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Dates back to: 1892
Fisk Memorial Chapel, Fisk University
Fisk University’s campus—a Historic District in the National Register—was made possible by what was arguably one of the city’s early marketing schemes: the enormously successful tours of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The young school, founded in 1867 in the wake of the Civil War, first operated out of former Union army barracks, but by 1871 it faced financial doom. In response, music professor Reverend George White and a small group of students hit the road, hoping to save the school with live concerts. Within five years, they’d raised enough money to buy land and erect Jubilee Hall, the first permanent facility dedicated to the higher education of blacks in the South. A few years later, the chapel was built in memorial to Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, one of the university’s founders, and it’s long been the Jubilee Singers’ home performance hall. Numerous acclaimed entertainers, political leaders, and other luminaries have appeared here, including Martin Luther King Jr., Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Langston Hughes, and Bell Hooks. 1000 17th Ave N Nashville, TN 37208; fiskmemorialchapel.com ×
Dates back to: 1853
Belmont Mansion and the Adelicia Acklen Art Collection
The largest house museum in the state, the second largest antebellum home in the South, and—as its website states—“one of the few nineteenth century homes whose history revolves around the life of a woman, x93 Belle Monte was built by 29-year-old Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen, thought to be the wealthiest woman in the South at the time, and her second husband, Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen. Modeled after an Italian villa, the mansion’s many features included lavish gardens, a conservatory, an indoor fountain, a zoo, a bowling alley, and a separate, octagonal building for the family’s pet bear. The home attracted national attention, and today, its art collection represents Adelicia’s life and her passions, including four pieces of statuary by prominent 19th-century sculptors. While the Belmont University campus tells the story of its recent growth through construction of new facilities, this nearly 20,000-square-foot mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, remains its historic centerpiece. 1700 Acklen Ave, Nashville, TN 37212; belmontmansion.com ×
Dates back to: 2003
Civil Rights Room, Nashville Public Library
This special collection, which you’ll find in the west wing of the Nashville Room on the main library’s second floor, is our city’s richest repository of civil rights-era sights, sounds, and stories. Several dramatic, large-format black and white photos from The Tennessean and Nashville Banner immerse visitors into key events of the movement, and a large circular table, symbolic of the lunch counters where the sit-ins took place in downtown Nashville and elsewhere, features a list of “ten rules of conduct x93 established for protestors. The collection includes literature and periodicals, video and audio productions, and more—and it will continue to grow, with additions from an ongoing Civil Rights Oral History Project. Nashville philanthropists Robin and Bill King funded the development of the room. 615 Church St., Nashville, TN 37219; library.nashville.org ×
Dates back to: 1912
Cave Spring, Shelby Park
Back before climate control was a fact of life in the South, people sought respite wherever they could in the sweltering summer months. One such spot in early 20th-century Nashville was this cave spring, a natural grotto that formed a bowlful of cool air where parkgoers could stroll and relax. Designed by early park board member EC Lewis, the concrete structure around the grotto featured columns, benches, and a curving, sloped path of stairs. (Since concrete was a newly available material in those days—and thus all the rage—Lewis contributed several other concrete decorative features to Shelby Park.) The spring’s “constructed x93 features are in ruins now, but its glory days are as easy to envision as the spring is to find: Just amble down the grassy hillside from the tennis courts’ parking lot next to the Shelby Avenue entrance. In recent years, recommendations have been made to restore and modernize the once stately structure. With the rest of the park gradually being spruced up, we can hope that the cave spring’s structure of yesteryear may not be far behind. Shelby Ave at S. 20th, Nashville, TN 37206; nashvillegov.com/Parks-and-Recreation ×
Dates back to: 1915
North Branch Carnegie Library, Historic Buena Vista
