Despite my 14 year old sister’s and my own best teenage effort, this year’s family vacation was actually an enjoyable one. We found ourselves in Nashville, Tennessee for the week. This is the music capital of the world, but did we visit any honky-tonks? No! Instead, we accompanied Mom and Dad on a buying trip to American Pearl Company. Because we were pretty sure that neither Keith Urban nor Taylor Swift had recently done a song at the pearl shop, Molly and I were less than enthused about the day’s visit.
We arrived at the front door to the American Pearl Company and were greeted by a friendly little dog. (This was a vacation day and everyone in the office could be relaxed.) Ok, so playing with the dog gave us a hopeful option as to how to spend the meeting time.
Next, the manager came to the door and welcomed the whole family into her office. As we sat down at the table, the afternoon suddenly seemed to be looking up; all around me were display boards covered with trendy pearl earrings, brightly colored pearl bracelets, and my favorite piece a pearl choker with a rainbow of colors. The staff was more than accommodating, inviting Molly and I to get up and look around and even try on our favorite pieces. Doing business with Mom and Dad was getting more interesting by the minute.
As Molly and I browsed, we overherd the sales lady giving a brief history of the company. She said that American Pearl Company was all started by one man and is still run by his daughter. Today, they are the only pearl manufacturers in America. That seems like an impressive statement, considering the vastness of the American population and commerce. She went on to say that even the expert Japanese pearl growers are buying their shell nuclei from American Pearl Company, and they’ve been relying on the US for years. That’s right, down home Tennessee is the birthplace of the majority of all cultured pearls in the world. If that’s not a cool statement on American made goods, I don’t know what is.
The pearls start as shell nucleus that is harvested right there in Tennessee, and then American Pearl keeps some of the nuclei and sells the rest to other pearl farmers, planting their own pearl seedlings. The ones who stay in Tennessee are implanted into hand picked oysters from the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. Once filled with the nucleus, an oyster will grow in the pearl farm for three to five years, until the pearl is of a desired size and durability. After the long wait, farmers harvest the pearls and send them to the designers who in turn make beautiful pieces of jewelry.
The result of all of this down home farming and waiting is a beautiful array of colors, shapes and sizes of pearls that create classic white strands or trendy colored earrings. Who knew following Mom and Dad on a business meeting could yield such good eye candy? Dad picked out some great pieces for the store and Molly and I put in our two cents as well.
And no worries, Mom and Dad did take us to the Grand Ole Opry while in town. Molly and I got our fix for musician heartthrobs this summer, and more importantly, learned that Mom and Dad really can be a good time.
-Whittley Lewis
Daughter of Mark and Rebekah Lewis
We arrived at the front door to the American Pearl Company and were greeted by a friendly little dog. (This was a vacation day and everyone in the office could be relaxed.) Ok, so playing with the dog gave us a hopeful option as to how to spend the meeting time.
Next, the manager came to the door and welcomed the whole family into her office. As we sat down at the table, the afternoon suddenly seemed to be looking up; all around me were display boards covered with trendy pearl earrings, brightly colored pearl bracelets, and my favorite piece a pearl choker with a rainbow of colors. The staff was more than accommodating, inviting Molly and I to get up and look around and even try on our favorite pieces. Doing business with Mom and Dad was getting more interesting by the minute.
As Molly and I browsed, we overherd the sales lady giving a brief history of the company. She said that American Pearl Company was all started by one man and is still run by his daughter. Today, they are the only pearl manufacturers in America. That seems like an impressive statement, considering the vastness of the American population and commerce. She went on to say that even the expert Japanese pearl growers are buying their shell nuclei from American Pearl Company, and they’ve been relying on the US for years. That’s right, down home Tennessee is the birthplace of the majority of all cultured pearls in the world. If that’s not a cool statement on American made goods, I don’t know what is.
The pearls start as shell nucleus that is harvested right there in Tennessee, and then American Pearl keeps some of the nuclei and sells the rest to other pearl farmers, planting their own pearl seedlings. The ones who stay in Tennessee are implanted into hand picked oysters from the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers. Once filled with the nucleus, an oyster will grow in the pearl farm for three to five years, until the pearl is of a desired size and durability. After the long wait, farmers harvest the pearls and send them to the designers who in turn make beautiful pieces of jewelry.
The result of all of this down home farming and waiting is a beautiful array of colors, shapes and sizes of pearls that create classic white strands or trendy colored earrings. Who knew following Mom and Dad on a business meeting could yield such good eye candy? Dad picked out some great pieces for the store and Molly and I put in our two cents as well.
And no worries, Mom and Dad did take us to the Grand Ole Opry while in town. Molly and I got our fix for musician heartthrobs this summer, and more importantly, learned that Mom and Dad really can be a good time.
-Whittley Lewis
Daughter of Mark and Rebekah Lewis
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