For Keith Smythe Meacham and her extended family, there’s nothing more meaningful than

New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse

“ S E WA N E E : T H E U N I V E R S I T Y of the South has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember,” says Keith Smythe Meacham, cofounder of Reed Smythe & Company, the Nashville-based home-andgarden shop she started with the late author Julia Reed. “It’s where my parents met in the 1960s, so my sister and I grew up visiting all our lives.” Following family tradition, Keith met her husband, Jon, there in 1988 when she was a high school senior and he was assigned to show her around the campus.

“To make a very long story short, he gave me this lovely tour of Sewanee, but I ended up deciding to go to the University of Virginia,” she says. And while she didn’t fall for the school, she did for the guide. The two became pen pals, exchanging long-distance letters for the next five years until they both ended up in Washington, D.C. They married a few years later and moved to New York City, but it wasn’t until they had their second child that Sewanee reentered their lives in a meaningful way.

“I had this itch to move back to the South,” she says. “But Jon was working at Newsweek, so it wasn’t in the cards right away.” Summers in Sewanee proved to be a happy compromise. They later bought a handsome Georgian Revival home on campus. The five-bedroom brick stunner was built in the early 1930s and once belonged to the headmaster at the old Sewanee Military Academy. “We’ve now had the house for 16 years and love to pack it full of our friends and family,” she says. “This is really the home where our children have grown up. In addition to summers, we spent every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break of our kids’ young lives here.”

The family of five relocated to Nashville nearly a decade ago, but they continue to spend most holidays in the mountains. Here, Keith opens her home to share a few time-tested entertaining tips, ideas for freshening up your Thanksgiving table, and some of the Meacham family’s most treasured Turkey Day traditions—from their premeal oysters and Champagne to after-dinner hikes.

FORAGED FLORALS

“I’m lucky my mother and sister love to cook, because I prefer to set a pretty table,” says Keith, pictured above right with her sister, May (at left). “It’s a good division of labor.” And although she likes to purchase most of the blooms for her arrangements before leaving the city—she favors Import Flowers Nashville— Keith looks to the land that surrounds the home for seasonal inspiration. “When I make it to Sewanee, I’ll go out and cut branches and other greenery from around the mountain, so there’s some reflection of place,” she explains.

TABLE MATTERS

Using a mix of Spode Woodland dinner plates as the anchor, Keith turned to the stockroom at Reed Smythe & Company to complete the display. Handblown water goblets in deep amethyst add a punch of color but play well with the plates’ subdued earth tones. Focusing on natural materials and organic lines, she added North Carolina-made Stick Candles and bronze place card holders in the shape of walnuts. “I think there’s something sweet about making a get-together formal with place cards when it’s just your family,” she says. Having a round dining table (which is a signature design move for Keith) fosters easy conversation with all the guests.

THE DISH ON DINNERWARE

“I love collecting porcelain. Sometimes I’ll see a set of china at an antiques shop, snatch it up, and organize the table around that,” Keith says. At this time of year, she tends to keep things classic, opting for her Spode Woodland pattern. But she still leans into the less expected pieces. “I have the dogs, the rabbits, and the deer,” she says. “I like to go with unusual animals at Thanksgiving—not just the turkeys.”