What to See in Nashville - Top Sights and Attractions

Full-size replica of a Greek landmark. The Parthenon in Centennial Park, in Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was designed by architect William Crawford Smith and built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

Today the Parthenon, which functions as an art museum, stands as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, a large public park just west of downtown Nashville. Alan LeQuire's 1990 re-creation of the Athena Parthenos statue in the naos (the east room of the main hall) is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. Since the building is complete and its decorations were polychromed (painted in colors) as close to the presumed original as possible, this replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture. The plaster replicas of the Parthenon Marbles found in the Treasury Room (the west room of the main hall) are direct casts of the original sculptures which adorned the pediments of the Athenian Parthenon, dating back to 438 BC. The surviving originals are housed in the British Museum in London and at the Acropolis Museum in Athens.^[3]

The Metro Nashville Skatepark is a public concrete skatepark located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It occupies approximately 22,000 square feet in Two Rivers Park adjacent to Nashville's public wave pool, Wave Country. The park is open year-round from dawn until 11 pm, and allows skateboards, in-line skates, and BMX bikes.

The skatepark consists of three different areas of skate terrain that range in size from small street obstacles to a 10 foot (3 m) deep bowl (combi-pool) with pool coping known as the General Jackson in honor of the General Jackson riverboat. The mid-sized flow bowl is known as the Wabash Cannonbowl in honor of the popular Wabash Cannonball rollercoaster ride at Nashville's Opryland USA theme park, which closed in 1997. The street area at the park is known as the Angle Inn, which references the angular nature of most street skating obstacles, along with a historical nod to the Angle Inn attraction at Opryland USA.

The skatepark was constructed in 2004 by the Metro Nashville Parks Department at a cost of $500,000. Wally Hollyday of Wally Hollyday Skateparks was the construction manager and principal designer of the park. Mayor Bill Purcell presided over the skatepark's grand opening ceremony on July 1, 2004, along with numerous local skaters and BMXers.^[4]

Home of famed, long-running radio show. The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment, it is the longest-running radio broadcast in US history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, Americana, folk, and gospel music as well as comedic performances and skits. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and internet listeners.

In the 1930s, the show began hiring professionals and expanded to four hours. Broadcasting by then at 50,000 watts, WSM made the program a Saturday night musical tradition in nearly 30 states. In 1939, it debuted nationally on NBC Radio. The Opry moved to a permanent home, the Ryman Auditorium, in 1943. As it developed in importance, so did the city of Nashville, which became America's "country music capital." The Grand Ole Opry holds such significance in Nashville that it is included as a "home of" mention on the welcome signs seen by motorists at the Metro Nashville/Davidson County line.

Membership in the Opry remains one of country music's crowning achievements. Since 1974, the show has been broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry House east of downtown Nashville, with an annual three-month winter foray back to the Ryman from 1999–2020. In addition to the radio programs, performances have been sporadically televised over the years. The Opry's television partner is currently Circle, a digital multicast network which is partially-owned by Opry Entertainment, and broadcasts portions of the live Saturday night performance on an irregular basis.^[6]

Mansion in Belle Meade, Tennessee. Belle Meade Historic Site and Winery, located in Belle Meade, Tennessee, is a historic mansion that is now operated as an attraction, museum, winery, and onsite restaurant together with outbuildings on its 30 acres of property. In the late 19th century, the plantation encompassed roughly 5,400 acres with over a hundred slaves.

A Winery and Visitors' Center have been constructed on the property. Preserved original outbuildings, including the original Harding Cabin where Belle Meade began, a Dairy, a Gardener's House, a Carriage and Stable House built in 1892, one of the largest Smokehouses in Tennessee, and a Mausoleum may also be seen. Since the 1990s, the executive leadership of the site began an effort to reconcile the past and to tell the stories of African Americans who were brought to and born at Belle Meade and worked there before and after emancipation. By 2018, this emphasis resulted in developing two tours through which the story of Belle Meade is told. The Mansion Tour tells the century-long history of Belle Meade through the stories and experiences of the Harding and Jackson families, as well as the enslaved women, men, and children who were held in bondage here. The Journey to Jubilee Tour invites discussion and explores the stories of the enslaved African-Americans who were brought to, and born at Belle Meade from 1807 through the years following Emancipation.^[8]

Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Centennial Park is a large urban park located approximately two miles west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, across West End Avenue from the campus of Vanderbilt University. The 21st-century headquarters campus of the Hospital Corporation of America was developed adjacent to the park.

