Nashville Travel Guide
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Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

If you are a visitor to Nashville, chances are you are there because you are a country music fan. That being the case the best place to begin your visit is the not-to-be-missed Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the Downtown entertainment district. The main permanent exhibit, Sing Me Back Home, is a journey through the history of country Music, drawing on the museum's rich collection of historical costumes, memorabilia, instruments, photographs, manuscripts and other objects. Live performances, interactive exhibits, and lots of great music supplement these artefacts. Among the exhibits are Elvis Presley's gold-leaf covered Cadillac, Emmy Lou Harris' jewelled cowboy boots and Bob Dylan's autographed lyric sheets. Live music is played in the atrium and digital film presentations are offered in the theatre. Visitors can also watch museum archivists and restoration experts at work, and study a vast wall displaying chart-topping gold and platinum country records.

Ryman Auditorium

This National Historic Landmark in downtown Nashville is regarded as the founding home of country music, having been the performance venue for the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. The theatre was originally built in 1892 as a gospel tabernacle and served as an evangelical meeting hall. A stage was built for the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts and such great names as Sarah Bernhardt, Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley trod the boards here in their time. Today the Grand Ole Opry has moved on to a new theatre, but the Ryman Auditorium has been restored and is still a popular performance venue where concerts are held regularly. By day the theatre acts as a museum, which visually portrays the stories of its rich history with a series of displays and exhibits.

Grand Ole Opry

The home of the world-famous country music show, the Grand Ole Opry, is now in Opryland Drive in a vast 4,400 seat auditorium which is part of the Opryland resort complex north of Nashville's city centre. From here the world's longest running radio show is still broadcast on the Nashville station WSM (650 on the AM dial), featuring new stars, superstars and legends of country and bluegrass music performing live on stage. No visit to Nashville is complete without attending a show at the Grand Ole Opry, which has been going strong on the airwaves since 1925.

Belle Meade Plantation

One popular Nashville attraction that is not music related is the Belle Meade Plantation, known as 'the queen of Tennessee plantations', boasting an 1853 Greek Revival mansion that has been carefully restored to show its original elegance. The authentic Civil War bullet holes that riddle its columns are still visible. Among the outbuildings that survive on the 12-hectare (30-acre) site is one of the oldest houses in Tennessee, a log cabin built in 1790. There is also a carriage house, visitor centre, tearoom and gift shop. The Belle Meade estate was one of America's first and finest thoroughbred breeding farms. Tours of the antebellum furnished mansion and grounds are given by guides dressed in period costume.

Parthenon

The centrepiece of Nashville's Centennial Park is the world's only full-scale replica of the Parthenon temple in Athens, Greece, complete with a re-creation of the 42ft (13m) high statue of Athena that stood outside the temple in ancient Greece. The Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition, it's plaster decoration being direct casts of the Parthenon Marbles and original sculptures which adorned the pediments of the Greek Parthenon that was built in 438 BC. The building today serves as Nashville's art museum, with a permanent collection that highlights 19th and 20th century American artists. A variety of temporary shows and exhibitions are also presented.

Tennessee State Museum

The interesting Tennessee State Museum is one of the largest of its kind in the nation with a huge array of permanent exhibits telling the story of Tennessee, starting out 15,000 years ago in prehistoric times and culminating in the early 20th century. Prominent historic figures are highlighted, like former US President Andrew Jackson, Daniel Boone and legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett. Exhibits include displays of furniture, silverware, weapons, uniforms, battle flags, quilts and artworks from the civil war period. The museum also features reproductions of a 19th-century gristmill, and 18th-century print shop, a frontier cabin, antebellum parlour and a Victorian painting gallery.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

East of Nashville on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina lies the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, covering more than one and a half million acres; the largest national park in the eastern United States. The park is a designated International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site drawing millions of visitors every year to enjoy the panoramic views, tumbling mountain streams, uninterrupted forest and historic buildings it encompasses. The main route to the park is via Knoxville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, all worth a visit in their own right. Inside the park itself there are more than 270 miles (435km) of road through the ancient mountains, which are home to a variety of plant and animal life, many of the species unique and rare. The park offers numerous outdoor recreational pursuits and offers a glimpse into the lives of early southern Appalachian farming families, boasting 77 historic structures like log cabins, barns, churches and gristmills.

Chattanooga

The fourth largest city in Tennessee, Chattanooga in the south-east near the border with Georgia lies at the junction of four interstate highways, easily accessible and well worth a visit. The city has brought about a renaissance in recent years, redeveloping its riverfront and downtown area to offer an extensive greenway system and river walk that takes strollers through the historic art district and several beautiful parks. Main attractions in the city for tourists are the Tennessee Aquarium, Civil War battlefields, the African American Museum and a Creative Discovery Museum. The main destination for visitors though is Lookout Mountain, offering its historic Incline Railway, the steepest passenger railway in the world that offers panoramic views of the city and the Great Smoky Mountains 100 miles (161km) away. Lookout Mountain is also home to The Battles for Chattanooga Museum, Ruby Falls (a waterfall that plunges 145ft (44m) inside the mountain) and Rick City Gardens from where it is possible to view seven states on a clear day.

 
 
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