- [Laura Faber] This time on "Retro Tennessee Crossroads," we'll head to a barbecue extravaganza in Springfield.

Joe Elmore takes advantage of the cold weather in Nashville.

Janet Tyson goes to Space Camp, and we'll meet an expert in the restoration of beautiful instruments.

- Sounds like another winner, as always.

Hey everybody, I'm Miranda Cohen.

- And I'm Laura Faber, and welcome to another episode of "Retro Tennessee Crossroads."

(gentle jazzy music) (static buzzes) (bright music) Our first story this episode takes us all the way back to 1989.

- It was a great year.

(Laura laughs) That's right, Laura, we are headed up the road to Springfield.

Now you know we love to eat here on "Tennessee Crossroads," but we also love a good community story, and that's exactly what Jerry Thompson found in Martin's Chapel, Tennessee.

It's a barbecue homecoming of sorts.

(gentle music) - [Jerry Thompson] It's just a small country church with a community house nearby and a winding road that could take a person anywhere in the world.

But it's also a road that brings them back home.

When you see the smoke rising through the trees and smell the aroma of fresh meat cooking over hickory coals, you know it's time for their return.

Every June, the people of Martin's Chapel United Methodist Church put on a barbecue supper.

It started 33 years ago, and it's grown steadily ever since.

It all starts the day before.

Kids come on their bikes, along with their dog.

People bring their lawn chairs and their babies, and it becomes a community event.

The men man the cooking pits, they stoke the fire, and they shovel the glowing coals until the fresh pork shoulders are cooked to perfection.

Genevieve Wilson points out the wide array of food that's ready and whey.

- This is coconut cake and it's strawberry cake, donuts, potato chips, ham, baked beans, tomatoes and onions, and macaroni and cheese, potato salad, cabbage, potatoes.

- [Jerry Thompson] It's a menu fit for a king, but a king will never taste it, nor will the people coming for the barbecue.

- No, no, no, this is just what we eat while they're cooking.

- [Jerry Thompson] Dick Wilson came back home.

He came just for barbecue.

- I ain't got any yet.

I come 500 miles to get a sandwich, man.

Got it fixed yet.

(people chatter indistinctly) Gotta wait 24 hours.

- [Jerry Thompson] Dick prefers his barbecue very tender.

- Huh?

(people chatter indistinctly) (group laughs) - [Jerry Thompson] While the men are kept busy all night, rekindling the fire, they also take advantage of the occasion to rekindle old memories.

They drift back just as surely as the sparks drift toward the sky.

Soon the fire will be cooled, but not the memories.

(gentle music) (engine hums) The next day, people start arriving from miles around to taste the finest barbecue in existence.

(carefree music) (people chatter indistinctly) It's the one time each year that the small Martin's Chapel community in Roberson County has a traffic problem.

Russell Osborn directs traffic with a white flag.

John Reeder just sits back and waits, and watches.

He's seen people he hasn't seen since the last barbecue supper.

It's just a big friendly family dinner it seems.

Everyone talks with everyone else.

The line forms at the front door.

It was just too much for this young lady who used the wait to grab a quick nap.

Once inside, the first choice one has to make is the kind of pie they want.

I wanted one of each.

Finally I get my shot at the barbecue, and I ate and ate and ate.

I ate so much, I got a little worried.

I thought for a minute I was seeing double.

The women in the kitchen are kept busy, handing steaming bowls of food out the window to the waiters and waitresses.

Debbie Mays has been working for two days solid, but she's still going strong.

- I'm telling you, I don't know, it's been a mad house.

We've probably served already as many, here it is, 6:00, we've probably served as many already as we served last year in four hours.

- [Jerry Thompson] Part of the barbecue is the annual quilt auction.

Quilts are all handmade, and even signed and dated.

Auctioneer, Robert Alek, gives those gathered around a little sales pitch before the sales began.

- We'd like to ask you to help out with these quilts.

That's the way the church keeps that cemetery looking good and the things they do to the church around here.

So don't feel like you're giving two less, because I've never seen one of those quilts bring too much.

Some of the best quilters in the United States are right here at Martin's Chapel.

Oh me, at 415, 920, at 415, 920, gimme 2120, 2120.