Cultivated as farmland by some of the earliest families in Nashville, the territory became controlled by the state and used as a park after the American Civil War. In the last decade, it was used as a racetrack. It was redeveloped as the site of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition in 1897. Afterward most of the temporary exhibit structures were removed, but the replica of the Parthenon remained. Centennial Park was opened in 1903. Due to the popularity of the Parthenon, it was rebuilt in the 1920s in steel and concrete. Under Jim Crow laws, African Americans were excluded from this public park and its swimming pool until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in 1964.^[9]

Robert's Western World is a honky tonk located in Nashville, Tennessee. It has hosted and continues to host many big name country artists. Some of the famous artists that have passed through Robert's Western World's doors are Big Ben Keith of Crosby, Stills, and Nash; Don Warden, Dolly Parton's manager; and many, many others, including: Billy Robinson, Lloyd Green, Smiley Roberts, Jack Boles, Ron Elliot, Curly Chalker, Don Helms, Andy Gibson and Chris Casello.

Robert's Western World continues to host local and up and coming country music talent. The band BR549 which gained local and national press from its four-hour nightly gig at Robert's Western World went on to open for country greats, George Strait, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Despite these accomplishments, the band never made it big with the mainstream country audience. However, BR549 released an album in 1996 titled "Live From Robert's" which was a compilation of original work as well as cover songs recorded in Robert's Western World.

On October 15, 2010, Robert's Western World hosted the "Bluegrass on Broadway" presented by C. F. Martin & Company, this kicked off the annual International Bluegrass Music Association in Nashville. This event showcases bluegrass music and its artists to the public.^[11]

Legislature building completed in 1859. The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It serves as the home of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly–the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate–and also contains the governor's office. Designed by architect William Strickland of Philadelphia and Nashville, it was built between 1845 and 1859 and is one of Nashville's most prominent examples of Greek Revival architecture. The building, one of 12 state capitols that does not have a dome, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. The tomb of James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, is on the capitol grounds.^[13]

Multi-purpose stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Nissan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Owned by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, it is primarily used for football and is the home field of the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League and the Tigers of Tennessee State University. The stadium is the site of the TransPerfect Music City Bowl, a postseason college football bowl game played each December, and from 2020 until 2021 the home field of Nashville SC of Major League Soccer. Nissan Stadium is used for concerts such as those affiliated with the CMA Music Festival each June. The stadium also has facilities to host public events, meetings, and parties.

Nissan Stadium is located on the east bank of the Cumberland River, across the river from downtown Nashville and has a seating capacity of 69,143. Its first regular-season game was a 36–35 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on September 12, 1999. Nissan Stadium has been known by Adelphia Coliseum (1999–2002), the Coliseum (2002–2006), and LP Field (2006–2015).

The stadium features three levels of seating. The lower bowl encompasses the field and the club and upper levels form the stadium's dual towers, rising above the lower bowl along each sideline. The stadium's luxury suites are located within the towers. Three levels of suites are located in the stadium's eastern tower, one between the lower and club levels, and two between the club and upper levels. The western tower has two levels of suites between the club and upper levels. The press box is located between the lower and club levels in the western tower. Nissan Stadium's dual video boards are behind the lower bowl in each end zone.

The playing surface of Nissan Stadium is Tifsport Bermuda Sod, a natural grass. The climate of Nashville and the wear of hosting a game nearly every weekend often requires the field to be resodded in the area between the hashes in November.

On Nissan Stadium's eastern side is the Titans Pro Shop, a retail store that sells team merchandise. It is open year-round and maintains an exterior entrance for use on non-event dates.^[21]

Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The current facility opened on October 4, 2018, at the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Jefferson Street at the foot of Capitol Hill by the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. The 137,000-square-foot building includes a Tennessee Time Tunnel chronicling the state's history by leading visitors though the museum's permanent collection, a hands-on children's gallery, six rotating galleries, a digital learning center, and a two-story Grand Hall. Exhibitions include significant artifacts related to the state's history, along with displays of art, furniture, textiles, and photographs produced by Tennesseans. The museum's Civil War holdings consists of uniforms, battle flags, and weapons. There is no admission charge for visitors.

Museum operations and policies are overseen by the Douglas Henry State Museum Commission, a group of citizens appointed to represent the public interest.^[24]

Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. RCA Studio B was a music recording studio built in 1956 in Nashville, Tennessee by RCA Victor. Originally known simply as "RCA Studios," Studio B, along with the larger and later RCA Studio A became known in the 1960s for being an essential factor to the development of the musical production style and sound engineering technique known as the Nashville Sound. In the two decades the studio was in operation, RCA Studio B produced 60 percent of the Billboard magazine's Country chart hits. The studio closed in 1977.

The studio is located centrally in the Nashville's historic Music Row district. Since 1992 the studio has been under the ownership of the Country Music Hall of Fame, which offers scheduled tours of the facilities.^[25]

The Nathan Bedford Forrest Statue was a 25 feet tall statue of Confederate States of America Lt. General and first-era Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest mounted on a horse in Nashville, Tennessee, located near Interstate 65 at 701D Hogan Road. The statue depicted Forrest shooting behind himself and was flanked by Confederate battle flags. Its abnormal facial features bore little resemblance to Forrest himself, and more resembled a screaming, deformed man.

