We are going to Nashville in a couple days and I think we have the nights and dinners pretty well set, but we need stuff to do, see, eat and shop for during the day. We aren’t big day drinkers, we need to have available energy for the nights. We have airBNB in East Nash but we are willing to explore all over.
I live some distance from Nashville, so I’ll let the residents do most of the talking, but two places I can recommend are the Nashville Zoo (nice, but lots of walking and it’ll be hot), and Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage Plantation and home.
Of course there is the Grand Old Opry, too, if you like country music.
We enjoyed the Johnny Cash Museum.
If you are into history, Andrew Jackson’s home, The Hermitage, is right in the East Nashville area just a few miles outside of town. I toured it and enjoyed it immensely, the grounds are gorgeous. I know he is a divisive figure, but there are many things about his personal life that are admirable when you take a deep dive into his life. For one, he truly adored his wife, Rachel, who was not a traditionally beautiful woman. In an era when most men didn’t care what their wives’ opinions were, he would ask her for advice, and he considered her pretty much his intellectual equal. He was fiercely protective of her honor and fought duels when she was insulted. They apparently had a real connection, and he was heart broken when she died suddenly during preparations to depart to Washington for his inaugural.
She was a frequent target for his political enemies who attacked her looks, her past, etc…and it gave her great distress that she might be a public liability for him. He almost did not take the Oath of Office because she died (right there at The Hermitage) and he felt his political enemies had killed her, just the same as if they had shot her. She was plump and likely had a heart condition and the stress of it all probably did kill her. This is why he hated gossip and why John C. Calhoun and his snippy little wife, Floride, irritated him so, Calhoun and his wife were both notorious gossips…and the whole Petticoat Affair was a thorn in his side thanks to them.
While he was president and for the rest of his life he hung her portrait at the foot of his bed so her face would be the last thing he saw each night and the first thing he saw each morning. How can you not love that?
I have read several biographies on Jackson, one of the best was American Lion by John Meachum. It was cool to see the place where some of the events unfolded, and both Andrew and Rachel are buried on the grounds in a lovely garden. There’s a little museum with some of their personal possessions on display.
Totally worth an afternoon.
If you’re into history, the Stones River battlefield is in Murfreesboro. Show troop and gun placements for the civil war battle.
My mother would take visitors on the Nash Trash tourbus. Apparently it’s really fun.
If you like art & gardens, Cheekwood should be pretty this time of year.
StG