Nashville: Recreation
Sightseeing
A roster full of sports, the unspoiled countryside, and an endless choice of attractions have made Nashville one of the most popular vacation spots in the nation. Foremost among the city's historical attractions is The Hermitage, home of the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson. The beautiful 1821 plantation house sits nestled in rolling farmland on the eastern edge of the city. The mansion has been a national shrine since the years shortly following Jackson's death there in 1845. Its vintage rooms display original pieces such as the Jackson family's furniture, china, paintings, clothes, letters, books, and wallpaper. Also on the grounds are the president's official carriage, his wife's flower garden, and both of their tombs.
Beautiful Belle Meade Plantation on the west side of the city is also open to the public. The restored antebellum farm has been called "Queen of the Tennessee Plantations." The mansion itself, built in 1853, displays period furniture and decor, while the mammoth stables on the grounds provide a glimpse of one of the most famous thoroughbred horse farms of that time.
Perched on a hill in the center of the downtown area is the Tennessee State Capitol Building, a renowned architectural monument constructed in 1859. Also open for tours is Belmont Mansion, an 1850s Italianate villa on the Belmont University campus, recognized as one of the most elaborate and unusual houses in the South. Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art is a horticulturalist's delight. The sprawling complex, nestled in Nashville's prime residential area, showcases 55 acres of lush gardens, including a color garden, water garden, seasons garden, and the woodland sculpture trail. The huge Georgian mansion houses a permanent display of 20th-century American art and American and English decorative arts.
More than 10,000 acres of land in 99 parks and greenways are operated by the Metro Board of Parks and Recreation, including Centennial Park, famous for its full-size replica of the ancient Greek temple to the goddess Athena, the Parthenon. Sitting in the midst of the busy central city near Vanderbilt University, the Parthenon was originally built as part of Tennessee's Centennial Exposition of 1897, but it has remained one of the most popular places in town for a century. The city maintains impressive gardens around the structure, which houses rotating art exhibits in a permanent gallery. Just down the street in the heart of the historical district is Riverfront Park, home to historic Fort Nash-borough. Here the public can stroll along the banks of the Cumberland River or listen to concerts under the stars. The Tennessee Fox Trot Carousel by artist Red Grooms is housed in Riverfront Park. The 36 "horses" are actually characters depicting the state's history and culture.
The Nashville Zoo features exotic animals from around the world, including a 300-pound anaconda, in a themed setting plus educational programs. Cumberland Science Museum underwent a $2.7 million renovation and emerged as Adventure Science Center in 2002. The center offers unique health and science programs, hands-on exhibitions, live animal shows, and the Sudekum Planetarium. The Nashville Toy Museum presents a priceless display of more than 1,000 antique toys, including an entire room of rare toy trains from the U.S. and Europe.
The Grand Ole Opry, America's oldest and most cherished live country music show, is one of the most popular attractions in the city. Fans from all over the world pack the 4,400-seat Opry House each weekend to see top stars of traditional and country music. Begun in 1925 as the WSM Barn Dance, the Opry is still broadcast over WSM Radio to points all along the Eastern seaboard, providing audiences with a rare behind-the-scenes look at a tradition that literally launched popular country music. The Opry House, built in 1974 at a cost of $22 million, is said to be one of the most acoustically perfect auditoriums in the country; another is the famed Ryman Auditorium, home of the Opry from 1943-1974, recently renovated and now used as a performance venue for concerts and plays. The Opryland complex also includes the impressive Gaylord Opryland hotel, Opry Mills shopping and entertainment complex.
Arts and Culture
Taking center stage in the area of performing arts, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra has a reputation as one of the leading city orchestras in the Southeast. Since 1980, the symphony has regularly performed on the stage of the Tennessee
In the area of visual arts, Nashville is a city-wide gallery of creativity. Cheekwood is the area's foremost cultural arts center and its most physically impressive gallery as well. Part of a 55-acre complex that once formed the estate of prominent Nashville businessman Leslie Cheek, the fine arts center is housed in a magnificent 60-room Georgian mansion that sits high atop a hill overlooking most of West Nashville. The Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University houses more than 100 pieces from the collection of Alfred Stieglitz. Donated to Fisk in 1949 by Stieglitz's widow, noted artist Georgia O'Keeffe, the collection includes works by Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and O'Keeffe. The seat of Tennessee's government overlooks a plaza of government office buildings that house parts of the State Museum, a collection of more than 2,000 historical objects from the city's past. The museum includes 15,000 square feet of artifacts from the period in Tennessee history between 1840 and 1865. As it did in mid-nineteenth-century life, the Civil War dominates the collection: battle flags, pistols, and portraits of the war's most colorful personalities are displayed alongside period silver, sewing handiwork, furniture, and photographs. A vast collection of permanent and traveling exhibits is on display at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts downtown, which opened in 2000 with an exhibit on loan from Ontario, featuring works by Rubens, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Sargent, and others.
In downtown Nashville, the heart of the country music business beats on a single square mile of city streets known to the world as Music Row. A hodgepodge of contemporary office buildings and renovated houses, Music Row houses complexes belonging to all the major record labels and many individual recording artists. The top attraction on Music Row is the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, a quaint building resembling a chapel, which anchors the neighborhood to the surrounding business community. This is the most visited museum in the South, and it houses one of the country's finest collections of country music artifacts and memorabilia. The Hall of Fame moved from its home on Music Row to a new state-of-the-art downtown facility in 2001. Admission includes a visit to RCA Studio B, the oldest surviving recording studio in Nashville, where Elvis Presley, Dollie Parton, Charlie Pride and other music greats recorded their hits.
