Nashville, Tennessee - Music City

We spent three nights in Nashville, an easy drive south from Mammoth Cave NP.  Our intent was to see the capital, a few other sites, and visit the historic Ryman Theatre (original home of the Grand Ole Opry).  Little did we know that when we made our travel plans, this is the week of the Country Music Association Festival - four days of concerts all over Nashville that bring in close to 90,000 wild country music fans.  They have a reputation for wearing cowboy hats, tattoos, and, for the women, short shorts and cowboy boots.

So, undeterred by the music fans, we made our way downtown to see the capitol building.  It was built in a Greek style and so there is no dome (a Roman influence).  Before it was known as Music City, Nashville had the reputation of the "Athens of the South" because of its many fine universities.  The capital building was built on the highest point in the city so it is easy to find and provides a good vantage point to see the city.

All the materials in the construction (limestone and granite) were from the state.  This is the original room where the state supreme court met (until they moved to a separate building).  This is the site of the famous Scopes Monkey trial (teaching evolution).  Our guide said the state legislature still struggles with finding an acceptable balance on this issue.

The senate and house chambers are still in use.

The room with the spiral staircase is the state law archives.

Our guide made some recommendations about food, our favorite aspect of any place we visit.  He said Nashville is famous for "hot chicken," which is spicy fried chicken.  He also recommended a BBQ place, where we promptly drove.  Jack's BBQ.  Yummy.  Good food and interesting artwork.

After lunch we visited Centennial Park, just west of downtown.  This is the home of the Nashville Parthenon, a full-sized replica.  This was originally built as part of the centennial of statehood and then reconstructed to be permanent.  The inspiration was the "Athens of the South" reputation.  The building has a 42 foot state of Athena covered with gold leaf.  There is an art museum in the basement.

 For those with good eyesight (or an attention to detail), you'll see that the sculptors use a strategically-placed horse leg to accommodate the delicate sensitivities of the genteel society of Nashville.  :)

Of course, one of the standout centers of higher learning in Nashville (or anywhere else for that matter) is Vanderbilt.  Its campus is just across the street from Centennial Park.  We drove around without any particular goal and were impressed by the combination of historic and new buildings.  We were also impressed by the size of the medical center.

That was day 1.  On day 2, Saturday, we drove downtown again.  We had tickets to a Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman Auditorium (originally a tabernacle), the original home of the GOO.  We drove in before lunch to try to avoid the music lovers flooding into town for CMA Fest.  We had a wonderful lunch at a spaghetti/steak house about one block from Broadway where all the music action was taking place.  We loved the food!

We had some time to kill so we threw caution to the wind and dived into the heart of CMA Fest.  Actually, the festival is very spread out.  There is a waterfront venue but also many stages on the streets of Nashville and Broadway is lined with honkytonks.  People everywhere and it was great!  Here are a few images to capture the excitement.

It was a hot, sunny day.  Great for listening to music!

Here we are outside the Ryman. We didn't take the tour, but I gather it was originally a church.  It has pews and stained glass windows!

We had quite a concert.  As the announcer said, there was a mixture of "legends," current stars and future stars.  The performers included Charlie Pride and Mel Tillis.  Those were the legions, I recon.  Also, there was the actor from the ABC show "Nashville."  There was also a former Miss Ohio (who now does a news show out of Atlanta) and a family of 12 kids (the Willis Clan).  Wonderful show!

For supper we found another "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives," place.  This was Prince's Hot Chicken, with an emphasis on the hot!  Matthew and Bill got mild sauce and it brought tears to our eyes!

Matthew's notes: When in Rome, do as the Romans!

• A really good place for spaghetti is Demo's.
• If you want fresh Bar-B-Q, Jack's is the place to go.
• The admission fee for the Parthenon is worth it.
• DO NOT GO DURING COUNTRY MUSIC WEEK UNLESS THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE GOING FOR!
• At Princes Hot Chicken Shack, Hot= Death   Medium= so spicy   Mild= spicy   Plain= pleasure