I believe I would.

120, gimme four.

Don't let $5 knock you out of it, honey.

- [Jerry Thompson] Linda didn't buy this one, but her restraint didn't last.

She bought the next one.

- All through 415.

Three times and sold right over here.

(onlookers clap) - [Bidder] Yay!

- As the sun sets behind the covered shed, people still mill around and visit.

Since many of them arrived, almost a ton of barbecue, 1400 pies, and 300 pounds of coleslaw has been consumed.

Oh, Martin's Chapel Methodist Church has survived about a century and a half, and it's still very much alive today, as we've seen.

But it survived not because of the strength of the boards and the nails that went into it.

It survives because of the strength of the character of these people.

They go into it every Sunday morning.

What I enjoy most about the Barbecue Supper is seeing a community that still has a sense of purpose, and a spirit of pitching in to achieve it.

Neighbors working together, living together, and laughing together.

It's a community that revolves around the small Methodist church that the barbecue benefits, and thankfully, the winding road that took some away to other places always brings them back home at least once a year for a big supper and a big time.

- Wow, that is an amazing event, and the food looked great.

- And it's still going strong.

After 70 years, that thing is still going.

It's held, of course we know this, on the fourth Saturday in June, every year, and I love that it's a community fundraiser.

- Yes, yes.

Yeah, they do a lot of things.

They take care of the cemetery.

They really put back into their community, but it's so neat.

Can you imagine the people that grew up going to that every year, and now they come back from all over to go.

- And still going strong.

And during COVID, they added a drive through line.

- Oh wow, of course.

- And have kept it just for convenience for some people.

I think that Brenda Wilson told our executive producer that they cooked 2,500 pounds of barbecue this year, and served about 600 who ate on the ground and 600 who came through that drive through.

We might have to go back.

- I am smelling barbecue.

Of course, but a redo, I think we need a redo.

- I know.

Listen, we're always happy to eat barbecue.

- We are always happy to eat barbecue.

Okay, so now that we have had another full plate of barbecue, where are we going next?

- How about Joe Elmore, doing his best to stay upright on a set of skis?

How about that?

- (laughs) This, I gotta see.

- Back in the winter of that first season of "Crossroads," there was a snow storm, but instead of cozying up by a fire inside, a young and ambitious Joe Elmore took to the slopes of Nashville and tried a little cross country skiing.

(upbeat music) - [Joe Elmore] This is the kind of scene you'd expect to see in Aspen or Vail.

Instead, it's a place called Nashville, and the next time it snows here, you can enjoy the thrill of cross country skiing right in your own backyard.

We visited Sports and Trails right after Nashville's last snow, and I was amazed to see the big crowd here early, ready to rent or buy the gear necessary to take in this wintertime adventure.

- We were here first.

We were here at 9:00 for the open.

Went over and shown us, had coffee and came back.

- [Joe Elmore] Have you ever tried this before?

- Yes, we went to Iron Mountain about two years ago, and went through their course and went on the mountain.

- [Joe Elmore] Was it hard?

- It was pretty strenuous, and at first, it was hard to stand up on 'em.

You really had to go through your basic instructions first, and then try it.

- [Joe Elmore] What's it gonna feel like to cross country ski in your backyard practically, here in Nashville?

- It's gonna be super, because we live right across from Percy Warner, and that's where we're heading as soon as we get our equipment.

- The horse trail.

- [Joe Elmore] So why the enthusiasm over this wintertime attraction?

- Well, cross country skiing is great for two reasons.

One, it's a fantastic exercise.

You can go out, in a half hour, burn yourself completely out, just skiing, just getting out and cruising through the snow.

The other thing is, is it gives people a chance to just get out, enjoy the fresh snow.

It's a little bit different than letting down the hill, and I've just found it just to be a real blast just to get out and get snow in your hair and fall down quite a bit.

So for people who have never tried it before, they've really, really enjoyed it.

- [Joe Elmore] Now, before we try our first outing, let's try on some equipment, starting of course, with skis.

Nowadays, thanks to technology, you don't need the kind that require waxing.

- First type of ski that we have here is a very traditional, non-waxable ski.