Upon the death of its owner, the statue was donated to the Battle of Nashville Trust. It was removed on December 7, 2021. The trust cited its appearance, Forrest's irrelevance to the Battle of Nashville, and its impediment to the trust's mission in its decision, stating "even Forrest himself would think it was ugly."^[26]

Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. First Horizon Park, formerly known as First Tennessee Park, is a baseball park in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds of the International League, it opened on April 17, 2015, and can seat up to 10,000 people. It replaced the Sounds' former home, Herschel Greer Stadium, where the team played from its founding in 1978 until 2014.

The park was built on the site of the former Sulphur Dell, a minor league ballpark in use from 1885 to 1963. It is located between Third and Fifth Avenues on the east and west (home plate, the pitcher's mound, and second base are directly in line with Fourth Avenue to the stadium's north and south) and between Junior Gilliam Way and Harrison Street on the north and south. The Nashville skyline can be seen from the stadium to the south.

The design of the park incorporates elements of Nashville's baseball and musical heritage and the use of imagery inspired by Sulphur Dell, the city's former baseball players and teams, and country music. Its most distinctive feature is its guitar-shaped scoreboard—a successor to the original guitar scoreboard at Greer Stadium. The ballpark's wide concourse wraps entirely around the stadium and provides views of the field from every location.

Though primarily a venue for the Nashville Sounds, collegiate and high school baseball teams based in the area, such as the Vanderbilt Commodores and Belmont Bruins, have played some games at the ballpark. It is also home to the City of Hope Celebrity Softball Game. Nashville SC, a soccer team of the United Soccer League Championship, played its home matches at the facility from 2018 to 2019.^[30]

Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. Herschel Greer Stadium was a Minor League Baseball park in Nashville, Tennessee, on the grounds of Fort Negley, an American Civil War fortification, approximately two miles south of the city's downtown district. The facility closed at the end of the 2014 baseball season and remained deserted for over four years until its demolition in 2019. Following an archaeological survey, the land is expected to be reincorporated into Fort Negley Park.

Greer was opened in 1978 for the Nashville Sounds, an expansion franchise of the Double-A Southern League who moved to the Triple-A American Association in 1985 and to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1998. The stadium played host to the team until 2014. The subject of numerous upgrades and repairs to maintain its functionality, Greer became one of the oldest stadiums used by a Triple-A team and had fallen well below professional baseball's standards for a stadium at that class level by the end of its use. For over a decade, the Sounds attempted to secure agreements with the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County for a new ballpark to replace Greer, eventually resulting in the construction of First Tennessee Park, which became the Sounds' new home in 2015.

Amidst the Sounds' 37-season run, Greer simultaneously hosted two professional baseball clubs in 1993 and 1994, acting as a temporary home to a displaced Southern League franchise known during that period as the Nashville Xpress. The stadium also saw occasional use as a venue for college baseball, high school football, and charity softball events. It was the site of three minor league all-star games, eight no-hitters, including one perfect game, and a 24-inning game which tied the record for the longest game in Pacific Coast League history. The stadium was best recognized by its distinctive guitar-shaped scoreboard.^[33]

Mansion in Nashville, Tennessee. Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was built by Joseph and Adelicia Acklen to serve as the center of their 180-acre summer estate in what was then country outside the city, and featured elaborate gardens and a zoo. They lived much of the rest of the year on her plantations in Louisiana.

The estate was sold in the late 19th century and since 1890 has been used for educational functions. It was first used as a girls academy, then as the first building of what became Belmont College and now Belmont University. Today it is operated as a museum. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.^[34]

Stix is a public art installation or sculpture at Korean Veterans Boulevard and 8th Avenue in Nashville, Tennessee. It was designed by Christian Moeller, and erroneously reported to be an homage to the Native Americans who owned the land prior to European settlers. "Actually, that was not my original intent. The only reference to Native American art I made was showing an image of a beautiful totem pole at an early stage of the project development. I did this in order to give an example of how the colors I proposed to use would contrast with the grayish, silver patina that the wooden poles would develop over time," said Moeller. Its construction cost $750,000, making it the "most expensive" public art installation in Nashville. According to Nashville Public Radio, its cost and name turned it into "a magnet for skepticism" prior to its dedication in 2015. In March 2018, a car crashed into the installation.

The original design called for 35 poles standing 85 feet high and each pole tip was to be covered with a custom-made “LED lightcap” to emit a light glow at nighttime. The design was later revised to reduce the number to 27 poles at a height of 70 feet tall and to eliminate the lightcaps.^[35]