Pearly Sights



Tennessee River attraction boasts only freshwater pearl farm in North America
by Joe Parrino, Courier staff

"This is one of the best kept secrets in Kentucky and Tennessee," Keast said.

The low profile of North America's only freshwater pearl farm is surprising given its long history and the coverage it gets from national media.

Pearls have been historically tied with oysters and Far Eastern cultures. Most people assume every pearl originates from some exotic location.

But the pearl farm run by Keast and his wife Janis can be reached in about 90 minutes from Fort Campbell. The farm stretches several acres offshore of the Tennessee River in Camden, Tenn.

The farm with attached museum and jewelry showroom is open year round.

But between April and November, visitors can choose from a range of guided tour packages. Options include a pontoon boat ride among thousands of mussel-laden baskets, a trip through a pearl museum and a live demonstration of shucking pearls from the shell.

Longer stays can include catered meals or accommodations at Bird Song Resort and Marina which adjoins the farm.

Keast, 58, loves to show and tell stories about the pearl world. As a guide on many of the tours, Keast frequently tells visitors that much of what they think they know about pearls is inaccurate.

One common myth says that each pearl begins with a grain of sand.

"That is untrue," Keast said.

Naturally-occurring pearls typically start when a tiny fish wanders into the mollusk while its shell opens to breathe. The fish gets stuck and the mollusk reacts to the invader as a finger protects itself from a splinter, by encasing the foreign object in body tissue.

The mollusk's soft, iridescent flesh coats the object continuously until a solid pearl takes shape.

Cultured pearls begin when a piece of a dead mollusk is placed inside a live mollusk. The host mollusk is carefully wedged and implanted with the tissue fragment.

Because the process can be controlled, the implant can be modified to produce pearls of different shapes.

"Most people think of the pearl as a marble," Keast said. "But we make triangles, hearts, teardrops, bars and wide variety of shapes."

Keast inherited these designer pearl methods and other trade secrets from the pioneer of American pearls, John Latendresse.

Latendresse was introduced to pearl cultivation as an exporter of raw mussel shells. The shells were used in oyster-pearl cultivation in Japan. Latendresse married a Japanese woman who worked in the pearl business.

The Latendresses opened their own pearl farm on the Keasts' resort in the 1970s. Over four decades, the family experimented with freshwater pearl cultivation and perfected many unprecedented techniques before his death in 2000.

Latendresse chose the Tennessee River for his operation because of the abundance of native mussels.

Keast said there are as many as 125 species of mussels indigenous to the river, including the elongated "Washboard mussel," which is known for its pearl-growing power.

That fact impresses visitors like Joan Sincerbox who brought up a tour group from Nashville last month.

"The most interesting thing (I learned) is that these pearls are all around us," Sincerbox said. "They are just like hidden treasures."

The pearl is the state gem of both Kentucky and Tennessee.

Sincerbox said many in her tour group bought the homegrown pearls from the showroom at Keast's pearl museum. In addition to raw gems, visitors can buy finished pearl jewelry made by the Latendresse daughters.

Some of the farm's pearls travel around the world in jewelry exhibitions.

Keast's pearl farm is a destination for school field trips and retirees, boaters and landlubbers, celebrities and ordinary folks. It has been featured in a National Geographic spread and segments on ABC's 20/20 and CBS Sunday Morning.

The broad appeal is in part because of the farm's uniqueness. To Keast's knowledge, North America has no other freshwater pearl operation.

Japan and China have many more because of cheaper labor there, Keast said. Starting up a pearl operation also requires know-how that is in short supply on this side of the world, Keast says.

Pearl Farming History

     * Culturing saltwater pearls from oysters was first recorded in 5th-century China.
     * A commercially-viable process of pearl culture was discovered by an Australian named William Sawville-Kent in the early 20th century. The Japanese perfected and patented the process.
     * In 1914, the Japanese also began culturing freshwater pearls from mussels in a lake near Kyoto.
     * In 1963, John Latendresse established the first experimental U.S. freshwater cultured pearl farm. It remains the only domestic grower of freshwater pearls today.

TRIP Details

     * Call (731) 584-7880 for a guided tour between April and mid-November.
     * Museum, farm, jewelry showroom open year-round.
     * Admission ranges from $5 to $49.50 per person depending on tour.
     * Located at Bird Song Resort and Marina in Camden, Tenn.
     * Exit 133 off Interstate 40, 255 Marina Road.