Two Rivers Campground was a great place to stay. It has easy access in and out from the highway, and is about a mile from Opryland. We had reservations for July 17th & 18th with full hook-ups (50amp). Sites were a generous size, and quite level.
The campground has live music every night from about 7-9! What an unexpected treat. Sunday night Tim Atwood played. We thoroughly enjoyed his music and personality. His son accompanied him for the evening on drums, and boy, could he sing! What a gorgeous voice!
It rained Sunday evening through mid-morning on Monday. Since we really only had one full day to “see” Nashville, we decided to the “Hop On/Hop Off Trolley Tour. Tickets were discounted in the campground office, so we bought two, and $3 roundtrip shuttle to get us downtown to the Trolley. Since the shuttle dropped us off right in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, we toured it first. I loved the musical architecture of the building!
I’ve elected to only include a handful of the more nostalgic pics from the museum.
I’m not familiar with Webb Pierce, but here is his exotic, over the top convertible – guns, leather, and horses says it all! Webb was a honky-tonk singer who enjoyed a flashy style. Nudie Cohn, a designer of outlandish western-wear, customized Pierce’s 1962 Pontiac Bonneville convertible with hand-tooled leather interior, a miniature saddle, interior and exterior chrome plated, ornamental guns and horses, and steer horns on the front bumper.
Originally, the upholstery was inlaid with more than 1,000 silver dollars, but Pierce later replaced most of them with alloy coins.
Elvis’s gold plated Cadillac
For Arlie (Barry’s Mom): Johnny Cash and “Folsom Prison Blues
We were enjoying the museum, but Barry realized we needed to move along faster if we were doing the Trolley Tour. Thank goodness we only selected the basic, self-guided museum tour and no add-ons!
A small sampling from the MUSIC CITY WALK OF FAME that was across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Hop On – Hop Off Trolley Tour was definitely worth doing. We boarded at Stop 3. Our guide, Tim, was awesome. Being a Nashville native, he really knew extra tidbits of info on the city that he shared along the way. We chose to stay on the trolley for the entire loop with him, as did many others, which seemed to surprise him.
Nashville’s Woolworth on 221 Rep. John Lewis Way N (221 5th Ave) is becoming Woolworth Theatre. The owner plans to continue to honor the 1960 Civil Rights sit-ins by having all inclusive live performances at the theatre.
“On February 27… when the police came, they arrested all the demonstrators. They didn’t arrest any of the patrons that perpetrated violence on the protesters. The protesters, one of them being future Congressman John Lewis, sat here and passively sat there while customers beat them, berated them, put cigarettes out on their skin, and a bunch of just brutal, brutal tactics that they sat there stoically, and just held their ground,” recounted Bravo. “And it was an incredibly brave demonstration of passive resistance… It was John Lewis’s first arrest for civil disobedience.”
Hamilton AND To Kill a Mockingbird!!
This musicians museum is for ALL music genres.
View of the Tennessee State Capitol Building from Bicentennial Mall Park. In the foreground is the Court of Three Stars. This Trolley stop had so much to take in that we came back immediately in an attempt to capture more of it. Time was not on our side, but we did our best.
Bicentennial Mall State Park was modeled after the Washington Mall in DC. This was a stop where more time was definitely needed. I was interested in checking out a lot of the features here up close, so as soon as we got to Stop 1, we boarded another Trolley to get back here. Unfortunately, the last trolley of the day was running fast so we only had 15 minutes to explore.
These 50 Greek-style columns hold 95 bells that represent each of the state’s 95 counties. The carillon plays a portion of the Tennessee Waltz each quarter hour. At the top of the hour, the bells play the entire song. I was hoping to hear this! These columns surround a large red, white and blue circle with three stars in it. The three stars represent the three distinct regions and the food, music, cultural and geographical differences of those areas. The divisions are the mountains of east Tennessee, the rolling hills of middle Tennessee and the delta of western Tennessee.
Along the outer walkway are these round disks that resemble manhole covers. There is one labeled for every county in Tennessee. Under each disk is a time capsule to be opened in 2096. The walkway of the 95 counties is organized in the three regions of Tennessee: East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. (This is also what the three red stars on the Tennessee state flag represent.)
World War II Memorial
The 1,400 foot long granite wall along the west side of the park is a walk through history featuring events that played an integral role in the heritage and culture of Tennessee. Tall decade towers are posted opposite the wall as it the timeline progresses from 1776-1996.
The wall is continuous until the Civil War breaks out. A physical separation was important to visually feel how the Civil War divided the state of Tennessee. It wasn’t uncommon to have family members fighting on each side. I can’t imagine the additional emotional trauma for the mothers.