Might be difficult to see this, but this has a fish scale base on it, So as you slide through the snow, it's nice and smooth, but as you stop the ski to kick or to push off, it's rough going backwards, so it doesn't allow you to slide off, okay?

The other type of ski that's available, this is actually a new ski right here.

This is a chemical ski.

Same idea, except that instead of having a rough spot on the ski, that obviously causes friction, they have a smooth section in here, and this section is placed with a little chemical that the company gives us.

It reacts with here, making it sticky.

Does the same thing as this fish scale, only smoother.

- [Joe Elmore] Then you need special shoes and binding.

- The boot's got a little pin in the front, simply locks in to the binding system, and you're ready to ski.

So you don't even have to bend over with this one, which is kind of ironic, considering it's an aerobic sport.

- [Joe Elmore] Finally, it's time to join Jeff as we head to nearby Edwin Warner Park for an exciting sample of cross country skiing Music City style.

(upbeat music) We are almost ready, but first a word or two from our instructor about dressing for this adventure.

- The idea is you layer up, you put several layers of clothing, so as you ski and you get warm, you can peel those layers off, keeping your body temperature stable, and not overheating.

- So you think we'll get pretty hot out there and have to take these jackets off?

- Yeah, I imagine I'll probably have mine unzipped and yours will probably be gone.

- Okay, I hope so, because you're much more fashionable than I am.

- (laughs) Yeah, well it's more, when I started out 15 years ago, it was definitely Levi's and old jackets, and it's gone very high tech and very fashionable.

- Yeah, it's better to look good than to feel good out there, I guess.

- (laughs) Yeah, that's right, especially when you fall in the snow.

- Another thing too, these shades- - Right, sunglasses, extremely important.

You've gotta have good eye protection on, because if you don't, you can get snow blindness very, very rapidly.

On a beautiful day like today, when it's nice and bright out, half hour out in this without eye protection could hurt you.

- [Joe Elmore] Now these skiers make it look easy, but believe me, you need a lesson or two to keep your feet on the ground and your bottom off the snow.

- Slide.

See, just go forward a little bit.

There you go.

Now you don't wanna lean back on 'em.

That's one thing.

- That's one thing I've discovered, I think.

- Find out real quickly.

You're doing great.

What we wanna do in moving forward is we wanna step on one ski, and push on it, and slide the other ski.

See how I glide?

You're doing great.

- [Joe Elmore] As you can see, it's not easy to look graceful on your first try, but I can say it's fairly easy to go through the motions and get a good workout.

(labored breathing) Look ma, I'm doing it.

(chuckles) (upbeat music) Well, you folks missed it when I fell down a while ago, but this is great exercise, and you know what?

There he is.

(laughs) It's a lot of fun.

- Oh yeah.

Good.

I'm glad you're enjoying it.

It is work though, huh?

- Yeah.

- (laughs) Well a place like this, Percy Warner Park, it's beautiful, and you know, skiing Gatlinburg in that area, when the snow's not good down here, it's great.

Just get out and do it.

(upbeat music) - Okay Joe, that was hilarious, and I'm kind of sad the Sports and Trails is no longer open.

That might be a entrepreneurial opportunity for someone to do here.

- Okay, and you're a skier.

You're a northern girl, so you're a skier.

I'm a downhill, well downhiller... I get downhill eventually, eventually .

- I did, so growing up in Michigan, I had both downhill and cross country skis, and lived in Minnesota, lived a lot in the Midwest, and we would cross country ski every winter on golf courses and that kind of thing.

You talk about a workout, Miranda- - Yeah, yeah, and coordination, that takes a lot.

- I know, it takes more than you think.

It's more than just strapping 'em on and just walking.

So, but anyways, I love that and it was beautiful.

- I wish we get that much snow.

I wish we got that much snow, we could still do it.

- I know.

Maybe next year, we'll see, it's been cold enough.

- Okay.

- All right, Miranda, (claps hands) where are we headed next?

- Okay, we are going south on I-65, tours of all places, Huntsville, Alabama.

That's where Janet Tyson got to experience the dream of almost every kid in the eighties, us included, they went to space camp.

- The father of modern rocketry, Dr.

Wernher von Braun, was also the father of U.S.

