Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from eastern Tennessee, where he explores Roan Mountain and Rocky Fork State Parks. He then visits with innkeepers at the state’s oldest inn in historic Jonesborough, and discovers how community engagement drives business at Jiggy Rays Pizza Parlor in the Appalachian village of Elizabethton.

Rosanna Horst talks about life in the Mennonite village of Muddy Pond, and Jeremy Crabtree, owner of Poet’s Coffee house talks about life in the university town of Cookeville. Beth Thompson, director of the Cookeville Depot Museum, shares her passion for bringing history to life for kids at the railroad museum, and Tom Allen, general manager at Dale Hollow Lake Sunset Marina, shares insights about houseboat rentals that draw vacationers from across America.

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer as he reports from Pall Mall, Tennessee. There he visits with World War I U.S. Army hero Sergeant Alvin York’s daughter, 85 year-old Betsy Ross York-Lowery, and great-granddaughter, Deborah York, at the family’s farmhouse. A pacifist, York reluctantly went to war and wound up one of America’s most highly decorated heroes. He returned to his rural hometown and commenced a lifelong quest to build schools and provide opportunities for the disenfranchised rural children throughout the Cumberland Gap region of Tennessee. In addition to telling fascinating tales about her great grandfather’s heroic modesty on and off the battlefield, Deborah York, executive director of the Sergeant York Patriotic Foundation, offers insights about the nonprofit’s mission to continue Sergeant York’s lifelong passion for education and honoring U.S. military veterans.

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Becky Magura, CEO of PBS affiliate WCTE in the Appalachian town of Cookeville in central Tennessee. WCTE serves one of America’s most rural realms where more than 30 percent of the 343,000 residents in the 14 county market region depend on reception via antenna, as cable service is often non-existent in the remote quarters. In addition to serving as a lifeline to the community through WCTE’s emergency broadcast services, the station’s programming is focused on local sporting events, cultural affairs, music, and the arts. Equally invaluable is WCTE’s Educational Outreach programming, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides essential services for local school districts, teachers, and homebound rural residents with small children.

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Jamie Cyphers, the great-great-granddaughter of Kingsport, Tennessee moonshiner Charles “Old Man" Bishop, who reportedly first concocted Long Island Iced Tea back in the 1920s. Wilmer also stops in for a visit with two Kingsport professional bartenders, Shane Winegar and Randy Ashens, who challenged New York mix-masters to a competition to determine which region makes the best Long Island Iced Tea, irrespective of origin.