We did not have time to get to the south end of park for a better look at The Rivers of Tennessee. These 31 fountains represent the state’s main lakes, rivers and tributaries next to a trough representing the Mississippi River. They light up at night.
The Parthenon in Centennial Park is the world’s only full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Greece. It was built as part of Nashville’s Centennial Celebration since Nashville was called “Athens of the South”. The icon was not meant to be permanent, but the people of Nashville did not want it torn down. It remained from 1897 till 1920, when the decision was made to rebuild out of “permanent” materials. For more details click here.
IF we had started the Trolley Tour earlier, we also would have gone back to stop 9 to check out the free Marathon Motor Works Museum where you can see 5 out of the 8 remaining Marathon cars right in the showroom, and Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery No.5. Next time. 🙂
The “Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour” was a great way to learn about Nashville and see more than you could manage on your own with limited time. Doing the full loop without “hopping off” took longer than I expected. If we do this in other cities, we will be ready to take the first trolley of the day! Ironically, some of the stops you anticipate to not be much are the ones that are the most intriguing.
Miscellaneous pictures of various buildings of Nashville taken from the trolley.
Roy Orbison, wrote “Pretty Woman” when his first wife left their Henderson home to go shopping by “walking down the street”. (Read more) It is no wonder that Roy lived many years as a recluse after losing Claudette in a motorcycle accident, and then 18 months later while touring he lost his two older sons in a house fire.
I find it interesting that our guide told us Roy’s wife still lives/works here, running the business. Roy’s second wife, Barbara Orbison ran a successful music business, “Still Working for the Man Music”, that she started after Roy’s death. When I went to the internet to learn more, I discovered that Barbara Orbison died from pancreatic cancer in 2011 on the anniversary of Roy’s death. At the time of her death she left all three Nashville institutions, Orbison Records, Barbara Orbison Productions and Still Working Music (shortened from original name) without a CEO.
Vanderbilt University of Nashville revamped its typical college financial assistance program in 2008. Implementing a bold, “out of the box” idea that has the university thriving! Other institutions of higher learning should take note! (Quoted sections below are taken directly from the Vanderbilt University Website regarding “Opportunity Vanderbilt“)
“In 2008, as the nation faced the Great Recession and many other universities reduced their commitment to financial aid, the Vanderbilt community came together to make a bold promise.”
“With the support of university leaders and generous donors, it promised to meet the financial needs of every undergraduate who attends Vanderbilt. There would be no loans and no income cutoffs. It would operate a need-blind admission process, accepting students based on their merit, not their family’s ability to pay.”
Additional pictures taken from the Trolley Tour.
Various city murals.
We walked to Martin’s BBQ. What a cool place. Our morning shuttle driver told us about this place. Glad we went!
Then we checked out the upstairs. Wow!
Very eclectic, and at least right now, much quieter than downstairs.
Wanting to get the most of our full day we walked down to the HonkyTonk section of Broadway.
We went into a couple places, but we really wanted a rooftop bar and music with a view. We tried two different ones, but were denied access at the first one because we had a backpack, and denied at the second one because I had our leftover ribs in my bag. I should NOT have lifted my jacket from the top of the bag because I don’t think he was even going to look. He assumed I had a shopping bag.
I happened to remember that Les Richardson who is Nancy and Jimmy Richardson’s son, plays in a group that plays a lot in Nashville. I wonder if he is playing down here somewhere? I texted Jimmy. Les was playing, but out at Opryland! He would be done by the time we could get the right shuttle back to the campground and then get our Jeep to head over. Next time. 🙂
Barry and I headed down to the river, and walked on the pedestrian bridge. View from the bridge:
I thought the cut-out railing designs were cool, but then even more so when the post sunset clouds that reflected on the water came through!
And with that we called it a day. 🙂
Oh my Gosh! What an awesome, awesome job you’ve done with this blog! Les has taken us to all these venues but it’s been over the years, not in two days! Wow! Your synopsis is so concise and the visuals! Thank you so much for sharing and yes, maybe next time you’re in Nashville to visit you will tour the Opryland Hotel and give our boy a hug if he’s singing! ❤️❤️❤️, also the Heritage Plantation is a must see!
Thank you for such a wonderful comment. Yes, I would love to stop in and see your boy and hear him sing! I am not familiar with Heritage Plantation. What is it? I can’t find anything about it.
Very interesting Nancy! We’d love to spend some time in Nashville. This gives us some great ideas & looks like we need more than two days!!
Thank you. Have fun when you go!