About The Tennessee History Nerd podcast

The Tennessee History Nerd is a narrative storytelling podcast exploring the people, places, stories, and folklore that shaped the Volunteer State.  

The goal is simple:  to make Tennessee history accessible, meaningful, and memorable — whether you’re a lifelong Tennessean, discovering the state’s stories for the very first time, or anywhere in between.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Marie Summers

In this bonus Interviewsday material, we go deeper into the story of the old Nicholson Springs Resort Hotel in Warren County, TN and the research involved in uncovering that.

Marie Summers shares how the history of the resort was uncovered in her article in the Fall 1986 Tennessee Historical Quarterly, what made it significant in its time, and how a place that once drew visitors from across the region could gradually fade from memory.

If you enjoyed Ep 3 - The Lost Resort, this conversation provides additional context and insight into the people, the place, and the process of preserving its story.  Although this is only being widely shared now, it was actually the very first interview done for the podcast. 

TTHN Ep 19 - Driving Across Tennessee: Bledsoe County Edition

Driving Across Tennessee continues this week as we head into the rugged beauty of Bledsoe County, where the mountains have shaped the county's history for more than two centuries.

Along the way, we'll explore the Sequatchie Valley, the Trail of Tears, Tennessee's first ghost county seat at Madison, and the rise of Pikeville. We'll visit some of the county's oldest surviving landmarks, including the John Bridgman House, the Dr. James A. Ross House, and the historic AME Zion Chapel, while remembering lost places like the Story Hotel and the mining community of Atpontley.

From there, we turn to the events that earned the county the nickname "Bloody Bledsoe." We'll trace the origins of the Swafford-Tollett Feud, the era of moonshine running and the Whiskey Wars, and the culture of violence that shaped the county for generations.

Sometimes the most fascinating counties aren't the ones with the biggest cities.

Sometimes they're the ones hidden in a beautiful mountain valley, where every winding road seems to lead to another story.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Paul DeHaan

For the Damn the Torpedoes episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with Paul DeHaan—collector, researcher, and author of Damn the Torpedoes: Farragut & USS Hartford—whose work served as a primary narrative source for this week’s episode on Admiral David Farragut.

This conversation was recorded on location at the Dauphin Island Welcome Center Museum, where several items from Paul’s personal collection are currently on display. As a result, you may hear some background noise throughout—but what you’ll also hear is something far more valuable:

Perspective shaped by decades of hands-on experience with the artifacts and stories of the Civil War.--This isn't just an interview.

It's a conversation with someone who has spent a lifetime preserving the story behind the story.

TTHN Ep 18 - A Surrender Between Friends

In this episode, we follow the Fort Henry-Fort Donelson Campaign from its strategic beginnings through the fall of Fort Henry, the race to reinforce Fort Donelson, the first large-scale use of Union ironclad gunboats on the western rivers, the Confederate breakout attempt, Gideon Pillow's fateful decision to halt rather than immediately evacuate, Grant's decisive counterattack, the remarkable chain of command that ultimately left Simon Bolivar Buckner responsible for surrendering the Confederate army, Nathan Bedford Forrest's escape, Bushrod Johnson's quiet disappearance into the Tennessee woods, and the famous exchange of letters between Grant and Buckner that forever earned Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

Yet once the surrender was complete, something extraordinary happened.

The stern commander who had demanded unconditional surrender immediately resumed the role of an old friend. Grant extended courtesy to Buckner, offered him financial assistance should he need it, and ensured that the surrendered Confederate soldiers were treated with dignity.

Sometimes history isn't defined only by who wins the battle.

Sometimes it is defined by how people conduct themselves after the fighting has ended.

A surrender...between friends.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Justin Reed

It's INTERVIEWSDAY!

For this Interviewsday edition (Interview Tuesday) of The Tennessee History Nerd, I had the opportunity to sit down with Justin Reed, longtime radio personality, host of The Justin Reed Show, and possibly one of Tennessee's foremost enthusiasts of country music history.

Justin has spent years sharing the stories behind the songs, artists, and recordings that helped shape country music. In this conversation, we explore Tennessee's remarkable influence on American music, the state's legendary recording history, and some of the artists and places that continue to define its musical legacy.

Unlike many of our Interviewsday episodes, this conversation isn't tied to a specific podcast episode. Instead, it's a stand-alone discussion celebrating one of Tennessee's greatest contributions to American culture. Whether you're a history buff, a country music fan, or simply enjoy hearing great stories, I think you'll enjoy this conversation with Justin Reed.

TTHN Ep 17 - Driving Across Tennessee: Benton County Edition

Benton County.

To many travelers, it's simply the place where Interstate 40 crosses the Tennessee River on the way between Nashville and Memphis.

But Benton County's story reaches beyond the river.

It includes the railroad community of Big Sandy, the stagecoach town and county seat of Camden, Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, and the tragic 1963 plane crash that claimed the lives of Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and pilot Randy Hughes.

In this episode, we explore how one river shaped the history of an entire county...from frontier settlement and sectional politics to Civil War battlefields, freshwater pearls, and one of country music's greatest tragedies.

Because Benton County isn't simply another stop along Interstate 40.

It's one of the places where the Tennessee River tells Tennessee's story.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview With Keith Wimberley

It's INTERVIEWSDAY!

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.

TTHN Ep 16 - The Uneven Story of Mud Island

Mud Island.

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.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Bob Keast

It's INTERVIEWSDAY!

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.

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.

TTHN Ep 15 - Driving Across Tennessee: Bedford County Edition

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.

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

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.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Norman Shaw

It's INTERVIEWSDAY!

What began as a chance meeting at the Farragut Museum in Farragut, Tennessee turned into a remarkable conversation about history, memory, tragedy, and the long effort to ensure that the victims of the Sultana are not forgotten.

