Remember the good feeling you get when the hometown sports team you're rooting for wins the championship? That's the way I felt recently when I visited friends from my home town that have made the "championship list" in Nashville, Tennessee, for their work in historic preservation of a Nashville landmark. The honor they have received is called the Nashville Metropolitan Historical Commission Architectural Award. The bronze medallion declaring them as recipients is seen beside the Smith House Front Entry (which is also featured in a well-known painting of famous entryways in Nashville), along with the medallion indicating that their property is on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee. Jerry and Sharon Hudson Smith are graduates of Harrison High School in Northwest Arkansas. After they attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Jerry went on to seminary and was the pastor of a church near Memphis for many years. But in a move that Jerry described as a "paradigm shift", they left the position of a full-time pastorate and started a project, along with their adult children, of restoring a three-story, brick townhouse in downtown Nashville, into a fine dining restaurant, as well as the living quarters for Jerry and Sharon. The impressive work the family has done was featured in a special on PBS television, and the townhouse can also be seen in several music videos filmed in Nashville by various recording artists. I was able to join Jerry and Sharon for a lovely and delicious lunch in the enclosed courtyard section of their restaurant last month. When they told me about some of the famous people that have dined there, I was impressed! And it wasn't just country music recording artists either--- since The Standard at the Smith House is next door to the Lifeway Publishing Company Headquarters, they have had the opportunity to host many famous authors and religious leaders as well. So if you EVER get a chance, be sure to visit The Standard at the Smith House, located at 167 Rosa Parks Blvd. (8th Avenue) in downtown Nashville. If you are there on a Sunday, you may not be able to get food from their extensive restaurant menu, but you CAN get food of a different kind (that is, "fed spiritually") by attending contemporary worship services held in their ballroom on Sundays. You can get more details and see more photos at their website, which is www.smithhousenashville.com or phone 615-254-1277. Miles of smiles! Tricia Turner
