While they call it Music City, there’s a lot more to Nashville than the music, and a lot of history sitting in plain sight (including quite a few historic music venues). From the Parthenon to the Grand Ole Opry House, there are plenty of sites to see. Nashville also works as a jumping-off point for the rest of Middle Tennessee: Germantown, Lynchburg, Franklin, Arrington and more are all an easy drive. Check out the best landmarks in Nashville:
The Parthenon in Centennial Park is a full-scale reproduction of the Athens original, right down to the 42-foot replica of the Athena statue. Inside is a permanent art collection of works by 19th- and 20th-century American painters.
The Opry has been broadcasting since 1925 and spent its most famous years, 1943 to 1974, at the Ryman Auditorium, a National Historic Landmark that still hosts live music and special Opry shows. “Opryland” now covers several sites in the Music Valley area northeast of downtown, including the General Jackson Showboat, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, and the Opry Mills shopping mall. The show still runs several nights a week, with big-time names from The Chicks to Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts.
Worth its own stop even if you are not seeing a show. The “Mother Church of Country Music” seats 2,362 on the original wooden pews and runs daytime self-guided and backstage tours. It is a five-minute walk from lower Broadway, and it is still one of the best rooms in the country to hear anything played live. More on it in our guide to Nashville concert venues.
Called the “Smithsonian of country music,” and a must-stop for country fans. The collection runs to millions of artifacts, including historic instruments, rare recordings and thousands of stage costumes. It also runs the RCA Studio B tour out on Music Row.
Music Row was, and largely still is, the business end of the country music industry. It takes in landmarks such as RCA Studio B, the studio credited with the “Nashville sound,” alongside publishers, souvenir shops, small museums and a good number of plaques and memorials. A good area to wander whether you are sightseeing, shopping or eating.
Founded by John Harding in 1807 and grown into a Greek Revival mansion, deer park and famous thoroughbred stud farm, the estate is now known as Belle Meade Historic Site & Winery. Every historical tour and grounds pass includes an introductory wine tasting, which makes it an easy add to a Nashville winery tour, and the grounds remain one of the city’s most popular wedding settings.
There is more than just music in Nashville: this is also home to the largest collection of European cars and motorcycles in the US. Jeff and Susan Lane founded it in 2002 around a personal collection of 70 vehicles; it now holds more than 500, most of them European oddities. Propeller-driven cars, microcars, three-wheelers, amphibious vehicles, competition cars and prototypes.
The former home of President Andrew Jackson is also one of the most beautiful spots near the city. Ten miles east of downtown, the Hermitage has been restored to look as it did in Jackson’s time and offers guided tours of the mansion and grounds, plus wagon rides and seasonal events.
The most famous landmark on this list is not in Nashville at all. Jack Daniel’s sits in Lynchburg, 90 miles southeast, and the distillery has been making whiskey on the same spring since 1866. You can make a full day of it on a Jack Daniel’s distillery tour from Nashville, with the drive and the tasting handled for you. Most of these sit a fair distance apart, and several of the best ones, Belle Meade, the Hermitage, Lynchburg, are outside the downtown core. We run private vehicles for 2 to 56 passengers, door to door, so you can string several together in a day without parking or driving. Browse the distillery tours, see the vehicle options, or tell us what you want to see and we’ll build the route.
Tour distilleries, wineries, breweries and the city of Nashville in a private chauffeured vehicle, for groups of 2 to 56.
