I awoke this morning excited about the tour that I was getting ready to take. I was visiting a real pearl farm! Not just ANY pearl farm, mind you, but the ONLY freshwater pearl farm in North America!

What did I know about pearls? I knew that pearls are round, make expensive jewelry, and that they come from water creatures.

As a school teacher on summer break, I was determined to visit the attraction. After all, it was practically in my own backyard, only ten miles away!
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Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen signed the historic Pearl Farm and Museum bill (SB3361/HB3255) on April 26, 2004 in Nashville denoting the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Farm located at Birdsong Resort and Marina in Camden, Tennessee as the official location of freshwater pearl culturing in the State of Tennessee.

The impact and eventual result of the signing of this historic bill could be phenomenal in bringing both tourism and new industry to Benton County. Keast has always been a professional leader in tourism and industry and with the signing of this bill he has once again demonstrated his ability to involve Benton County in a better future.

It’s more than meets the eye. That is, the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum located at Birdsong Marina on the scenic Tennessee River’s beautiful Kentucky Lake. I was looking forward to the museum and to learn about pearls. But I did not know of all the things to do at mile marker 103.7 LDB.

The Tennessee River Pearl Museum is tucked away inside the main building of the combination marina office, boat sales office, boating supply store, and pearl showroom. The large building houses all these, plus it has a small auditorium for showing an introductory video about the pearl farm. The owners, Bob Keast and his wife Janis, have operated the museum and marina since 1980. Bob Jr. originally moved to Birdsong when he was 10 back in 1961 with his Mother and Father, Lorrine and Bob Keast, Sr.

Birdsong Marina sits on fifty-eight acres in a quiet embayment in the Birdsong Creek one and a half miles from the main channel of the Tennessee River, just south of the New Johnsonville US 70 Bridge. Land-wise, it is nine miles north of Tennessee’s Interstate 40 at Exit 133 / Birdsong Road and Hwy 191 N. I hesitate to call it a marina, or a pearl museum, because it is both of these and more. That is why the Tennessee River Freshwater Pearl Museum and Birdsong Marina is a great place to stopover. If I want to stop off there while navigating the river, there are fourteen cabins for rent, and plenty of things to do during the visit. Two of the cabins are adjoining and combined have nine bedrooms and can accommodate twenty-five people. There is a pavilion with kitchen and bathroom facilities and is large enough to handle several hundred people if I wanted to host a family reunion or Church group.

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