Historic Nashville, Inc.

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Columbia Studio A
2019-01-05 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | Columbia Studio A, 34 Music Square East, Nashville, TN, 37203, United States
Join us for a Behind-the-Scenes tour of Columbia Studio A the Historic site of Decca Records & The Quonset Hut on Saturday, January 5, 2019 at 10:00 am.

** Ticket reservations open Monday December 17, 2018 at 6:00 PM**
The tour will be led by recording engineer Lou Bradley. Lou has been honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Recording Engineer Society and was honored with induction into the Musician’s Hall of Fame last year.
In 1955, brothers Owen and Harold Bradley built a recording studio in the basement of a house on this site. They added another studio here in an army Quonset Hut, producing hits by Patsy Cline, Red Foley, Brenda Lee, Marty Robbins, Sonny James, and others. Columbia Records purchased the studios in 1962. The studio established its reputation in the music industry with hits by stars including Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Roger Miller, George Jones, and Tammy Wynette.
**Parking is available behind the building in the parking spaces labeled Belmont.
**The tour will meet behind the building.
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Ticket reservations open Monday December 17, 2018 at 6:00 pm
**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of The New Tennessee State Museum
2018-12-01 10:00 - 12:00 | Tennessee State Museum, 1000 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN, 37208, United States
Come experience a tour of the brand new Tennessee State Museum on December 1, 2018 at 10 AM.
** Ticket reservations open Monday November 12, 2018 at 6:00 PM**
The tour will be led by the museum’s very own Curator of History, Rob Dehart. While the Tennessee State Museum has been receiving visitors in Nashville for decades, you will get a chance to visit the museum’s brand new facility, which opened on October 4, 2018 at 1000 Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. Discover a wide range of artifacts and topics which stretch from the geological formation of Tennessee to the present day, all in a new state of the art museum.
The mission of the Tennessee State Museum is to procure, preserve, exhibit, and interpret objects which relate to the social, political, economic, and cultural history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, and to provide exhibitions and programs for the educational and cultural enrichment of the citizens of the state.
**Parking is available at various locations around the museum.
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Ticket reservations open Monday November 12, 2018 at 6:00 pm
**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Ryman Auditorium
2018-11-17 10:00 - 12:00 | Ryman Auditorium, 116 5th Ave N, Nashville, TN, 37219, United States
Join us for a Behind-the-Scenes tour of the Ryman Auditorium on Saturday November 17, 2018 at 10:00 am.
**Ticket reservations open Monday September 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm**
When you walk through the doors of the historic Ryman Auditorium, one thing becomes clear right away: this isn’t just another nightly music venue, and it’s so much more than a daytime tourist stop. This place is hallowed ground. This is the exact spot where bluegrass was born—where Johnny Cash met June Carter, where souls were saved and a slice of history was nearly lost. It was right here that country music found an audience beyond its own back porch, and countless careers took off as deals were signed on napkins and paper scraps backstage. This is a building where anything is possible: a soul can find redemption, a crumbling building can find salvation, and an unknown kid with a guitar can find his or her name in lights.
Our story starts with an 1885 tent revival led by fiery evangelist Sam Jones and attended by 5,000 people, including steamboat captain and prominent Nashville businessman Thomas G. Ryman. The captain was so unexpectedly moved by the experience that he dedicated his life and fortune to building and constructing the Union Gospel Tabernacle, a place where all people could gather and worship. When Ryman died, its name was changed to honor his legacy.
When fearless show promoter Lula C. Naff leased the building and took the reins in the 1920s, the Ryman became the anchor of Nashville’s cultural offerings. The venue was known as the Carnegie of the South, hosting sought-after traveling acts including John Philip Sousa, Roy Rogers, Harry Houdini, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope, Mae West, and even former President Theodore Roosevelt.
When the Grand Ole Opry put down roots here in 1943, the world would never be the same as the live radio and TV show brought the likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, and Roy Acuff to the stage and into living rooms around the country for thirty one years.
**We will meet in front of the Ryman. Parking is available at the Nashville Public Library or street parking nearby.
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Ticket reservations open Monday September 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm
**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

2018 Nashville Nine Announcement
2018-10-25 16:00 - 17:00 | Bobby’s Idle Hour, 1028 16th Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37212, United States
Historic Nashville will announce the 2018 Nashville Nine list of our city’s historic properties endangered by demolition, neglect or development. Every year, the Nashville Nine list is compiled through a public nomination process revealing historic buildings and places that matter to the people of our city.
We invite you and your guests to attend the public announcement of this year’s list at Bobby’s Idle Hour, 1028 16th Ave.