In this conversation, Norman Shaw shares how he first discovered the story of the Sultana, the origins of the Association of Sultana Descendants and Friends organization, the connection between East Tennessee soldiers and the disaster, and the decades-long work of remembrance carried on by descendants, historians, researchers, and survivors’ families.

TTHN Ep 14 -  The Failed State

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.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Charlie Rhodarmer

It's INTERVIEWSDAY (Interview Tuesday)!

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.

TTHN Ep 13 -  Driving Across Tennessee: Anderson County Edition

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.

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.

TTHN Bonus INTERVIEWSDAY Material - Interview with Norman Jetmundsen

It's INTERVIEWSDAY (Interview Tuesday)!

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 Episode 7 - The Iron Men -- the story of the 1899 University of the South football team: the Iron Men of Sewanee.  

This conversation goes well beyond the story told in the episode.

TTHN Ep 12 -  A Pearl of a Story

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.

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.

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.

TTHN Ep 11 -  Red Stick Ruination

The Red Stick village of Tohopeka...known today as Horseshoe Bend.

There, in March of 1814, roughly 1,000 Red Stick warriors fortified themselves behind a massive barricade alongside hundreds of women and children. Facing them was an army under Andrew Jackson made up of Tennessee militia, United States Regulars, Cherokee warriors, and Lower Creek allies.

What followed was brutal.

In this episode, we examine the divisions within the Creek Nation, Tecumseh’s influence, the rise of the Red Sticks, the Creek War campaign, the battle itself, and the devastating aftermath that followed.

Because Horseshoe Bend did more than end a war...it redrew the map of the American South.

TTHN Ep 10 -  Horror on the Mississippi:  The Forgotten Inferno

In this episode, we tell the story of the Sultana disaster: how it happened, why so many were aboard, the corruption and negligence surrounding the voyage, the human cost of the disaster, and why one of the deadliest maritime tragedies in American history has so often been forgotten.

Because sometimes history is not lost because it was small.

Sometimes it is lost because the nation was already trying to move on.

TTHN Ep 9 -  Terror in the Night

In the early 1900s, conflict over land, access, ownership, and outside control erupted around Reelfoot Lake. What began as a fight over the future of the lake became one of the darkest and most dramatic chapters in Tennessee history.

In this episode, we trace the story of the Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake: the roots of the conflict, the people caught in it, the violence that shocked Tennessee, and the way this story lived on in memory, history, and even early motion pictures.

Because at Reelfoot Lake, history does not always rise gently from the water.

Sometimes, it comes in the dark.

TTHN Ep 8 -  The Fort That Wasn't

In this episode, we walk through the long story of Old Stone Fort—from early speculation and 19th-century investigation to the archaeological work that reshaped our understanding of the site. Along the way, we explore how this place was built, how it changed over time, and what it may have meant to the people who returned here generation after generation.

We also examine the layers that came later—the mills, the industry, and the transformation of the landscape—before returning to the central question that still lingers:

If it wasn’t a fort…what was it?

TTHN Ep 7 -  The Iron Men

The 1899 University of the South (Sewanee) Tigers football team is one of the most remarkable stories in the history of college athletics.

In a single six-day stretch, this team traveled by train across the South and defeated five opponents—shutting out each one—without the benefit of modern substitutions, recovery, or depth. It’s a story of endurance, discipline, and a level of toughness that’s hard to fully appreciate today.  

And that was only part of the season…

TTHN Ep 6 -  Damn the Torpedoes

In this episode, we trace the full arc of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut--from his beginnings along the Tennessee River near Campbell's Station to a childhood marked by loss... to a life forged almost entirely at sea.

By the time the Civil War began, Farragut was not an untested officer looking for opportunity. He was something far more dangerous—experienced, disciplined, and decisive.

TTHN Ep 5 -  The Talking Leaves

Sequoyah, a Cherokee silversmith with no formal education, created a written language for his people—transforming a primarily oral culture into a literate society in less than a generation.

In this episode of The Tennessee History Nerd, we explore the life and legacy of Sequoyah, the development of the Cherokee syllabary, and the lasting impact of one of the most remarkable intellectual achievements in American history.

Because sometimes, the most enduring revolutions don’t come through force…
but through understanding.

TTHN Ep 4 -  Singing for Glory

What began as a desperate effort to raise funds became something far greater. The Fisk Jubilee Singers carried the spirituals of a people—songs born out of suffering, faith, and endurance—across the country and eventually around the world.

In this episode of The Tennessee History Nerd, we tell the story of the Jubilee Singers—how they preserved a musical tradition, helped save their university, and introduced the world to a sound that could not be silenced.

Because sometimes the most powerful voices rise not in comfort—but in hardship.

TTHN Ep 3 - The LOST Resort

Tucked away in Warren County, Nicholson Springs Resort was once a thriving destination. Visitors came for the mineral waters, the scenery, and the promise of restoration. For a season, it flourished.

And then… it was gone.

In this episode of The Tennessee History Nerd, we uncover the story of Nicholson Springs Resort—how it rose, why it mattered, and how something so significant could seemingly disappear from memory.

TTHN Ep 2 - What's in a (Nick) Name?

It’s one of those names everyone recognizes—but not everyone really understands. The answer isn’t just a slogan or a bit of folklore. It’s a story rooted in moments when Tennesseans stepped forward—sometimes unexpectedly—and left a lasting mark on American history. 

Because sometimes a nickname isn’t just a name. It’s a legacy. 

TTHN Ep 1 - Sweet 16

In this first episode of The Tennessee History Nerd, we step back into that world to trace Tennessee’s path to statehood—how it happened, who made it happen, and why it still matters today.

Because Tennessee didn’t just join the Union—it earned its place in it