Sights in Nashville
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Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
'Honor Thy Music' is the catchphrase of this monumental museum, reflecting the near-biblical importance of country music to Nashville's soul. See case upon case of artifacts including Patsy Cline's cocktail gown, Johnny Cash's guitar, Elvis' gold Cadillac and Conway Twitty's yearbook picture (back when he was Harold Jenkins). There are written exhibits tracing country's roots, computer touch screens to allow access to recordings and photos from the Country Music Foundation's enormous archives and walk-in listening booths. The fact- and music-filled audio tour is narrated by contempor-ary country musicians. From here you can also take the Studio B Tour, which shuttles you…
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Hermitage
The former home of seventh president Andrew Jackson lies 15 miles east of downtown. The 1000-acre plantation is a peek into what life was like for a Mid-South gentleman farmer in the 19th century. Tour the Federal-style brick mansion, now a furnished house museum with costumed interpreters, and see Jackson's original 1804 log cabin and the old slave quarters (Jackson was a lifelong supporter of slavery, at times owning up to 150 slaves; a special exhibit tells their stories). The arcadian gardens and grounds are lovely to wander, though somewhat marred by the highway passing nearby.
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The District
The historic 2nd Ave N business area was the center of the cotton trade in the 1870s and 1880s, when most of the Victorian warehouses were built; note the cast iron and masonry façades. Today it's the heart of The District, with shops, restaurants, underground saloons and nightclubs.
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Parthenon
Yes, that is indeed a reproduction Athenian parthenon sitting in Centennial Park. Originally built in 1897 for Tennessee's Centennial Exposition and rebuilt in 1930 due to popular demand, the full-scale plaster copy of the 438-BC original now houses an art museum with a collection of American paintings and a 42ft statue of the Greek goddess Athena.
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D
State Capitol
At the northeast edge of downtown, the 1845 Greek Revival state capitol, between 6th and 7th Sts, was built from local limestone and marble by slaves and prison inmates working alongside European artisans.
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Willie Nelson Museum
The Willie Nelson Museum, which might as well be called the Everything-But-Willie-Nelson's-Used-Toothbrush Museum.
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Belle Meade Plantation
The Harding-Jackson family began raising thoroughbreds here (6 miles west of Nashville) in the early 1800s. Every horse entered in the Kentucky Derby in the past five years is a descendant of Belle Meade's studly sire, Bonnie Scotland, who died in 1880. The 1853 mansion is open to visitors, as are various interesting outbuildings, including a model slave cabin.
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Tennessee State Museum
For history buffs, this engaging but not flashy museum offers a worthy look at the state's past, with Native American handicrafts, a life-size log cabin and quirky historical artifacts such as President Andrew Jackson's inaugural hat.
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Grand Ole Opry House
This unassuming modern brick building seats 4400 for the Grand Ole Opry on Friday and Saturday from March to November. Guided backstage tours are offered daily by reservation – book online up to two weeks ahead. Across the plaza, a small, free museum tells the story of the Opry with wax characters, colorful costumes and dioramas.
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Frist Center for the Visual Arts
Hosts traveling exhibitions of everything from American folk art to Picasso in the grand, refurbished post office building.
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Gibson Bluegrass Showcase
Through the glass you can see banjos, mandolins and resonator guitars being made.
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Tennessee State Capitol
At the northeast edge of downtown, this 1845 Greek Revival building was built from local limestone and marble by slaves and prison inmates working alongside Euro-pean artisans. Around back, steep stairs lead down to the Tennessee Bicentennial Mall, whose outdoor walls are covered with historical facts about Tennessee's history, and the wonderful daily Farmers Market.
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Ryman Auditorium
The so-called 'Mother Church of Country Music' has hosted a laundry list of 20th-century performers, from Martha Graham to Elvis to Katherine Hepburn to Bob Dylan. The soaring brick tabernacle was built in 1890 by wealthy riverboat captain Thomas Ryman to house religious revivals, and watching a show from one of its 2000 seats can still be described as a spiritual experience. The Grand Ole Opry took place here for 31 years, until it moved out to the Opryland complex in Music Valley in 1974. Today the Opry returns to the Ryman during winter.
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Music Row
Just west of downtown, a stretch of 16th and 17th Aves are home to the production companies, agents, managers and promoters who run Nashville's country-music industry. There's not much to see, but you can pay to cut your own record at some of the smaller studios . 'World's Greatest Love Songs on the Kazoo,' anyone?
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Music City Wax Museum
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