Nashville: Covered
2018-10-06 18:00 - 21:00 | Downtown Presbyterian Church, 154 5th Ave. N., Nashville, TN, 37219, United States
Join us for Nashville: Covered
FREE October Art Crawl Exhibit featuring Nashville’s historic places
Downtown Presbyterian Church, 154 5th Ave. N.
Celebrate Nashville’s landmarks through the music and art they inspire at Nashville: Covered, a special one-night-only exhibit of classic and contemporary album covers.
FREE ART EXHIBIT
From Bob Dylan’s classic 1969 album Nashville Skyline to Jason Isbell’s upcoming album Live from the Ryman, Nashville has inspired artists for several generations. The Nashville: Covered exhibit connects our community’s historic places with Nashville’s rich music history through a variety of genres, musicians and time.
The albums on display will be for sale during the event, with all proceeds benefiting the continuing restoration of the Downtown Presbyterian Church and HNI’s preservation and advocacy programs.
FREE TOURS
Free tours of the church will be offered throughout the evening by Jim Hoobler, Senior Curator of Art & Architecture at the Tennessee State Museum and Staff Historian with the Downtown Presbyterian Church, to highlight the church’s unique Egyptian Revival architecture.
HNI is partnering with the historic Downtown Presbyterian Church and longtime Nashville record store The Great Escape to present this unique event.