Space and Rocket Center, but his vision didn't stop there.

One day while touring the facility, he noticed the excitement and the enthusiasm of the children.

He remarked to a colleague, "You know, we have camp for football, cheerleading, music, why not space camp?

We could inspire children to study math, science, technology."

And so U.S.

Space Camp was launched.

(upbeat music) Only 700 youngsters attended the first U.S.

Space camp in 1982.

Now over 20,000 kids come here each year, bringing their dreams of becoming tomorrow's astronauts, pilots and scientists.

For the grownups who watch today's astronauts with envy, there's adult Space Camp.

Now the two age groups can work together.

Program director, Karen Siriano, helped plan the first ever parent/child weekend.

- A lot of people need to spend time with their children, and this is a place to do it.

You come here for a weekend and you've got quality time with your child, and it's fun, and you're learning, and what better experience can that be?

(upbeat music) - [Janet Tyson] Matthew and I began our space adventure with check-in at Habitat, the futuristic dormitory that gives the feeling of living and working in a space station.

(upbeat music) At opening orientation, we joined five other parent/child teams to form the BDM Mission Team, named for one of many aerospace corporations that sponsor Space Camp.

Our team leader, Tracy Tucker, briefed us on our goal for the weekend, to fly a smooth, successful space shuttle mission.

We were assigned physicians on the flight crew.

- [Facilitator] Mission specialist for Matthew Tyson.

- [Janet Tyson] The training floor is the center for hands-on experience with some of the actual equipment used by the astronauts.

Our team rehearsed on the mock-up of Mission Control and the scale model of the Columbia's cockpit.

Instructors checked out each crew member on the equipment they'd used during the flight.

- This is the STS, because that's the external tank.

The left and right solid rocket booster, and main engines, one, two, and three.

- [Janet Tyson] Specially designed simulators, like the Space Station Mobility Trainer, recreate weightlessness.

The microgravity chair simulates one sixth Earth gravity for a walk on the moon.

Floating on pads of air, this chair shows the five degrees of freedom during a spacewalk.

The true test of courage comes on the multi-axis chair that spins simultaneously on three axes.

It's a threat to some, a thrill to others.

- [Child] Yeah!

- [Janet Tyson] But it's not all fun in space games.

There's serious instruction here.

Trainees study the complex technology of the space shuttle.

The Space Center Museum becomes the classroom for learning about space science.

The principles of modern rocketry unfold as each trainee builds a model rocket.

- Just put your launch log right above the fans, straight across from the engine mount.

- [Participants] Three, two, one, lift off!

(rocket whooshes) (participants cheer) (children chatter indistinctly) (bright music) - [Janet Tyson] But the moment every shuttle team member lives for is the mission into space.

(bright music) - [Mission Control] Good luck and God speed.

(bright music) - [Child] All systems are go.

- [Mission Control] Roger, all systems ready.

- [Technician] T-minus 20 seconds and counting.

Eight, seven, six, main engine start, five, lift perfect, four, three, two, one, booster ignition.

Liftoff.

(engine rumbles) - [Mission Control] Roger, liftoff.

(engine rumbles) - [Operator] Columbia, you have cleared the tower.

- [Mission Control] Roger.

Starting roll program.

- [Child] APU is running normal.

- [Participant] Columbia is standing by for solid rocket booster separation.

- [Child] Columbia is now 20 miles high, 20 miles down range.

(bright music) - [Janet Tyson] As mission specialists, Matthew and I egress the orbiter for our EVA, extra vehicular activity.

We become the astronauts who walk in space to repair the orbiter or deploy its payload.

(bright music) All too soon, it's time to return to the blue planet.

(bright music) (crowd cheers) (crowd applauds) - Good job, flight director.

Way to go.

- [Janet Tyson] Someday whole families may move skyward to settle our new frontier.

Perhaps from these parent/child teams may come just those families with the right stuff.

(bright music) - Laura, she obviously had some connections.

I can remember back in the day when Space Camp first first started.

It was a lottery.

I mean, so many kids, so many people, so many families wanted to go, and I think in the story, they said they took 700 kids, or people, the first year.

Now it's like 20,000.

It's still going strong.

- I mean, it's incredible.

- Yes.

