Oh, wow.

You shoot it all by yourself.

So if there's someone traveling through Crossville, or they're coming in from somewhere else and they don't have a gun and they want to experience that, do you have guns for rent or how would that work?

We do.

We have rental guns.

Actually, we had a couple from Holland.

Oh, came here last week and we rented them guns, took them out, showed them how to use them safely, and actually got them hit and play targets before they left.

Now, this is an Olympic quality facility.

Is that right?

That is correct.

We offer an Olympic bunker.

And we also offer, international skeet, which are your two shotgun Olympic disciplines that you see on TV in the Olympics when the Junior Olympics event coming up.

Can you tell us about that?

It's a qualifier here at this.

That is correct.

It is the junior Olympic qualifier.

It is in April also.

And it is just for your junior participants for them to qualify to go to nationals.

Awesome.

You know, we don't just do gun disciplines here.

There's archery.

We we do archery.

We offer, stationary archery, where you can step off for yardage.

And we also offer a 12 lane, three day archery course.

If people aren't familiar with this and they just want to learn to shoot or learn archery, do you offer lessons or.

We do.

Myself, I'm actually a professional, shotgun coach.

I get more enjoyment out of a new comer.

Oh, yeah.

Teaching them the right way, the safe ways to do it.

And the smile on their face when they hit that first clay Target is what it's all about for me.

So we have shotguns and rifles.

Archery here.

What about pistols?

We have rifle and pistol.

We have six pistol bays.

You have the ability to put up a paper target.

We also have steal target.

Our rifle range goes out to 200 yards, comes back to 150 and 25 yards.

So we do a lot, a lot of local hunters, people in that area that come out side in their hunting rifle range, and we encourage them to do so.

Barry, Thank you so much for having us out today.

Now remember, if you're a seasoned shooter archer, or you're new and you would like to start lessons, give Barry a call here at Crossville Shooting Sports Park.

And until next time, we wish you were here.

Guests to this Olympic level training destination will not be disappointed.

Whether a seasoned pro or a new shooter.

The friendly staff, combined with well-maintained facilities and ranges, create a welcoming environment, offering a place to train, compete or just have a day shooting fun.

Two out of 50.

Dining in the Upper Cumberland can be a worldly experience, especially thanks to World Chef Challenge winner Chad Combs as he makes the historic Putnam County Courthouse Square home to his culinary destination.

Let's check in with field correspondent Matt Beal as he learns more about what's cooking in Cookeville.

At the Putnam Room.

♪Light-Music♪ From happy hour to a hearty dinner, exceptional food and laughter just seemed to be a staple in the atmosphere that is the Putnam Room in downtown Cookeville.

Greetings and welcome to historic downtown Cookeville, Tennessee.

Today we're at the Courthouse Square downtown, and we're cooking up something special at The Putnam Room.

I'm joined today by chef and owner of The Putnam Room, Chad Combs.

Chad, thanks so much for having the sentence.

Thank you.

You're very welcome in my basement.

Appreciate that.

So we're here.

It's it's exciting.

Happy hour is afoot.

And folks have already started arriving for the day.

So tell us about the restaurant.

How long have you been here?

In business as well.

So we've been.

We originally got this, I just was going to do an event venue, you know, do, like, you know, dinners and private stuff like that.

And then Covid hit and, you know, we were open about a year, a year and a half to maybe prior to all that going down.

And I had all this time on my hands and I'm like, you know, we already got this set up.

So let's not, you know, there's a full kitchen or full bar, there's this or that.

So we decided to go ahead and open up our people and give a shot.

What is your culinary inspiration and what is it that led you to be a chef?

Oh man.

You know, it all started, I guess I was a little kid, and I spent a lot of time with my grandmother.

Great grandmother.

My grandmother was in a restaurant, when I was little, 3 or 4 years old, and, I was always in the kitchen, always messing around, playing, getting into mischief.

Just, you know, being a kid, and I guess it rubbed off.

Tell us about your menu and your vision and how it all came to be.

