Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
massive office tower, offers a worthy look at the state's past, with Native American han-
dicrafts, a life-size log cabin and quirky historical artifacts such as President Andrew
Jackson's inaugural hat. Rotating exhibits pass through, as well.
Frist Center for the Visual Arts
GALLERY
(
www.fristcenter.org
;
919 Broadway; adult/senior/child $10/7/free; 10am-5:30pm Mon-Wed &
Sat, to 9pm Thu & Fri, 1-5pm Sun)
A top-notch art museum and complex hosting traveling
exhibitions of everything from American folk art to Picasso in the grand, refurbished
post-office building. There was a Rembrandt show on when we passed through.
Fort Nashborough
FORT
(1st Ave)
Down along the banks of the Cumberland River is a reconstruction of a
late-18th-century wooden fort, the first flagpost of a pioneer settlement that later became
Nashville.
WORTH A TRIP
PLANTATIONS NEAR NASHVILLE
The former home of seventh president Andrew Jackson,
Hermitage
( 615-889-2941;
www.thehermitage.com
;
4580 Rachel's Lane; adult/child $19/14; 8:30am-5pm Apr-Oct, 9am-4:30pm
Oct-Mar)
, 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 inter-
preters, and see Jackson's original 1804 log cabin and the old slave quarters (Jack-
son was a lifelong supporter of slavery, at times owning up to 150 slaves; a special
exhibit tells their stories).
The Harding-Jackson family began raising thoroughbreds at
Belle Meade Planta-
tion
( 615-356-0501;
www.bellemeadeplantation.com
; 5025 Harding Pike; adult/student 13-18 yr/
child under 13 yr $16/10/8; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun)
, 6 miles west of Nashville, in
the early 1800s. Nearly every horse entered in the Kentucky Derby in the past six
years is a descendant of Belle Meade's studly sire, Bonnie Scotland, who died in
1880. Yes, Bonnie can be a boy's name! The 1853 mansion is open to visitors, as
are various interesting outbuildings, including a model slave cabin.