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of James Geddes Engine Co. No. 6
2018-10-06 10:00 - 12:00 | James Geddes Engine Co. No. 6, 2nd Ave S, Nashville, TN, 37210, United States
Join us for a Behind-the-Scenes tour of James Geddes Engine Company No. 6 on Saturday October 6, 2018 at 10:00 am, led by owner Larry Roberts.
**Ticket reservations open Monday September 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm**
The James Geddes Engine Company No. 6 building was constructed in 1886. The former firehouse is in a Victorian style. At the time of construction, the fire department used horse-drawn vehicles thus explaining the fairly narrow front garage door. The circular tower to the right of the building had the fireman pole which is still present. the fire station was named for James Geddes, a surveyor of the railroad line between Louisville and Nashville in the 1850s. After sitting vacant for a number of years the building has now been converted to attorneys’ offices.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978
Parking is available behind the building or street parking nearby.
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Ticket reservations open Monday September 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm
**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of WTVF News Channel 5
2018-09-29 09:45 - 11:45 | WTVF News Channel 5, 474 James Robertson Pkwy, Nashville, TN, 37219, United States
Join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the WTVF News Channel 5 on Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 9:45 am, led by Storm 5 Weather Meteorologist Heather Mathis.
WTVF is a is a CBS-affiliated television station in Nashville, Tennessee. WTVF first signed on the air as WLAC-TV on August 6, 1954. WLAC-TV was owned alongside WLAC radio (1510 AM) and later WLAC-FM (105.9 FM, now WNRQ). With WLAC-TV, Nashville became one of the smallest cities in the United States to have three fully separate network-affiliated commercial television stations. WLAC-TV was sold in 1975, and new owners changed the station’s call sign to the current WTVF on December 1 (the callsign change was brought on due to an FCC rule in place at the time forbidding TV and radio stations in the same city but with different owners from sharing the same call letters). WTVF is currently owned by Scripps Media Inc.
As WLAC-TV, the station helped launch the career of a young African-American reporter and local Nashvillian named Oprah Winfrey by making her a regular news anchor in the early 1970s. The station’s Studio A, which was built in 1967 near the Tennessee State Capitol building, was also the home of the hit show Hee Haw for most of its 1968 to 1993 run. Behind Winfrey, the station’s most notable anchor is Greek-American Chris Clark (real name Christopher Botsaris), who served as the station’s main anchor for 41 years from 1966 to 2007, longer than anyone in Nashville television history. In June 2006, Clark reduced his daily anchoring schedule to only the weeknight 6 p.m. newscast and announced his retirement at the end of his contract in 2007.
On April 16, 1998, WTVF was knocked off the air due to an F3 tornado striking downtown Nashville. This occurred while meteorologists Ron Howes and Joe Case were broadcasting live, showing the actual tornado from the station’s SkyCam as it entered downtown Nashville. Before the interruption of the signal, which was caused by winds in excess of {{convert|100|mph|km/h|0}, the station’s weather camera on top of AT&T Building (then BellSouth Building) captured the tornado as it moved into downtown Nashville during the station’s broadcast of wall-to-wall tornado warning coverage that afternoon. The station returned to the air shortly after that.
***IMPORTANT INFO:
You must arrive by 9:45 AM. The tour will tour begin at 10:00 am.
Park in the lot behind the station on 4th Ave N just before Harrison St.
We will meet in the parking lot.
We encourage members to arrive early, once the tour begins you will be unable to join later.
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**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Newsom's Mill
2018-09-15 10:00 - 12:00 | Newsom’s Mill, 8729 Newsom Station Road, Nashville, TN, 37221, United States
Join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour of Newsom’s Mill led by park ranger Jacob Hardin on Saturday, September 15, 2018 starting at 10:00 am.
The original mill, which was one of the first in our country to have its mill works inside a housed structure, was built by William B. Newsom in the late 1700s. The original mill was destroyed by flood in 1808 and was rebuilt up stream from the original location. William and his family came to America from England after “Conflict with the Church of England” and settled briefly in Virginia. At the time, America was encouraging immigrants and William Newsom was granted 550 acres in the western territories as a reward for bringing eleven family members to America. William’s son, Joseph M. Newsom, eventually assumed ownership of the mill and constructed the current turbine-powered grist mill in 1862 of hand-dressed limestone cut from Newsom’s Quarry, a mile south.
***Tour will meet in the parking lot.
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**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Walking In Their Footsteps: Downtown Nashville Women's History Walking Tour
2018-08-26 13:00 - 14:30 | Tennessee Supreme Court, 401 7th Avenue North, Nashville, TN, 37219, United States
Join Historic Nashville, Inc. for a very special guided walking tour of women’s history in downtown Nashville. The tours start at 1:00pm or 1:30pm and last approximately 90 minutes. We will meet at the Tennessee Supreme Court Building at the corner of Charlotte and 7th Avenue North and concludes approximately 1/4 mile from the tour start at the Hermitage Hotel at 231 6th Avenue North, which has public restrooms available. This one-time only tour is in celebration of Historic Nashville, Inc.’s 50th anniversary and Women’s Equality Day–commemorating the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution giving women the right to vote.
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**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Grand Ole Opry House
2018-08-11 10:00 - 12:00 | Grand Ole Opry House, 2804 Opryland Drive, Nashville, TN, 37214, United States
Join us for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Grand Ole Opry House on Saturday, August 11, 2018 starting at 10:00 am.
The Grand Ole Opry House was the first venue built specifically to host the iconic country music radio show, which has been broadcast over Nashville’s WSM radio since 1925. Designed by Welton Becket and Associates from Los Angeles, the building was completed in March 1974. The Opry House auditorium was, at the time, also the largest purpose-built radio and television studio in the country. Additionally, the Opry House houses a production facility with large “black box” television studio, administrative offices, and dressing rooms. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 2015 and has been home to the Opry longer than any of its previous locations.
There’s nothing like a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House; it’s a must-see for everyone in Music City. Walk in the footsteps of country music’s superstars and get an exclusive look at what happens behind the scenes of the show that made country music famous!
***IMPORTANT INFO: We will meet under the Portico in front of the Opry House at 9:45 AM. Attendees should park in the Opry Mills lot. The tour will tour begin at 10:00 am. We encourage members to arrive early, once the tour begins you will be unable to join later.***
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**Please use the button below to register via Eventbrite. If the button does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

Rally The Row at Bobby's Idle Hour- Music Row
2018-07-24 16:30 - 19:30 | Bobby’s Idle Hour, 1028 16th Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37212, United States
Public event with live music, food, drink, and information about what you can do to help historic landmarks from being demolished on Nashville’s legendary Music Row. Souvenirs for sale include Save Music Row t-shirts and bumper stickers, with a portion of each sale going to a Music Row Preservation Fund administered by Historic Nashville. No cover for music. Hosted by Historic Nashville and the National Trust for Historic Preservation as part of Historic Nashville’s 50th anniversary celebration.

