Tennessee’s freshwaters help grow pearls around the world

CAMDEN, Tenn. (WKRN) — Did you know that one of nature’s most beautiful gemstones, the freshwater pearl, is the official state gem of Tennessee?

That’s because the only freshwater pearl farm in North America is located at Birdsong Marina and Resort on the Tennessee River in Camden.

The lattice-work of PVC pipe floating in the waters of Birdsong Creek may not look very exciting on the surface. But what’s going on under the water is an amazing process that grows and cultures freshwater pearls from our own native Tennessee mussels.

Bob Keast is the owner of Birdsong Marina, Resort, and Campground, as well as the freshwater pearl farm.

“Underneath the pipe is thousands of baskets. And each basket holds hundreds of mussels, a native Tennessee animal,” Keast explained.

“The freshwater pearl was created here in Benton County by a man by the name of John Latendresse. He married a Japanese woman and brought the custom from Japan over to America, landed in Camden, Tennessee, and here we are at the Pearl Museum and Pearl Farm.”

The farming process involves taking a small piece of mussel shell called a “nuclei” or an “implant”, and inserting it into another live mussel.

“And then we’ll hang him out on the net, and we take him out to the farm, Keast said. “And then we wait eight or ten years. And then we go back to the net, we open it up, and there will be a pearl in it.”

You can see and purchase the results in the Pearl Museum and Community Center at Birdsong Marina and Resort. There you can choose from a variety of freshwater pearl jewelry from bracelets to necklaces, to earrings and pendants.

But there’s more to this business than just growing the pearls locally.

Our Tennessee mussels are valued around the world for use as the implants to create new pearls.

“Tennessee exports the mollusks to Japan, China, Tahiti, all over the world,” Keast explained. “They use our Tennessee River freshwater mussel. And we package them up in two hundred-pound burlap bags, fill up a tractor-trailer. And then the tractor-trailer goes to Los Angeles and a crane pit sits up and sets it on a ship bound to Bejing, or Tokyo, or wherever.”

So why are our mussels so good to make pearls with?

“Because they’re clean,” Keast explained. “Our waters are clean. Look at the waters in foreign countries. You’ve got salt.”

So, besides the process of growing of our own beautiful freshwater pearls, the Tennessee River is the gateway to growing pearls around the world.

Want to visit this homegrown marvel of the Tennessee River?

The Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum, Farm, Tour and Jewelry Showroom is in Camden, 9 miles north of Interstate 40 at Exit 133/Birdsong Exit. Call (731)584-7880 to make an appointment to visit our Pearl Museum. Visit their website here .

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