She couldn't believe what she saw at Cracker Barrel

Good morning, friends, this is Tennessean columnist Brad Schmitt , hoping you had a fun and safe Fourth of July yesterday. My doggie, LeeLee, might still be cowering under my bed as you're reading this, as she does NOT love the booming fireworks. But I do! 🎆

On to this week's good news:

Hey, wait — is that my cousin's diploma?

When you go to a Cracker Barrel restaurant, do you ever look around at all the old antiquey stuff on the walls? As for me, I generally have my face buried in a pile of blueberry pancakes. But most folks do check out the walls.

One of those folks is retired business owner Marsha Fagnani, who noticed something interesting during a visit last August to the White House Cracker Barrel. She saw this old 1921 Nashville Public Schools grammar school diploma — with her long, long ago cousin's name on it.

Here's an even crazier thing — the cousin, Frances Estes Bledsoe, born in 1907, is related to Marsha by marriage . How in the world did Marsha even know that was her cousin?

Even crazier than that , Marsha knew that that long-deceased cousin happened to be the great granddaughter of Colonel Anthony Bledsoe Sr. (1733-1788) and Mary Ramsey (1734-1808) of Virginia, who were early settlers and prominent citizens of Sumner County. 🤯 (Marsha is a bit of a Tennessee history buff.)

Marsha chatted with a manager at the Cracker Barrel that day and told her that diploma was her cousin's and that her cousin was part of a historic Nashville family lineage.

Then earlier this year, Marsha went back to that same Cracker Barrel — she really loves the biscuits and gravy and the French toast there — and Marsha saw that same store manager. And Marsha, 67, said to the manager, hey, how's about we donate that diploma to Metro Nashville Archives?

The answer, as you probably guessed from the pics, was yes.

Now, if any of y'all have a cool antiquey thing you're willing to part with, I understand the White House Cracker Barrel might have a big blank spot on one of its walls....

Raising Cane's makes a fun, tasty visit to Vanderbilt children's hospital

Last week, the popular Raising Cane's chicken fingers chain opened its second Nashville location on Lower Broadway. And the chain's owner, Todd Graves, did something pretty cool to mark the occasion.

Todd gathered folk-rock singer/cancer survivor Harry Hudson ("Yellow Lights"), Australian rapper The Kid LAROI ("Stay" with Justin Bieber) and restaurant chain puppy mascot Cane III and headed over to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt.

The whole gang passed out free chicken fingers to about 200 patients and patients' family members from a food truck parked outside. Lots of kids posed for pics with the puppy.

Then the VIPs headed inside for a quick tour and stopped at the hospital's radio/TV studio for a question-and-answer with about 15 patients. Some of the kids were particularly interested in the Raising Cane's owner jumping into a pool of dipping sauce, a story that really cracked 'em up.

Check out some highlights of the visit here .

Before they left, Raising Cane's donated a $100,000 check to Harry Hudson's nonprofit, "Hey, I'm Here for You," which supports teens and young adults who are battling cancer.

Hope you're loving your long holiday weekend, and thanks for spending part of it with me and The Good News with Brad Schmitt. Your peeps can sign up for this email newsletter by going to tennessean.com/goodnews .

And please remember to send me your feel-good stories. I'm at brad@tennessean.com . Dig into more good news below.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: She couldn't believe what she saw at Cracker Barrel