HNI Behind-the-Scenes Walking Tour of Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall
2018-07-14 09:30 - 11:30 | Tennessee Map Plaza, 600 James Robertson Pkwy, Nashville, TN, 37219, United States
Join us for a walking tour of Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall, Landmark urban park honoring 200 years of statehood with Kem Hinton, FAIA on Saturday, July 14, 2018 starting at 9:30 am.
**Note: This tour will start a half hour earlier than our normal tours due to the recent extreme heat. With all the events scheduled in Downtown Nashville area the earlier we arrive makes it easier to find parking and avoiding the midday heat.**
Although most Tennesseans first heard of the Tennessee Bicentennial Capitol Mall during the year of its celebration two decades ago, the path of its creation is as old as the state itself. From details of the first settlements on the site of the Mall to descriptions of items still to come, this tour will capture the essence of the park which was dedicated on June 1, 1996.
This tour is a walking exploration of the 19-acre park, an urban design achievement designed to honor and forever preserve an unobstructed view of Tennessee’s most important structure, the State Capitol. Creating an educational and entertaining stretch of greenery with walkways featuring historical events, including a granite map of Tennessee (one of the largest such maps ever made), the Mall has a fabulous story to tell.
The basic idea for this urban park originated several decades ago, inspired by the National Mall in Washington, DC. Yet the evolution of the site and surrounding vicinity is a fascinating, tale stretching back for more than three centuries. The design process, one involving a broad array of designers, government officials, members of the Bicentennial Commission, and statewide ‘characters,’ was long, complex, and at times controversial. With a theme of “the Land, the People, and the Music of Tennessee,” the unique outdoor museum was conceived and fashioned. Full of elements and features that exalt the unique characteristic and history of the Volunteer State, the award-winning Mall has become what was intended: a gift to the citizens of Tennessee.
Hinton is also the author of A Long Path: The Search for a Tennessee Bicentennial Landmark, a hardback publication that documents the history of the site and the many factors that inspired and shaped the design of the Mall, one of the largest post-WWII urban parks in our nation. It was released in 1997 by Hillsboro Press. Copies will be available during and after the tour.
Meeting point will be at the enormous map of Tennessee on James Robertson Parkway it in the shadow of the Capitol.
**Please use the Eventbrite reservation form below. If the form does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

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Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Walking Tour of Union Street
2018-06-30 09:30 - 11:30 | War Memorial Building, 301 6th Ave N, Nashville, TN, 37243, United States
Join us for “A Historic Stroll Along Union Street” Saturday, June 30, 2018 starting at 9:30 am
**Note: This tour will start a half hour earlier than our normal tours due to the recent extreme heat. With all the events scheduled in Downtown Nashville area the earlier we arrive makes it easier to find parking and avoiding the midday heat.**
Union Street today, to most people, is a dynamic place filled with banks, hotels, office buildings, some restaurants and a half-dozen or more historic markers. Some will recall that Union Street became famous as “The Wall Street of the South.” Come learn why and what was here before that. We’ll see how Nashville grew from a pioneer outpost to a bustling young town with steamboat landings near one end of Union Alley and the railroad depot at the other end – a span of ten city blocks. We will walk these blocks slowly and stop to contemplate, with a few photos to help illustrate and with narration by Tom Vickstrom. We’ll progress along the intersection of the old street names – Vine, Spruce, High, Summer, Cherry, College and Market. We’ll see the former home of Felix Grundy, pause at the place where Nashville’s first telephone call was made and where Nashville first recording engineers got their start. Anyone remember the site of the old YMCA? How about Nashville first public library? Hear about the motorcar in front of the Hermitage Hotel and the runaway horse. There’s that fine house the stage coach operator lived in when the civil war soldiers marched along the street. We’ll stop near a French restaurant, once famous, and continue through the banking district towards Market Square and “see” retail shops such as BH Stief Jewelry and Otto Giers photography.
We will meet in the courtyard of the War Memorial Building. Parking may be found in the lots below TSL&A and the state capitol if you don’t mind walking a few blocks.
**Please use the Eventbrite reservation form below. If the form does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

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Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Cohn High School & Historic Neighborhood Walking Tour
2018-06-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Cohn School, 4805 Park Ave, Nashville, TN, 37209, United States
***THIS TOUR HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FROM APRIL 14, 2018***
Join us on June 2, 2018 at 10:00 am as we tour the Cohn Alumni Center and enjoy a walking tour around Sylvan Park.
This Behind-the-Scenes Members-Only tour will begin at Cohn School and include a walking tour through historical Sylvan Park. Our tour will start and end at Cohn at the Cohn Alumni Center.

The Cohn building first opened in 1928, and was named in memory of Corinne L. Cohn, who was responsible for the idea of junior high schools in Nashville. Cohn Junior High was the first school in the Nashville school system named for a female in Nashville. The building operated first as a junior high but eventually evolved into a high school in 1936. There have been many changes to the building over the years, but the building is still in use and serving the community.

Click here to read more about the history of Cohn High School

Sylvan park, located west of downtown Nashville, has an intriguing history. Its name comes from Gen. James Robertson, who called it “Rich Land” and started a homestead there. The Sylvan park area was kicked off in 1887 with a grand opening of the area as a residential development. The area became a fully functioning neighborhood with businesses, schools, grocery stores, and churches located there. The deadliest train accident in American history also happened here in 1918.

