Mussel camp… Imagine.. in the mid-1950s there were probably 300 working mussel boats on the Tennessee River. These boats collected mussels to use in the button or pearl industries. So, what do brailers, divers and other toe-diggers do with the mussels they harvest? They take them to camp… mussel camp. These odorous camps are set …
Here is India and the pearl diver who works on the Tennessee River collecting shells and pearls! India is the Founder of The Pearl Girls and is thrilled to launch her All-American Pearl Collection in 2014 and tell Bruce’s story of 30 years of diving for pearls on the Tennessee River. It is an exciting …
Will I find a pearl in my oyster? is a question I hear from many people who visit my talks. It makes sense, right? Pearls come from oysters (or mussels) and it only seems fair that if you eat a bunch of these, especially raw, you are entitled to find a pearl. Right? Well, here …
Dixie Divers is a special debuting on the Discovery Channel on September 28th. The special hopes to capture the life of some remaining pearl and mussel divers in Tennessee. I met a U.S. Dixie Diver, John, last year during my visit to Benton County, Tennessee. Since then I have been in touch with a few …
The largest natural pearl discovery happened in the U.S. in 1976 at Fort Gibson Lake in Wagner, OK. Workers from the American Shell Company found this three ridge mussel with 2100 natural pearls inside. Still intact to this day are all 2100 pearls, the shell and the mussel meat. This was truly an amazing discovery …
Continue reading “The Largest Natural Pearl Discovery in the U.S.”
Sometimes the beauty of U.S. mussels is simply in the shell. Here is a Tennessee Heelsplitter Belt made from the shell of a Tennessee Heelsplitter mussel. Which, by the way, was named due to the mussel shell’s sharp edges. Step on this mussel while wading barefoot in the river and it might just cut (or …