It's food that people are comfortable with, you know?

I mean, it's not something crazy outside the box.

It's just, a little different and a little more unique.

And that's just that's that's what I like to do, you know, let people enjoy things that they know just in a little different way.

We live in a really, really cool place that that the area that we're at, we do a lot of really good fruits, vegetables, things like that are grown.

We have a really good growing season, so we try to try to incorporate that into our specials.

Is there a favorite dish of yours or of your clientele or something that you like to eat, or something that you really like to make that you can share?

Okay, that's a bunch of questions.

I think one of the favorite dishes that we have, that I think is a little different, we do it a Cioppino, which is basically a seafood stew.

It's a big West Coast item, you know, saffron, tomato broth and, you know, clams and mussels, calamari, crab, all the cool things.

It's it's a it's a crowd pleaser.

That's the go to.

That's what I love it if I just, and a little peckish or really hungry, this is the place to be.

Because I can come for lunch.

For dinner and for happy hour.

Yes.

Yeah.

The happy hours.

From 3 to 5 every day.

We have a lot of, you know, half price drinks and cocktails.

Most all of our small plates are half price.

So, I mean, you can come in here at 3:00 and have a good time for 20 bucks, but we do, I think one of our favorite go to cocktails.

We do a, smoked old fashioned.

It's, it's really, really good.

And then we smoked them.

Smoke them to order to the table.

It's a really, really good drink.

I mean, we have some other good cocktails.

We try to keep a pretty good wine list.

Pretty extensive.

Pretty extensive?

I handpicked a lot of them.

You know, a lot of people come in just and get.

Seems, you know, a lot of the restaurants will have, just price points and names that are out there.

I try to pick the things that I like.

So tell me and tell our viewers about the, atmosphere here.

What what can you expect when you come in?

When that is.

So what I've tried to do with this place is make it, make it a little more intimate.

You know, we've got booths, so you're not around top of people, and, you know, we keep the seating down.

It's it's nice enough that you're not listening to somebody else's conversation.

But it's not so nice that, you know, you can't come in here and a t shirt.

We do have a room in the back.

We've made a portion in the back where larger parties up to about 30, 35 to get back there, to have a private speaker or, you know, something like that.

One thing I'd haven't asked you about is end of the meal dessert.

What sort of desserts do you have?

Oh, man.

You.

Yeah, desserts are all made in-house.

I think right now we keep, keep a creme brulée.

We keep a mocha creme brulee.

That's a cool little part about being the small, as we could produce those things and not have to do it on such a level that you're mass producing product, and it sounds delicious.

I mean, the bread's made every three days.

The desserts are made every couple days, sometimes daily.

So yeah, fresh and delicious.

Yes, sir.

Like everything else on that man.

Thank you.

And that'll do it for us.

And our visit to the Putnam Room in historic downtown Cookeville.

Come by and have a happy hour lunch or dinner until then.

Wish you were here.

Offering unique dining experiences, private rental options, seasonal wine dinners, catering, and more.

The Putnam Room is a premier culinary destination for.

War means more.

That's the sentiment of this living history event at the Sergeant Alvin C York State Historic Park.

Reflecting on the experiences of the Great War and honoring our veterans.

Let's check in with field correspondent Shan Stout as she visits Pall Mall, Tennessee, for this special annual event.

♪Military-Music♪ The history and stories of World War One come alive and Pall Mall each year at the home place of great war hero Sergeant Alvin C York.

Now a state historic park, the York Family Farm welcomes guests each year for a special Veteran's Day celebration.

Okay, everybody.

Boy, do we have a special treat for you.

And I'm feeling all the nostalgia vibes as we're back in Pall Mall, Tennessee.

Now.

The last time that we were here, it was season one episode one, our very first episode, and it was at the black powder shoot.

But today we're here at a completely different event and this is honoring our veterans.

And I have a wonderful guest with me today, Park Ranger Dodson and Nate.

We're so excited to be here.

Welcome to War means more at Sergeant Alvin C, York State Historic Park.

