There are plenty of options for children of all ages in Nashville, ranging from educational activities such as a visit to the Adventure Science Center or Nashville Zoo, to the pure adrenalin fun of Laser Quest. Nashville has a number of different outdoor spaces, such as the Riverside Park and Centennial Park, which are great places to visit with children.
Adventure Science Center
The Adventure Science Center, situated on Fort Negley Boulevard, is a great place for children. The centre’s theme is education through interactive learning and thought provoking displays. The Adventure Tower is the most memorable part of the museum, with good views over Nashville from the top of its 75-foot peak. The tower contains a huge beating heart that children can crawl through, as well as an enormous globe at the top.
Phone: +1 615 862-5160; website: www.adventuresci.com
Laser Quest
Located in downtown Nashville, Laser Quest is another of those children’s activities that adults often get as much enjoyment from. Laser quest is like a game of hide and seek, with high tech lasers to count your score as you ‘shoot’ your opponents. Chasing around this dark indoor obstacle maze is great fun and the centre can make special arrangements for children’s parties or large groups, however you can just as easily compete as an individual or small team. Phone: +1 615 256 2560; website: www.laserquest.com
Nashville Zoo
The Nashville Zoo at Grassmere is a good day out for adults and children alike. The zoo is an impressive modern facility with a wide range of animal species from across the globe, as well as a large petting area and some interesting shows. The animals here include the ever-popular African elephants, tigers, cheetahs, and some unusual ones such as the red panda. The Zoo has a café and gift shop, as well as snack and ice cream kiosks. The zoo is open all year round, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.
Phone: +1 615 833 1534; website: www.nashvillezoo.org
Nashville has a good cultural scene with an impressive number of museums and arts and cultural based activities. The Tennessee Performing Arts Center showcases a range of ballet, opera, classical music and theatre performances. The city is also home to an abundance of top-class art galleries and some historic buildings.
Aaron Douglas Gallery at Fisk University
The Aaron Douglas Art Gallery, on the third floor of the Fisk University library, has a superb collection of African American art. Fisk is one of the country’s oldest universities founded for African Americans and the gallery has an array of paintings, watercolours and sculptures with frequently changing exhibitions of their permanent collection. Some of the most notable works are by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Aaron Douglas, Malvin Gray Johnson and James Wells. The university also house The Carl Van Vechten Gallery, which contains a mixture of modern American and European art. Phone: +1 615 329 8720
Nashville War Memorial Auditorium
This is another of Nashville’s venues, hosting an interesting range of concerts, theatrical productions and other forms of free expression in its 1,900-seat auditorium. Outside is a statue of a warrior, standing high above the steps and there is also a memorial wall made of black marble to remember the many Vietnam War veterans who were killed in battle. The memorial plaza is a beautiful place where people gather in peaceful surroundings. Tickets for performances here can be purchased from TPAC’s box office, located across the road.
Parthenon
The idea of a full-size replica of the ancient Parthenon in Greece might sound a little tacky, but this replica houses the city’s art museum and has a history of dating back more than one hundred years. The Nashville’s Parthenon is anything but tacky and is well worth a visit. It was originally built for Tennessee’s Centennial celebrations in 1897, as a monument to what is thought of by many as the premier example of classical architecture. As in ancient Greece, the 42-foot Athena statue is the focal point here and there are also four art galleries mainly consisting of 19th and 20th century American artists.
Phone: +1 615 862 8431; website: www.parthenon.org
Ryman Auditorium
Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium opened in 1892 and has become the city’s premier concert venue, renowned for its superb acoustics. In the early years, the auditorium showcased the talents of Charlie Chaplin and Enrico Caruso, although more recently has seen Sheryl Crow, Patsy Cline and James Brown delight the fans. Today they have a wide range of country music, pop music and other cultural events in the evenings. During the daytime there are some interesting displays detailing the history of the venue.
Phone: +1 615 254 1445; website: www.ryman.com
Tennessee Performing Arts Center
The Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) is situated in downtown Nashville at 505 Deaderick Street and is the venue for performances by the Nashville Opera, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. There are four different auditoriums here, ranging from the Andrew Jackson Hall with a 2,472 capacity to the cosy Andrew Johnson Theatre with a capacity of just 256. The organisations that perform here are independent of the centre, but provide an interesting programme of events for the community, including big Broadway shows and smaller local events.
