Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [138]
Cobblestone-paved Printer’s Alley, now lined with bars and restaurants, used to be home to the city’s thriving printing industry. Beginning in the early 1800s, horse carts carried paper and ink to the alley’s publishing houses, many of which printed religious literature. The printing of Christian hymnals gave way to secular music publishing, which helped attract large record labels to town in the 1940s and ’50s.
Two blocks over on Fifth Ave North, take a look at the 1849 Downtown Presbyterian Church, one of the best examples of Egyptian Revival Architecture in the country - you can pop inside during daylight hours to see the towering painted columns and winged-sun and lotus-leaf carvings.
Down the steep steps behind the capital building is the Nashville Farmers Market, running alongside Bicentennial Park. Here, government employees chow on sloppy gyros and jerk chicken in the indoor food hall. The line is always long at Swetts, the farmers market outpost of the popular Clifton Ave soul-food café. Try the squash casserole and peach cobbler. Though the market is large - 16 acres of plants, fruits and vegetables, specialty markets and a weekend flea market - it still feels like a bit of a secret. Just browsing the covered plant stands is a nice respite from downtown crowds, especially when it’s hot.
Down along the banks of the Cumberland River, Fort Nashborough is a reconstruction of the late-18th-century wooden fort of the settlement that later became Nashville. The surrounding waterfront park is a pleasant place to sit for a spell.
Though most of the downtown shops are souvenir junk, there are a few gems: if it’s cowboy boots you’re looking for, try Boot Corral off I-65 a little north of town - no atmosphere, but a great selection and a heck of a lot cheaper. Hatch Show Print is one of the oldest letter-print shops in the country, printing promotional posters since the early days of vaudeville. Their very first commission was a handbill announcing an appearance of Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of the history-changing anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Here, you can pick up old-fashioned cut-block prints advertising long-dead country stars for as little as $10. They also do custom orders, in case you’ve got a big gig coming up.
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NASHVILLE ON FILM
Like Hollywood, Nashville symbolizes the hope for a magical future. Filmmakers have been capturing the city’s glittery lure for decades. Here are some of our favorite Nashville films:
• Nashville - This 1975 Robert Altman masterpiece casts a jaundiced eye at the winners and losers in the country music biz
• The Thing Called Love - Samantha Mathis and River Phoenix portray aspiring singer-songwriters at the legendary Bluebird Café
• Coalminer’s Daughter - Sissy Spacek’s Loretta Lynn goes from Appalachian poverty to the Grand Ole Opry
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Feel the hush descend as you step into the palatial, vaulted lobby of the Hermitage Hotel, Nashville’s first luxury hotel. Tallulah Bankhead, Al Capone and JFK stayed here, and legendary pool shark Minnesota Fats used to challenge guests at his own table on the mezzanine. Rooms have mahogany fixtures and deep, marble soaking tubs.
Hungry the next morning? Find out why there’s always a line outside Pancake Pantry, a well-loved West Nashville breakfast joint that serves up all kinds of flapjacks - sweet potato, buttermilk, chocolate chip - with a variety of sweet, gooey toppings like cinnamon syrup and raspberry cream.
Cross Vanderbilt University campus to Centennial Park, where you can gawk at a full-sized plaster model of the Athenian Parthenon. This spectacular feat of kitsch was originally built for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, and rebuilt in 1930 due to popular demand. It now