Hank – After leaving the capitol we walked down to the farmer’s market to have lunch. After eating we decided to swing by the Tennessee State Museum before going to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. That turned to be a good mistake. We thought we would breeze through it but it turned out to be so fantastic that by the time we got out it was too late to get our money’s worth at the Musicians Hall of Fame. So there was a down side but since we don’t know what we missed we don’t know how down it was.

The museum was newly created last year. You walk through the chronology of Tennessee. There’s so much to cover and discover. I was blown away by how much history there is in this state. We both enjoyed it very much. Heading back into town we stopped by the Tennessee War Auditorium, which also houses the Military Branch Museum. A plethora of military monuments are outside the building. The museum itself is quite small and some of the time periods and artifacts were moved to the state museum. And there’s no air conditioning. The young lady working there was absolutely miserable. Today’s high was 90 and the humidity was probably around the same number.

The Bicentennial Capitol Mall stretches from the foot of the hill to the state museum. At the far end are 95 columns, each with a bell inside the top part. On the hour, The Tennessee Waltz is played followed by a chime for each hour. After that some more Tennessee-related songs are played such as The Wabash Cannonball and Rocky Top. It’s very cool. Alongside the length of the mall is a wall separated by each decade of statehood with significant events of each decade on it.

Kathy – The Tennessee State Museum was absolutely fantastic. The history of this state is incredible and I’m thankful this museum helped me learn about it. Even after the hours spent there, I could go back and spend a few more.

I took about 500 pictures and that only captured a small portion of this museum’s vast amount of information. After seeing the not so impressive State Capitol Building, my expectations were pretty low going into this place. However, this is truly a fabulous State Museum. It more than made up for the Capitol. There are so many great museums in Nashville to visit, the Tennessee State Museum is truly outstanding and one not to be missed.