Phone: +1 615 782 4000; website: www.tpac.org
Tennessee State Museum
The Tennessee State Museum is a good place to learn about the history of the state with over 6,000 artefacts dating back to the Native American villages through the civil war and into modern day Tennessee, including a hat worn by Andrew Jackson. There is a section dedicated to the state’s military history from the Spanish American War to WWII. Phone: +1 615 253 0100
Eating in Nashville has changed a lot in the last 10 or 15 years; an influx of ethnic groups has helped to really diversify the restaurant scene in the city, with a good range of options alongside the traditional Tennessee favourites. The city’s restaurants generally have a relaxed and easy going feel.
Tennessee is famous for traditional southern fried chicken and there are plenty of places in Nashville to sample this old classic. Another simple, yet delicious local speciality is Tennessee meat loaf, made with minced beef and a tangy flavour. There are also a number of more unusual examples of Tennessee cuisine that can be sampled in Nashville, such as sweet potato pudding with Tennessee whisky sauce, made with Jack Daniels.
Much of Tennessee’s traditional food is made with plenty of butter, oil, and sugar, so it may not appeal to health conscious people, but most will find it filling and delicious nonetheless. Vegetable dishes get the Tennessee treatment too, with slow cooked green beans made with ham and delicious eaten with corn bread, and caramelised yams another favourite. Two of the most well known places for southern specialties are Hog Heaven and Swett’s Restaurant, which has been serving customers here for over 50 years.
Mad Platter in downtown Nashville is a local favourite with a blend of traditional and modern food made with locally produced ingredients, a rack of lamb is especially popular here. In the evening, the jazz music creates a great atmosphere, but it is also has a busy lunchtime crowd during the week.
There is a good range of restaurants in Nashville and other popular places include Mediterranean specialities at Zola, as well as a number of Italian, Indian, Seafood, and Asian influenced options.
For breakfast, Pancake Pantry is one of the most popular places around. They have a vast range of pancakes here, traditional ones and other types such as sweet potato pancakes. It is also said to be popular with a few well-known locals from the country music scene. It’s located in Hillsboro Village, and anyone will be able to point you in the right direction.
Nashville is a good shopping city offering many souvenir shops (with a strong focus on Country and Western memorabilia), antique stores and a number of other shopping options. Downtown Nashville is one of the most popular shopping areas, but there are plenty of other choices around town, including a selection of shopping malls.
Opry Mills is one of the biggest and most popular malls, situated about seven miles northeast of downtown Nashville. They have a huge range of well-known American brands, such as GAP, Banana Republic and Barnes and Noble, as well as plenty of eating options among its 200 stores.
Country music fans should head for Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop in downtown Nashville; a traditional old-fashioned record shop with a history of close to 60 years. They stock CDs and tapes as well as vinyl and have extremely knowledgeable staff. There is a small display of memorabilia at the back of the store. The downtown area has dozens of souvenir shops selling the usual range of brash souvenirs as well as some nice mementoes of your visit and you will even find a clothes shop selling nothing but western-wear.
The Cumberland River provides Nashville with some of its best green spaces which are popular places to visit for people having picnics, or for enjoying the summer entertainment. For the more energetic tourists, the city has some good mountain biking trails.
Biking
The Nashville area has three good bike trails suitable for keen mountain bikers, or those looking for a more leisurely cycle ride. Hamilton Creek Trails have just over nine miles of trails for both novice and advanced cyclists; the east trail winds through cedar woods and there are some tricky turns to challenge the more experienced mountain biker. The other trails are Lock 4 Trails and Bowie Nature trails in Fairview.
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art
The Cheek Family donated this elegant mansion and its surrounding acreage to the City of Nashville in the 1950s and today it serves as a botanical garden and art museum. There are thirty acres of gardens with a mixture of annual perennial flora as well as seasonal wildflowers in its various different gardens. There is also a Woodland Sculpture Trail and an art gallery displaying both local and national artists. The onsite gift shop and restaurant on site make it a good place to spend an afternoon.
Phone: +1 615 356 8000; website: www.cheekwood.org
Riverfront Park
The Cumberland River has always been of great importance to the city of Nashville and today the green banks of the river provide great recreation opportunities. The grassy banks are often busy with families on picnics as well as acting as a venue for concerts in the summer. Many people simply enjoy the natural beauty of the river and the barges travelling up and down. There are also a number of companies that run riverboat excursions, leaving from this here.
