10 Fun Things to Do in Nashville
I love Nashville and have been several times. I’ve written about its more conventional country music attractions on Nashville Skyline, but here are some more off-beat and fun Nashville things to do including eating hot chicken, dining at a historic lunch counter, and visiting an award-winning restroom!
Go to the Bathroom in a Historic Hotel
231 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37219
Walk into the lobby of the Beaux-Arts Hermitage Hotel, which opened in 1910, and you’ll gasp. However, more surprises await, and even if you’re not staying there the staff won’t usher you out if you ask to use the bathroom. Here the special men’s bathroom is a public restroom and is also open to women (if the coast is clear), as everyone wants to see it. It’s an Art Deco masterpiece and frequent winner of the Restroom of the Year award. No, I didn’t know there was such a thing either.
Photo by Brooks Dawson and used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
See a Recording Studio that Became a Black Hotel
453 Allied Dr, Nashville, TN 37211
The most famous recording studio in Nashville is RCA Studio B, where stars like Elvis and Roy Orbison recorded their major hits. But the United Record Pressing studio has an equally interesting history. Back when Motown was churning out Number One hits, their artists weren’t able to stay in hotels in the segregated south. The owners at URP built a suite of rooms for visiting artists, which you can see just as they were back in the day.
Photo by Jonathan James and used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Get out into the Country in C&W Country
1160 Otter Creek Rd, Nashville, TN 37220
Nashville shouldn’t just be about singing country, it should be about seeing the country too. A thirty-minute drive south of the city centre is this 1,332-acre nature reserve, with miles of walking trails, woods, and of course Radnor Lake itself. Wildlife in the park includes coyotes, bobcats, muskrats, beavers, deer, and river otters.
Catch a Show in a Historic Theatre
2102 Belcourt Ave, Nashville, TN 37212
There’s much more to Nashville than music. The Belcourt Theatre opened in 1925 as a silent movie theatre, but it also boasted Nashville’s largest stage. It was home to the Grand Ole Opry for a couple of years in the 1930s, but after a major renovation it’s back to showing movies in its glorious interior.
Dine at a Historic Lunch Counter
221 5th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37219
The lunch counter at this Woolworth on 5th Avenue played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement. It was where the first black students sat down and asked to be served, in a place which was only open to whites. They lost that battle, but went on to win the war.
See an American Art Collection in a Greek Temple
The Cowan Collection of American Art
2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
Many people know that Nashville has a model of the Parthenon of Athens, but fewer know that inside it is an impressive collection of American Art. The Cowan Collection of American Art features American artists from the 18th to the early 20th centuries including several artists who were influenced by the French Impressionists.
Discover Historic Musical Instruments at the University
1907 Belmont Blvd, Nashville, TN 37212
From 19th-century classical guitars through to electric guitars from the 1950s and 1960s, this collection of rare guitars and mandolins was donated to the university by a benefactor provided it kept them on public display.
See some Bizarre Cars in an Old Bakery
702 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37210
Housed in what used to be the Sunbeam Bakery, this private collection of predominantly European cars and other vehicles has been put together by one man, Jeff Lane. The 150 or so vehicles in his collection include some experimental models which never went into production, and you can see why.
Taste a Nashville Treat in an Old Eating Place
123 Ewing Dr #3, Nashville, TN 37207
Kentucky and the rest of the south has fried chicken, but in Nashville they do things differently and have hot chicken. This is the original place opened in 1945 by James Thornton Prince, who invented hot chicken… or rather his wife did, or so the story goes. It’s fried chicken spiced up with hot pepper, although everyone has their own recipe. But if you’re trying it for the first time, you may as well try the original.
Photograph the Nashville Skyline
John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge
If Bob Dylan called one of his albums Nashville Skyline, there has to be something special about it. Find out by walking across the car-free John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge to get a look back at the skyline and find the perfect peaceful place to take photos of it.