Nestled in the heart of Nashville at 76 E. Main Street sits handmade, local and sustainably sourced shop Rivers and Roads.

Owners Gracie and Adam Dillon-Moore opened their brick and mortar location in April 2023 after selling their handmade goods and making connections at local farmers markets and craft fairs in January 2022.

“We started at the Nashville Farmers Market, that’s what helped propel us into being able to have a brick and mortar store,” Adam said. “This is what we always wanted, but getting to build up a strong community base was important.”

Gracie is a Brown County native and second-generation shop owner. She told the Democrat that her summers in middle school and high school were spent working in her dad’s leather shop, Moonshine Leather Company. “We have about 27 local artists right now and we have about 24 fair-trade artisans too,” Gracie said. “So it’s a little more heavily local and that’s the direction we continue to go and we have everything from handwoven textiles, pottery and then beeswax candles, we’ve got all types of different things. They (artists and artisans) have to meet certain marks, they have to be made in the state of Indiana and the more local to us, the better. They have to use sustainable practices and we don’t allow any plastic unless it’s over an art print or something that could suffer from fingerprints, but we try to be as sustainable and local as possible. And then, their product has to be 100 percent handmade, it can’t be outsourced from somewhere else. Most of the artists we have, we’ve met through doing the art show circuit, arts and craft shows. They’re fellow vendors that we’ve established relationships with and know a lot about their sourcing and process.”

The fair trade companies must be certified fair trade federation and sustainable.

Adam makes the shop’s beeswax candles and Gracie makes the pottery. Both types of products are made in-house in the back of the shop. Pottery and beeswax candles were the first products they sold at the markets.

The Dillon-Moores said they are always interested in new local artists and fair trade artisans who would like to sell items in their shop, they recommend the artists to either send them an email ([email protected]) with photos and information about their products, or to stop by the shop. They try to avoid products that are similar and competitive to what they already sell.

Gracie said they try to introduce new artists to their shop every couple of months.

Rivers and Roads also sells goat milk bath products, stationary, home decor, dryer balls, sari blankets, lighting, clothing and more.

Adam said that their sari blankets benefit women who have escaped a camp or other traumatic lifestyles.

“The fair trade organization takes care of them generally inside a hospital kind of setting and then to help them get back on their feet, they will make those blankets out of women-worn sari’s,” Adam said. “We buy them and the proceeds go back to those women to help them get back on their feet. There are lots of great fair trade organizations that we support.”

Adam told the Democrat that they have found a great community since settling into their business in Nashville.

“I love all the locals,” Adam said. “I love getting to see all of them. I love getting to walk the sidewalks in the morning when everyone is trying to get out and do their errands. It’s just really beautiful to see and feel the good energy in the county. It’s one of my favorite things, to go to Ooey Gooey, get an egg sandwich or cinnamon roll, take Beatrice (the resident shop puppy) to the post office and get our packages and mail, go down and see a couple of the other shop owners that we love and then make our way back up here. That’s the best part, to me. Before we open up, that’s the best way to spend our time.”

Rivers and Roads is developing their website, more information about the shop can be found at riversandroadshome.com.