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Wlaf1450A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
NASHVILLE, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF)- Underwoods demonstrate at state museum
Members of the Underwood family who are local traditional art practitioners from Campbell County demonstrated traditional agricultural folkways at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville as part of a celebration for State Day. The event also commemorated America’s 250th, Tennessee’s 230th and the Tennessee Art Commission’s Traditional Artist Apprentice Program’s 10th anniversary.
The State Day celebration was hosted at the Tennessee State Museum in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission Folklife Program for the Tennessee Statehood Day Celebration.
The Folklife Program featured artists from the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (TAAP), celebrating its ten-year anniversary in 2026. TAAP has “supported over 100 projects and 200 traditional artists across the state working to preserve rare, endangered, and significant Tennessee traditions.”
The Underwoods demonstrated Traditional Appalachian Agricultural practices such as heirloom seed saving, planting by the signs, canning, preserving and foraging. Mother-daughter pair Charlotte Underwood and Jeanette Underwood received a Tennessee Arts Commission grant several years ago to document and preserve these increasingly rare Appalachian food pathways. They took a persimmon cake and wine berry jam to give out samples of to those who wanted to try something “old timey”. Jeanette was unable to attend the event but sent a persimmon cake and heirloom seeds to hand out as samples.
The Underwoods grow a rare heirloom bean called Moss Ivey beans. The seeds have been saved and passed down through the generations in the Underwood family. Jeanette Underwood has been faithfully saving seeds and growing the bean since 1966, when she was given the seeds by her mother-in-law Grace, who had been growing them for many years and had received seeds from Mossie Ivey most likely in the 1940s. The Underwoods trace the story of the Moss Ivey Bean to Campbell County in the early 1900s.
In 2024, after receiving a grant from South Arts as an “Emerging Traditional Artist” Charlotte Underwood raised her own small crop of Moss Ivey beans and began saving her own heirloom bean seeds to plant. She said she plans to carry on this “important family tradition and understands the responsibility of not letting these traditions or beans die out.”
Joanna Underwood received a South Arts Grant in Food Pathways in 2026 for meat preservation and to work on the project of putting together an heirloom family heritage cookbook along with Jeanette Underwood.
Charlotte and Joanna both also demonstrated stringed folk instrument building at the state museum, taking a collection of tack head banjos, Appalachian Picking Stick Dulcimers, and cigar box instruments to showcase the rich history of folk instruments from the area.
Both Charlotte and Joanna teach classes locally to area youth about heritage, seed saving, instrument building and more.
According to Charlotte, the past four years have been an “amazing experience of learning more about family history, seed saving and preserving Appalachian and family culture.”
“My mom is the real Traditional Artist, she sews, cans every year, gardens and has raised her family to know and appreciate the old ways. We are blessed to be able to continue her legacy and share this way of life with others,” Charlotte Underwood said.
A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.
For bookings, email Olivia Lobertini at ohlobertini03@gmail.com. Check on avails HERE. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-06/08/2026-6AM)