Highlights of the walking tour will include two historic churches and several of the oldest homes in Sylvan Park.

Street parking is available.

**Please use the Eventbrite reservation form below. If the form does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

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Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Clover Bottom Mansion & Outbuildings
2018-05-19 10:00 - 12:00 | Clover Bottom (Tennessee Historical Commission), 2941 Lebanon Pike, Nashville, TN, 37214, United States
Join Historic Nashville for a tour of the Clover Bottom Mansion & Outbuildings on Saturday May 19, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Clover Bottom Mansion is an outstanding National Register-listed Italianate home located in the Donelson area of Nashville that has an extant collection of historic outbuildings, including two of the few remaining former slave dwellings in Davidson County. The main house was built in 1858 by Dr. James and Mary Ann Saunders Hoggatt and was the centerpiece of the 1,500-acre Clover Bottom Plantation. It was owned from the 1880s through 1918 by Louisiana Congressman Andrew Price and his family, and then by the Stanford family prior to the State purchasing it in 1948. Under state ownership, it has been a state trooper outpost, apartments for Tennessee School for the Blind faculty, and then regrettably it sat vacant and neglected during the 1980s. Since 1994, it has been the home of the Tennessee Historical Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office.Clover Bottom Plantation is important as the childhood home of John McCline, whose autobiography “Slavery in the Clover Bottoms” provides a unique and detailed account of the life of an enslaved Davidson County youth prior to and during the early days of the Civil War.
Behind-the-Scenes tour participants will briefly visit the main house, and the tour will concentrate on the outbuildings, including the former slave cabins, the c. 1850s carriage house, and the c. 1890s transverse crib thoroughbred horse barn. The barn is one of the finest late 19th-century barns remaining in the county. At the initiative of and with the guidance of the Tennessee Historical Commission, the historic outbuildings were restored by the State in 2015–16 and interpretive signs were placed. Over 150 trees of native species were planted as part of the project, and a walking trail was added. Dan Brown, Historic Sites Program Director for the Commission will lead the tour, with Executive Director and State Historic Preservation Officer Patrick McIntyre.

**Please use the Eventbrite reservation form below. If the form does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

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Historic Nashville Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Tennessee's Executive Residence
2018-05-05 10:00 - 12:00 | Tennessee’s Executive Residence, 882 Curtiswood Ln S, Nashville, TN, 37204, United States
Join Historic Nashville for a very special tour of the Tennessee’s Executive Residence on Saturday May 5, 2018 at 10:00 am.

Tennessee’s Executive Residence, a classic example of stately Georgian architecture, was originally known as “Far Hills” because of the beautiful view from the home’s 10-acre site. The three-story, 16-room home was built for businessman William Ridley Wills, founder of National Life and Accident Insurance Company, and completed in 1931.
The property became the Volunteer State’s official governor’s home when the state purchased it in 1949 following Wills’ death. To date, nine governors and their families have lived and worked in the Tennessee Residence, including Gordon Browning, Frank Clement, Buford Ellington, Winfield Dunn, Ray Blanton, Lamar Alexander, Ned Ray McWherter, Don Sundquist and Bill Haslam.
During Phil Bredesen’s term (2003-2011), the Tennessee Residence underwent a major renovation led by First Lady Andrea Conte and the Tennessee Residence Foundation. Conservation Hall, a 14,000 square-foot subterranean meeting and banquet facility, was built under the front lawn of the Tennessee Residence during the renovation project. The space is used to entertain for large events on the property and includes artwork created by Tennessee artists through the hall.
Over time, the Tennessee Residence and grounds have been a welcoming point for tens of thousands of Tennesseans, as well as host to official functions for distinguished guests, including Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore; legislative leaders; numerous governors; religious figures such as Rev. Billy Graham; and other distinguished dignitaries from around the world.

**IMPORTANT** In preparation for your visit:

Please arrive as close to 10:00 am as possible, but no earlier than 9:50 am.
If possible, please bring a photo ID. (Children exempt.)
Tours typically last an hour, with an extra 10-min allotted for viewing the gardens and grounds.
If you are unable to attend, please give 24 hours notice.
When you arrive on the property, please stop at the gate and give your name through the speaker to the trooper.
Once they check your name against the confirmed security list, they will open the gate and direct you where to park.

**Please use the Eventbrite reservation form below. If the form does not appear in your browser click here to RSVP. **

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