Since neither of us had ever spent much time in Nashville, we wanted to get a taste of what it has to offer. With the Nashville: Music City All-Access Pass, we were able to choose four major attractions (plus bonus entry to the Parthenon). We did a whirlwind tour, and accomplished quite a bit.Nashville is known for its ties to country music, and there are dozens of live music venues downtown and in the surrounding areas. We passed by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which features artifacts such as Gene Autry’s guitar, along with photographs, original recordings, videos, and other media. Nashville is also home to the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland. The light and water show inside the Opryland Resort was a treat.

In the evening we took a cruise on the 300-foot paddle wheel riverboat the General Jackson Showboat. It featured live music, a cruise down the Cumberland river, and great views of the Nashville skyline at night. The only negative was the price of a drink: $12.50 (though we did get to keep the souvenir glass).

Our visit to The Hermitage included the grounds and gardens, mansion, mausoleum and outlying buildings of Andrew Jackson’s (7th President and Hero of New Orleans) plantation. Perhaps most interesting were some exhibits on the lives of the approximately 140 slaves who worked the land and maintained the household. Very little was documented, but archaeological exploration has lead to many fascinating discoveries. The day we visited fourth graders from a nearby elementary school acted at docents in the museum and several other areas, and they did a great job!

The Belmont Mansion is an Italianate-style villa, built as a summer home to Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham (1817-) and her family. Adelicia was a shrewd business woman who used her wits to conspire with both Confederate and Union forces to emerge from the Civil War with her fortune intact. The home is one of the most elaborate and unusual homes in the South, and a remarkable number of the pieces inside are original. According to our knowledgeable guide, there was a deer park on the grounds and even a pet bear for a while (hopefully not too close to one another).

One fun and silly stop we made here in Nashville was the Cooter’s Dukes of Hazzard Museum. It was mainly a retail outlet for all things from Hazzard County. There was also a collection of all of the old collectibles as well as a few original vehicles: Daisy’s Jeep, Roscoe’s cop car and of course a General Lee.