Nashville Tennessee — The Athens of the South

Nashville is often labeled the "Athens of the South" due to the many colleges and universities in the city and metropolitan area.

The colleges and universities in Nashville include American Baptist College, Aquinas College, The Art Institute of Tennessee – Nashville, Belmont University, Daymar Institute, Fisk University, Free Will Baptist Bible College, International Academy of Design and Technology, Lipscomb University, Meharry Medical College, Nashville School of Law, Nashville State Community College, Strayer University, Tennessee State University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Vanderbilt University, and Watkins College of Art, Design & Film.

In her dissertation ―Athens of the South: College Life in Nashville, A New South City, 1897-1917 author Mary Ellen Pethel writes:

The Progressive Era affected the South in different ways from other regions of the United States. Because Southern society was more entrenched in patriarchy and traditional social strictures, Nashville provides an excellent lens in which to assess the vision of a New South city. Known as ―Athens of the South, Nashville legitimized this title with the emergence of several colleges and universities of regional and national prominence in the 1880s and 1890s. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, Nashville universities solidified their status as reputable institutions, with Vanderbilt and Fisk Universities garnering national prominence.

Higher education and urbanization created a dialectic that produced a new generation and a new monied class of young adults who thought and acted differently.

Old Hickory Lake — Sumner County’s Jewel in the Crown

When icons like Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison chose to make Sumner County their home, undoubtedly a good part of their decision was based on Sumner’s Old Hickory Lake.   These Music Legends both owned homes along the shore of its vast expanse.

With over 22,000 acres of water and 440 miles of shoreline, Old Hickory offers plenty of hiking, fishing, boating, skiing, and other lake activities.

Old Hickory Lake was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beginning January, 1952. The dam was closed and the filling of the lake began June 11, 1954. The lock opened to navigation June 14, 1954 and electrical power began production April 5, 1957.

The total length of Old Hickory Dam is 3,750 feet and the elevation of the reservoir at maximum pool level, which covers an area of 22,500 acres, is 445 feet above sea level.  The backwater length of the reservoir at the top of the gate level is 97.3 miles long. Old Hickory Reservoir at maximum pool has 440 miles of shoreline and contains 467,000 acre feet of water.

Old Hickory Dam is located on the Cumberland River at mile 216.2, and is in Davidson and Sumner Counties, Tennessee, 25.5 miles upriver from Nashville. The counties surrounding Old Hickory Lake include Davidson, Sumner, Wilson, Trousdale, and Smith Counties.

 

Music City Convention Center Slated to Open Early 2013

The Music City Center sits just south of Broadway on a 16-acre site that runs from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue, west to east, and from Demonbreun Street to Franklin Street, or the future Korean Veterans Boulevard, north to south. It is adjacent to both the Bridgestone Arena and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The building will be 1.2 million square feet, featuring a 350,000 square foot exhibit hall, a 57,000 grand ballroom and 18,000 square foot junior ballroom, and about 1,800 parking spaces. It also offers 90,000 square feet of meeting room space – approximately 60 meeting rooms - and 32 loading docks that provide ultimate flexibility and ease of loading in and out for convention planners.

Designed by Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, and Stainback Associates and Nashville-based Tuck Hinton Architects and Moody-Nolan Architects, the convention center is on track to be certified Silver Level LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Features key to the building’s LEED status include a 360,000 gallon retention tank. Run-off water stored in the tank will be used to irrigate the four-acre green roof and outside landscaping and to flush the building’s hundreds of toilets.

The convention center has been designed to be Nashville’s next landmark building, marked by an extensive outdoor border of green space adjacent to the Country Music Hall of Fame, suitable for outdoor concerts and events. Both the exterior and interior will feature public art components.

Korean Veterans Boulevard is also slated to be extended along the southern border of the Music City Center, and will feature a broad median marked by plantings of trees and grass, culminating in a roundabout at 8th Avenue.

American Picker’s Antique Archeology now in Nashville

Mike Wolfe from American Pickers on the History Channel has opened his second Antique Archeology Store, this time in Nashville, Tennessee. 

A lifelong picker, Mike’s been picking through junk since he was waist high. Over the years, he's earned a reputation as one of the country’s foremost foragers, traveling coast to coast in search of forgotten American treasures. Where others see dilapidated barns and overgrown yards, Mike sees potential goldmines filled with rare finds and sensational stories.

Antique Archaeology Nashville is Mike's  second  location. Located just a few blocks away from downtown Nashville, you can find them in the old Marathon Automobile car factory dated from the early 1900s.

Open Road Motorcycle Ride Sumner County, Tennessee.

When: A Sunday afternoon in August 2007.
Where: Long Hollow Pike in Sumner County, Tennessee.

"If you don't ride, then you don't know."

Whether you are now a motorcycle enthusiast, or think you might enjoy the pastime, Tennessee is a great place to ride. The roads don’t suffer from the harsh winter damage typical in the northeast, and courtesy is the norm for drivers in the Volunteer State. Add to that, the large number of riders that engender an awareness of motorcycle activity, good riding weather nine months of the year, light traffic conditions on beautiful scenic country roads, and you get the ideal confluence of conditions to enjoy this special brotherhood of the road.