Sights in Tennessee
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Sun Studio
It doesn't look like much from outside, but this dusty storefront is ground zero for American rock and roll music. Starting in the early 1950s, Sun's Sam Phillips recorded blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, BB King and Ike Turner, followed by the rockabilly dynasty of Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and, of course, the King himself (who started here in 1953). Today packed 40-minute guided tours through the tiny studio offer a chance to hear original tapes of historic recording sessions. Guides are witty and full of anecdotes; many are musicians themselves. Pose for photos in the old recording studio on the 'X' where Elvis once stood, or buy a CD of the 'Million…
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National Civil Rights Museum
Housed in the Lorraine Motel, where the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, is the gut-wrenching National Civil Rights Museum. Five blocks south of Beale St, this museum's extensive exhibits, detailed timeline and accompanying audioguide chronicle the ongoing struggles for African American freedom and equality in the US. Both Dr King's cultural contribution and his assassination serve as prisms for looking at the Civil Rights movement, its precursors and its indelible and continuing impact on American life. The turquoise exterior of the 1950s motel and two preserved interior rooms remain much as they were at the time of King's death, and…
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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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Graceland
If you only make one stop in Memphis, it ought to be here: the sublimely kitschy, gloriously bizarre home of the King of Rock and Roll.
Though born in Mississippi, Elvis Presley was a true son of Memphis, raised in the Lauderdale Courts public housing projects, inspired by the blues in the Beale St clubs, and discovered at Sun Studio on Union Ave. In the spring of 1957, the already-famous 22-year-old spent $100,000 on a Colonial-style mansion, named Graceland by its previous owners. Priscilla Presley (who divorced Elvis in 1973) opened Graceland to tours in 1982, and now millions come here to pay homage to the King and gawk at the infamous decor. The King himself had the…
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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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Pink Palace Museum & Planetarium
The 1923 building was built as a residence for Piggly Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders and opened in 1996 as a natural- and cultural-history museum. It mixes fossils, Civil War exhibits and a replica of the original 1916 Piggly Wiggly, the world's first self-service grocery store.
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Memphis Zoo
At the park's northwestern corner, this world-class zoo hosts two giant panda stars, Ya Ya and Le Le, in a $16-million exhibit on native Chinese wildlife and habitat. Other residents include the full gamut of monkeys, polar bears, penguins, eagles, sea lions and so on. Imagine an animal, the zoo probably has it.
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Tennessee Aquarium
That glass pyramid looming over the riverside bluffs is the world's largest freshwater aquarium. Climb aboard the aquarium's high-speed catamaran for two-hour excursions through the Tennessee River Gorge (adult/child $29/22). While here, check out a show at the attached IMAX theater.
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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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Brooks Museum of Art
At the park's western fringe, this well-regarded art museum has an excellent permanent collection encompassing everything from Renaissance sculpture to Impressionists (eg Renoir) to abstract expressionists (eg Robert Motherwell).
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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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Woodruff-Fontaine House
The grand 1870 Woodruff-Fontaine House, which carefully preserves Victorian clothing and furnishings.
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Cades Cove
A cove, in Appalachian parlance, means a valley, but Cades Cove is far more than that. Many consider this special place to be a national treasure, thanks to its poignant cultural legacy, telling pioneer architecture and plentiful wildlife. And then there's the landscape itself, lush green fields enveloped by an unbroken expanse of mountains. It's no wonder so many families return year after year.
The first settlers - most of English, Scotch-Irish and Welsh stock - arrived in the 1820s. By 1850 the valley's population had swelled to its peak of 70 households and 451 residents. Today, thanks to the excellent preservation efforts of the NPS, you can still get a vivid sense…
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Sugarlands Visitor Center
This excellent visitor center features exhibits, a large bookstore, a free 20-minute film and a well-staffed information desk. During the summer, visitors are welcomed with frequent presentations by rangers, and ranger-led walks to nearby Cataract Falls leave from the patio area four times daily.
The exhibits provide an informative introduction to the incredible biodiversity of life that abounds in the park, with mounted specimens of the plants and animals you may encounter. Outside the center is a strange, cordoned-off piece of concrete called the 'First Amendment Expression Area'; it's often peopled by folks with strong opinions about park issues such as the future of…
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Mountain Farm Museum
Adjacent to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, this excellent collection of historic buildings evokes life on a typical farmstead of the late 19th century. Together these structures paint a poignant picture of the mountain people who once eked out their sustenance from this rugged and isolated wilderness. The well-tended garden and old-strain cornfields are beautiful to behold any time of year.
The buildings include a meat house, where a mountain farm's most valuable commodity was butchered, dried and smoked. Other structures are dedicated to chickens, apples, corn, water and blacksmithing. A terrific time to visit is in mid-September for the Mountain Life Festival.
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Stax Museum of American Soul Music
Wanna get funky? Head directly to Soulsville USA, where this 17,000-sq-ft museum sits on the site of the old Stax recording studio. This venerable spot was soul music's epicenter in the 1960s, when Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs and Wilson Pickett recorded here. Dive into soul-music history with photos, displays of '60s and '70s peacock clothing and, above all, Isaac Hayes' 1972 Superfly Cadillac outfitted with shag-fur carpeting and 24-carat-gold exterior trim.
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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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Full Gospel Tabernacle Church
If you're in town on a Sunday, put on your least-wrinkled pants and head to services at South Memphis, where soul music legend turned reverend Al Green presides over a powerful choir. Visitors are welcome, and usually take up about half the pews. Join in the whooping 'hallelujahs,' but don't forget the tithe (about $1 is fine). Green is not around every single weekend, but the services are a fascinating cultural experience nonetheless.
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Mud Island River Park
A monorail ($4, or free with museum admission) and elevated walkway cross the Wolf River Lagoon to Mud Island River Park. Jog, rent bikes, or wade in the park's awesome scale model of the Mississippi, which empties into a 1.3-million-gallon 'Gulf of Mexico' where visitors tool around in pedal boats.
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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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Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum/Burkle Estate
Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum/Burkle Estate, in an unimposing clapboard house, is thought to have been a way station for runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad, complete with trapdoors and tunnels.
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Gibson Beale Street Showcase
Take the fascinating 45-minute tour of this enormous place to see master craftspeople transform solid blocks of wood into legendary Gibson guitars. Tours leave on the hour.
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