Wednesday - Music City Trolley Tour

Old Town Trolley Tours - Nashville, TN 

Even with the threat of scattered showers throughout the day, the crowd assembled at the front office Wednesday morning to await our shuttle. A twenty minute ride dropped us off on Commerce Street and a short walk brought to Trolley Stop #2.

Front: Ray, Johnny, Todd
Back: Fran, Doreen, Kathy, Mike, Chrissy, Beth, Tony

Walter and Charlie

The concept of hopping on and off depending on the attraction at a particular venue was a good one that we didn't take advantage of. The twelve of us remained on the bus and
2½ hours later saw all the attractions. We decided to just grab lunch, catch the shuttle
and head back to the campground.

"Scooter" was our "conductor"/driver and tour guide. His knowledge and sense of humor was more than enough for us to remain permanent fixtures on his bus. Even his apologies to the folks who were too many to board, left them smiling knowing that a "fill in" bus was right behind us to take care of them. He told them he had "his family on the bus and couldn't get rid of them." He took advantage of the many long traffic lights on the route to tell stories and add personal accounts of his experiences with whatever landmark we passed. I've highlighted in red, the websites where readers can get details and history of sites that I'm not including should you be interested in exploring for yourself. The photos that follow are either from Tony, the website or mine: The 14 trolley stops included:

201 Broadway

Ryman Auditorium

Music City Walk of Fame

Country Music Hall of Fame

Legislative Plaza

Musicians Hall of Fame

Farmers' Market

Capitol View 

Marathon Motor Works

Centennial Park

Hot Chicken, Midtown

Belmont Mansion

The Gulch

Frist Art, Union Station

Broadway

Sit at a bar, drink, pedal and...

...tour the city with someone else driving.

Ryman Auditorium

Music City Walk of Fame

Country Music Hall of Fame

Note the windows depicting the piano keyboard.

Nearby, we past Studio A, built and founded in 1964 by Chet Atkins,
Owen Bradley and Harold Bradley. Originally known simply by the name
"RCA Victor Nashville Sound Studios"...

...along with adjacent RCA Studio B, it became known in the 1960s for becoming an
essential factor and location to the development of the musical production style and
sound engineering technique known as the Nashville Sound.

Legislative Plaza 

Tennessee State Capitol in background

Musicians Hall of Fame


Farmers Market


Marathon Motor Works

Click on the link above for the fascinating story of the first vehicles
produced in Tennessee.

Marathon vehicle in the State Museum.

Centennial Park

The Parthenon, designed by architect William Crawford Smith.
Built  in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

Inside, the re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it
was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas
of the Athenian originals.

Belmont Mansion

 Constructed between 1849 and 1860, it's the largest house built in Tennessee prior to
the Civil War. Belmont Mansion was the home of Adelicia and Joseph Acklen and is
located in the center of Belmont University.

Some other sights captured during the tour:

The back of the scoreboard at the stadium of their minor
league team, the Nashville Brewers.

An original. Then once a Dollar General, now a restaurant, it's closed and may not re-open due to continuing Covid restrictions imposed by the mayor.

Once off the trolley it was late lunch time and the number of possible dining places boggled the mind. Every store front provided ear shattering, brain rattling country music. In some restaurants backpacks were not allowed and even us old timers had to be carded.  We (12) settled on Rippy's which could accommodate our number on the second floor.

Up on the second floor

BBQ Pulled pork with the biggest onion rings I've ever seen. For you Foodies, their
menu is HERE.

Doreen and Chrissy enjoying Nashville and life.

And so, as late afternoon approached, we added another adventure to our enjoyable form of vacationing; RVing with a group of friends. This story didn't quite end here but the walk back up to Commerce Street had some of us waiting thirty minutes for the shuttle back home. 

Tomorrow night, Thursday, we'll be headed to the Grand Ole Opry. Take care and I hope you'll follow along.