This is our premiere event of the year.

Certainly.

We we hold it every year on the weekend closest to Veterans Day.

Of course, November 11th.

That, marked the end of the war in 1918.

They call it Armistice Day.

At that time, the guns fell silent at 11 a.m. on the 11th month.

On the 11th day.

And, of course, that, becomes our Veterans Day.

So, we have a strong connection to War one history, obviously through Sergeant York story.

And so, this event is just, one that we look forward to all year long and prepare for and, couldn't ask for a, certainly a better group of volunteers that come in portray different, soldiers of the time period.

So you're talking your American doughboy, and we have, some French Quaaludes.

We have, English, officers and soldiers.

And I think that we do a good job of representing all the different roles of that war here at the event.

Well, I feel underdressed for this occasion.

Let's just start by saying that, thrilled to be included in this beautiful event for veterans and war means more.

Those are three very impactful words that I'm sure made even more when you unpack those for us.

Tell me what is what is the meaning behind that title?

Yes, absolutely.

Our theme this year is War means More at our Living History event, and that title comes from Sergeant Alvin York himself.

Believe it or not, it's postwar.

He's reminiscing about his time in the service, and his quote is war means more than uniforms, band music, marching.

It means facing death and suffering.

And what's almost worse, carrying death and suffering to others was his quote.

I can't imagine anyone not knowing who Sergeant York is, but there are some people across the nation, and even across the state that may not know the history of Sergeant York, but tell us a little bit about his story and the veterans who are relating to that here today.

Yeah.

As you say, Sergeant York's name is one of the prominent names to come out of World War One.

And this is a conflict that involves millions and millions of people.

As you mentioned to most folks know him today because of the film Sergeant York.

But he was nationally famous.

Well, well before that movie.

Remembering his story, we feel like we can thank and speak to the other veterans of other wars.

You know, we, focus on War one because of Sergeant York service.

But we do encourage veterans of all wars and and, maybe, you know, they can relate their experience to what his was in a small way.

So this portion of the week in the war means more living history is, is highlighting the war.

One story specifically now, let's talk a little bit about that, because it's literally happening behind us in the barn, out in the fields over here.

We've got the Red cross on site.

And these that the living history is a reenactment story to let you really get immersed and feel what that was like.

And then there was a battle we had to pull you from the battle grounds.

Right.

To be able to get you to do this.

And so we appreciate your service.

You know, as brief as it was.

No, that's a good way to put it immersed is what we're trying to go for with this event.

Folks are able to walk through the doors here.

The your barn.

And as they step through the barn and out the back into the camp, you know, maybe they feel that sense of they're stepping back in time.

And to 1918, as you mentioned, we have a Red cross station set up and which is is, historically accurate.

They would have used any sort of shelter.

They could have found an old church, a barn bombed out buildings, set up hospital areas.

And then, of course, as you move through the barn, we've got our camp Doughboy, as we call it.

Camp Doughboy has got a blacksmith in it.

We've got our field kitchen ranger.

Dawson, thank you so much for spending your time with us here today.

We truly feel immersed in the rich history of this area, and we hope that you come back and mark your calendar to visit Pall Mall, Tennessee, and see all that this beautiful state park has to offer all year round guests to the park will feel immersed in living history as doughboys, Red cross nurses and others reenact the roles of the past.

Trench warfare, military camps set up and more can be found, offering a reminder of the times and an education for visitors of all ages.

♪Solemn-Music♪ Meeting a world chef.

Retreating to acres of scenic beauty, immersing ourselves in living history and taking aim at an Olympic level shooting destination, today's explorations have surely inspired you to start planning your next trip to Tennessee's Upper Cumberland.

Thank you for traveling with us today on this journey in uncovering the region's hidden gems until our next adventure, Wish You Were Here.

Crossville shooting sports park.

Crossville shooting sports park.

Crossville shooting sports say 75th time's a charm every single time.

You did that, rats.

That's about a third of the way I already had it started to put it up on.

Woo!

Go, team!

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.