- Although, I don't know if I could do that chair that spins on three axles.

- (laughs) Yeah.

- I mean, I think you couldn't have breakfast before that.

- No, in the eighties, maybe.

Now, no.

Watching it, I was like, "No."

But yeah- - Totally cool.

- What a great place.

- Yeah.

- I would love to follow up, 'cause we have so many interesting connections, with Butch Wilcox, I mean, so many interesting connections here in Tennessee.

I would like to follow up and see, of the kids that went from Tennessee, what they became.

I'm sure they achieved great things.

- Another story on our list.

- Another story on our list.

All right, onto our last story of this episode.

We've been to space, now you take us home.

- Thank you, it's a beautiful story about some very beautiful instruments.

Violin, fiddle, whatever you call them, these instruments need a lot of attention, and Jana Stanfield found one woman doing her part to care for, and even restore these works of art.

(energetic string music) - [Jana Stanfield] You might not think that the music of the Blair String Quartet has much in common with the music of the Charlie Daniels band.

(energetic string music) What they have in common is that both feature a certain small stringed instrument.

Along with the rock band, Walk the West, both groups also bring their small stringed instrument to the same Nashville shop for repairs.

(Jana plucks strings) Whether you call this a fiddle or a violin may depend on your musical preference.

Let's call it a violin.

Each violin is a one of a kind instrument, depending on how it was made, what kind of wood was used, and on how much care it received over the years.

With the right care, the sound of a violin can improve with age.

That's where Stephanie Wolf comes in.

Stephanie Wolf restores violins and restrings bows.

- [Stephanie Wolf] There are about 150 hairs in a violin bow rehair.

And rather than counting them, we use a gauge to measure them because that's actually more accurate.

- [Jana Stanfield] Ever since childhood, Stephanie has loved the violin.

After high school, she studied at the Eastman School of Music, played classical violin in Boston, and later became a Nashville session player.

She can be heard on thousands of Nashville recordings, including such classics as "Help me Make It Through The Night," "Delta Dawn," "Snowbird," and "Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

But after 18 years of studio work, she was ready for a new challenge.

I chanced upon an ad in the Musicians Union national magazine, about a week's workshop in upstate New York to learn how to repair bows.

So I packed myself up, and my children, and just took a chance, and in that week, I fell in love with instrument repair and with with bows.

- [Jana Stanfield] No longer concerned with her own musical performance, Stephanie Wolf now focuses on the musical performance of each instrument that's brought to her.

- [Stephanie Wolf] In traveling, particularly country musicians, are forced to put their instruments under the bus, on the luggage compartment of the bus, and as such, they sometimes take a little bit harder wear than if they were lovingly handled by human beings.

This often makes for cracked tops, bumps and scrapes, even instruments coming unglued.

- When an instrument comes unglued, does the musician come unglued?

- Yes, they really do, and they need a lot of loving care.

And some of the pictures, some of the inscriptions to the pictures on the wall say things like, "Thanks for putting up with me," or, "Thanks for understanding me and my needs."

- [Jana Stanfield] While she has enjoyed her careers in classical music, country music, and violin restoration, Stephanie Wolf always keeps one eye out for the next adventure on the horizon.

- Although I give everything to what I'm doing at the moment, I think I'm always looking for other things to do.

Not because I'm discontented, but simply because there are a lot of really interesting things out there to do and a lot of interesting people to meet.

(bright music) - That's an amazing story, and some beautiful instruments.

That is so technical.

I just interviewed, did a story, on Dan Blom of Blom's Guitars, and he's a luthier and it's a really complicated program.

She did it in upstate New York, but it is a tedious, time consuming project that you go through this program, but it's amazing what they can do.

- And works of art, truly they are.

Well, that is it, and that's gonna do it for another episode of "Retro Tennessee Crossroads."

Miranda, I had so much fun going through the vault again with you.

- (laughs) So did I, and we hope all of our viewers enjoyed all of these older segments.

And you can find your favorite old segments and new segments of "Tennessee Crossroads" on Tennesseecrossroads.org.

- That's right, and of course, download the PBS app to find even more content.

- Thanks for joining us, everybody.

We will see you next time.

(carefree music) (bright music)