The North Branch was our first branch library and one of six in the city funded by grants provided by Andrew Carnegie for libraries in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries. Carnegie’s intent was for these libraries to be not simply places to borrow books, but community centers with public meeting rooms and other resources. Today, only two public Carnegie libraries remain in Nashville: North Branch and East Branch; the other two met the wrecking ball in the 1960s. An example of Renaissance Revival–style architecture, the North Branch is a centerpiece of the Buena Vista Historic District near Germantown, so-called for its unobstructed view of the State Capitol. The neighborhood, founded in the late 19th century, first attracted primarily white working-class residents, many of them employees of the Werthan Mills. The area declined during and after the Depression but is currently entering a new era of development and renewal. Closed for renovations since early October, the North Branch will reopen next month and is poised to continue its role as the gathering place Carnegie envisioned. 1001 Monroe St Nashville, TN 37208 ; library.nashville.org ×
Dates back to: 1853
Lindsley Hall
Did you know there once was a University of Nashville? The formidable Lindsley Hall on Second Avenue is all that physically remains of the school, though several of our most prominent current-day educational institutions can be traced to it. Commissioned by university president John Berrien Lindsley, the building was designed in Collegiate Gothic style by local architect Adolphus Heiman and completed in 1853. The building has served Dr. Lindsley’s vision of it being a symbol of learning over its decades in use—it’s been home to Montgomery Bell Academy, the Peabody College for Teachers, and the Nashville Children’s Museum, among others. Today, it houses metro offices. 730 2nd Ave S. Nashville, TN 37219 ×
Dates back to: 1926
Belle Kinney’s Women of the Confederacy, Legislative Plaza at the War Memorial Building
Nashville native Belle Marshall Kinney was just 17 when she was commissioned to produce a bronze sculpture of Tennessee Central Railroad founder Jere Baxter. She later won a contest held by the United Confederate Veterans, who wished to honor the role Southern women played in the Civil War; she explained that her winning sculpture, Women of the Confederacy, represented “fame supporting the wounded and exhausted Confederate soldier with her left arm while with her right hand she is placing a wreath upon the head of the Southern Woman, whose every nerve is vibrating with love and sympathy for the soldier and his cause… x93 (An identical piece stands on the State Capitol grounds in Jackson, Mississippi.) Kinney went on to produce busts and statues of prominent early-20th-century Tennesseans like Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk; she was also heavily involved in the 1920 restoration of the Parthenon, along with her husband, fellow sculptor Leopold Scholz. Though Kinney mainly called New York home, today she is among the notable 19th-century sculptors claimed by Tennessee. A dressing room in War Memorial Auditorium bears her name. 301 6th Ave. N, Nashville, TN 37243; tpac.org ×
Dates back to: 1852
Holy Trinity Church
The parish that became the Church of the Holy Trinity existed first as St. Paul’s Mission on Fifth Avenue (then known as Summer Street); three years later, in 1852, Bishop James Hervey Otey laid the cornerstone for its new location, which at the time was a neighborhood of elegant homes near the University of Nashville. Architects Wills and Dudley of New York used local limestone for the edifice; in doing so, they evoked a traditional English parish church and gifted Nashville with a stunning example of classic Gothic Revival–style architecture. During the Civil War, the Union Army used Holy Trinity Church for stables and gunpowder storage. In 1952, the church’s double red doors were hung in honor of its Centennial Celebration. 615 6th Ave. S, Nashville, TN 37203; chtnashville.com ×
Dates back to: 1862
Fort Negley, St. Cloud Hill, Wedgewood-Houston
Of the five Union fortifications that kept Confederates from regaining ground during the Civil War, this one atop St. Cloud Hill, some 620 feet above the Cumberland, was the largest—and today it’s the sole remaining Union fort in the city. A textbook example of 19th-century military engineering, Fort Negley was built by African-American laborers and occupied by Union troops from 1862 until Reconstruction began in 1867. It became a refuge for escaped slaves, and from their encampments arose some of the city’s first African-American neighborhoods, later splintered by another feat of engineering: Interstate 40. Today, visitors to the site get a helping of geology studies with their Civil War history. The limestone of St. Cloud Hill, as well as the limestone dug from the hill to build Fort Negley, bears some of the area’s richest presentations of fossil formations. 1100 Fort Negley Blvd., Nashville, TN 37203 ; nashville.gov/Parks-and-Recreation ×