Visitor Information: Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, 211 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN 37201; telephone (615)259-4700
Festivals and Holidays
Nashville's musical heritage is the focus of many of the city's festivals, including Tin Pan South and Gospel Week, both in April; Nashville River Stages in May; and Fan Fair, held in June. Dancing is added to the mix during Dancin' in the District, a huge street party held on Thursdays throughout the summer. The three-day Fest de Ville Nashville premiered in September 2000; this three-day outdoor festival on the streets of downtown Nashville features 60 hours of the best of the commercial and non-commercial music and entertainment made and performed in Nashville.
The winter holidays are celebrated in a series of events taking place throughout November and December. Highlights are A Country Christmas at the Opryland Hotel, and Victorian Celebrations at Belle Meade Plantation. Other events include decorated antebellum homes and the Christmas Sampler Craft, Folk Art and Antique Fair, which features 200 craftspersons and artisans from 28 states.
Sports for the Spectator
The Tennessee Titans play football at The Coliseum, a 67,000-seat, open-air, natural-grass venue. The Gaylord Entertainment Center is home to the National Hockey League Predators, the Nashville Kats arena football team, and the new Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
Each spring and summer, crowds turn out in record numbers at Herschel Greer Stadium to cheer on the Nashville Sounds, the local Triple A minor league baseball club that is the farm team for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In college action, fall brings Southeastern Conference football with the Commodores of Vanderbilt University. The university also boasts outstanding basketball and tennis teams. Across town, Tennessee State University's Tigers have consistently been a power-house in football. The school is also famous for its internationally recognized track team, the Tiger Belles, which has produced Olympic runners like Wilma Rudolph.
On weekends, NASCAR stock-car racing takes off at the Nashville Speedway, where top drivers compete in the weekly Winston Racing series. Special events are also held throughout the year at the speedway. Each May, Percy Warner Park is the site for what Nashville sports writers call the city's "Rite of Spring," the Iroquois Memorial Steeple-chase, 2- to 3-mile amateur races that pit the area's top riders and ponies in a benefit run for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. And the Electrolux Ladies Professional Golfer's Association Golf Tournament in May at Hermitage Golf Course is just one of the special events that bring top U.S. golfers to Nashville.
Sports for the Participant
Two major lakes flank the city of Nashville, Old Hickory to the north and Percy Priest to the east. They offer miles of peaceful, accessible shoreline to the entire Middle Tennessee region. Just a short drive from downtown, these man-made wonders are favorite weekend spots for local outdoor enthusiasts. A series of public docks houses nearly every kind of freshwater craft and campgrounds are plentiful. The 385-acre Nashville Shores, with more than 2,500 feet of white sandy beach and three miles of lakefront, is Nash-ville's largest water playground. Here families can enjoy waterslides, a waterfall, pools, a pond, a young children's play area, parasailing, jet skiing, and banana boat rides.
Nashville is an angler's dream and fishing enthusiasts seek out the crystal-clear reservoirs that lie beneath Nashville area dams. Although most popular in the spring and summer, fishing is excellent year-round. The Harpeth River, which meanders through the western part of Davidson County, provides a peaceful look at the quiet countryside for canoers, while a little further west the Buffalo River, one of the few designated "wild" rivers in the nation, provides the challenge of white water.
Nashville has more than 10,000 acres of city, state, and federal parks in or near its borders, providing a full range of activities for people of all ages. The Metro Board of Parks and Recreation operates 99 parks and greenways that include 85 ball fields, 16 indoor and outdoor swimming pools, 7 golf courses, and 26 community centers. Percy and Edwin Warner Parks provide 2,665 acres of woods and meadows that dominate the southwestern side of Nashville.
Shopping and Dining
Shopping opportunities in Nashville include unique choices that reflect the local attractions. For instance, shoppers seeking musical recordings might visit the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, where radio's "Midnight Jamboree" is broadcast live on Saturday nights. Cowboy boots and western clothing are featured in several Nashville-area establishments, such as Robert's Western World, by day a shop and by night a musical free-for-all. On the banks of the Cumberland River, The District is a trendy shopping scene housed in Victorian-era buildings. Shoppers interested in collectibles frequent the city's many antiques malls, or attend the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Flea Market, a monthly gathering of hundreds of traders considered among the top 10 flea markets in the country. CoolSprings Galleria, one of the city's largest shopping centers, also houses a variety of eating establishments; other area malls include Hickory Hollow, Rivergate, and Bellevue Center, home to the Tennessee Museum Store. Exclusive shops are found at the Mall of Green Hills. More than 28 stores can be found at Factory Stores of America, across from the Opryland Hotel. Alongside the Opry House is the 1.2-million-square-foot Opry Mills. This shopping/dining/entertainment complex features top designers and manufacturers, theme restaurants such as Rainforest Café and Jillian's, and entertainment venues including an IMAX theater and the Gibson Bluegrass Showcase.
Nashville restaurants offer diners a wide range of cuisines, including continental, oriental, Mexican, French, Italian, and German menus, as well as traditional choices of steaks and seafood. Regional specialties (and often music) are showcased at several Nashville-area establishments that feature entrees such as fried chicken, catfish, barbecue, and country ham; side dishes such as okra, turnip greens, black-eyed peas, yams, cornbread, beans and rice, and biscuits; and desserts such as chess pie, fudge pie, and fruit cobblers.
Visitor Information: Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, 211 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN 37201; telephone (615)259-4700. The Visitor's Center, main entrance of the Gaylord Entertainment Center, corner of Fifth and Broadway; telephone (615)259-4747.